Three Speech Therapist-Approved Ways to Read with Your Toddler

Again! Again!

We all know that reading books is beneficial for our toddlers’ development – especially their language skills. But do we really need to read Goodnight Moon again? And again?! While it may feel tedious, your toddler is demonstrating an important developmental skill when they do this…Repetition. 

Toddlers love to do the same thing over and over (I watched my 15-month-old open and close a cabinet today for at least 10 minutes…). It’s how they fine-tune all those new neural pathways their brains are busy building. So there’s a reason your child might become attached to a single book and want to hear it over and over: it’s actually helping them learn! And while it can get tiring for us as parents, just remember that each time you re-read that book, your child is taking in and solidifying more information.

But fear not, this repetition doesn’t have to feel frustrating. Today I’ll share ways to make repetition more entertaining for both you and your child. Below you’ll find three speech therapist-approved methods for reading the classic children’s book Where’s Spot? Best of all, you can apply these strategies to pretty much any children’s book. So no matter which book your child chooses for the hundredth time, you will be equipped with three different reading styles that will support your child’s communication, while helping you stay sane.

Copy Me!

First, let’s talk about imitation, because this is the skill that these reading strategies are designed to support. Toddlers love to copy things they see and hear around them – for better or worse. It’s how they learn! When it comes to communication, imitation is a crucial pre-linguistic skill, meaning it’s a skill that develops before children start using words independently. Children will imitate gestures, sounds, and words that they see and hear as a stepping stone towards communicating on their own. For example, your child might copy you saying “moo” a dozen (or more) times before eventually pointing to a cow and saying “moo” all on their own.

As we observe toddlers during typical development, we see a general pattern emerge in how these imitation skills progress. You might have a 12-month-old who claps after they see you clap, a 15-month-old who copies playful sounds like “beep” or “woof-woof” while you play, or a 20-month-old who will try to repeat words like “doggie” after you say them. Children develop these skills on their own timeline and at different ages, but you can usually expect to see this general progression of their imitation skills in the first few years of life.

Why Does It Matter?

Research has shown a strong link between early imitation skills and future language skills. As a parent, one way you can support your child’s communication is to be very intentional about what type of communication you are modeling for them. More specifically, trying to model at a level that your child is most likely to imitate. This gives them opportunities to practice so they can eventually use the skills independently. Modeling at the right level also strengthens their imitation skills overall, so they’ll be more likely to start imitating at the next level.

For example, when your child copies your gestures – like waving or signing “more” – it supports their communication in two ways:

#1

It helps them learn to start waving and signing “more” on their own (without imitating)

#2

It builds on their ability to imitate so that they might begin imitating other forms of communication, like sounds and words

Putting It into Practice

Now, let’s take what you’ve learned about the development of imitation skills and use it to create variety in how you read with your toddler. Try each version and see if you can find the one that matches your child’s imitation skill level – you’ll know which level is correct when your child tries to copy what you do! Feel free to mix it up and use all of these reading styles, even if your child is not imitating at a certain level yet. It never hurts for them to get the exposure to your modeling, plus it provides variety for you. A win-win!

Here are three new ways to read Where’s Spot? with your child:

#1 Focus on Gestures

• Knock on each door before you open it to see who’s inside

• Wave hi to the animals when you open the door, wave again when you close the door

• Shake your head or wag your finger “no” when you don’t find Spot

• Point to the animal you find

• Model the “open” sign before you open the doors, and the “close” sign before you close them

• Model the “more” sign before you turn the page, and “all done” sign when you finish the book

#2 Make Silly Sounds

• Say “knock-knock-knock” as you knock on the doors

• Say “peek a..boo!” as you open each door

• Say “uh oh” each time you don’t find Spot

• Model an animal sound on each page (you might have to get creative here – what noise do turtles even make?)

• Add an action sound for each animal (e.g. when the bear is eating honey you could smack your lips and say “mmm!”)

• Be silly and get creative! It doesn’t necessarily need to be relevant to the story. Maybe you give a big exaggerated kiss to each animal that you find while saying “MWAH!” (this would be both a gesture and a sound effect; two for one!)

#3 Model Simple Words

• Say “open” and then “hi” to the animal inside when you open the doors

• Say “bye” and then “close” as you close the doors

• Say “more” as you turn the page to see the next animal

• Name the animal as you open the door  

*Pro tip: once your child is familiar with the story, pause with anticipation to see if they fill in the animal name on their own (“It’s a……… monkey!”). This is a strategy to help move past imitation and into independent words.

Bonus: #4 Just Read the Story!

Even with all these new strategies to try, don’t underestimate the value of just reading the book as it’s written. It allows your child to become familiar with the book and the words so that the other strategies are even more effective. Not to mention it provides models of mature sentence structures and more sophisticated vocabulary than what they get to hear in day-to-day interactions. After you read the words on the page, pause and see what your child is drawn to. Maybe they will point to a picture that you can label for them, or maybe they will open and close the flap on their own.

Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that there is a lot of opportunity for overlap between these imitation levels. You can (and should!) model multiple levels simultaneously once you get the hang of it. For example, knocking on the doors and saying “knock-knock-knock” (gesture + sound effect), or making an animal noise and then naming the animal (sound effect + simple word). Modeling multiple levels at once provides options for your child to imitate what they are most comfortable with.

And to bring it full circle, remember that repetition is how toddlers learn. So don’t be discouraged if your child doesn’t imitate these skills right away. Keep modeling and maybe on the second, fifth, or twentieth read they’ll be ready to give it a try. Just keep modeling and let them do the rest!

For a quick and easy reference of the strategies discussed here, you can download this free handout. Let me know in the comments which of these strategies work best with your toddler’s favorite book!

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Do you have questions about your toddler’s imitation skills or want to learn more about supporting your child’s communication? Reach out now for a parent coaching session:

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