Speech and Language Development- Baby Steps

Your twins' or triplets' speech and language skills begin to develop, believe it or not, from day one. Long before our kids utter their first words, they are already piecing together the meaning of what we are saying to and around them. It is never too early to speak frequently and clearly to your child- an environment rich with words will help boost your children's language development. Some tips and signs to look for in infancy are detailed in this helpful article from the American Academy of Pediatrics here.

Those of us with twins or more have a slightly more hectic home environment, making it a challenge to carve out one-on-one time with each child to have meaningful mini-conversations to boost their verbal skills. Look for opportunities to present themselves; for example, you can only change one diaper at a time, so make the most of those couple minutes to "chat" with your baby one-on-one.

Even the busiest of parents can use the time with their kids to "narrate" aloud what is happening in their daily lives. You may feel a bit like a news reporter, but even mundane tasks such as preparing the morning breakfast can be a speech-boosting session: "Here is your milk. This is cereal. Isn't the banana yummy?"... and so on. Turn off the TV, turn your cellphone to vibrate and put it away, and focus on your kids. Simply being present and communicative with your children will go a long way towards boosting their future speech and cognitive skills. For further information, consult with HealthyChildren.org. In addition, my book Raising Twins has information and advice about language development in both the infancy and toddler sections.