A good vocabulary should contain a variety of types of words including nouns, verbs, adjectives, names for favorite people, prepositions, and early pronouns. Early vocabulary should contain functional core vocabulary that can be used throughout the day. I like to start with the following words:
eat, milk, all done, go, open, help, mine, give me, more
Next, I like to target more specific words which relate to each individual child. These words are typically their favorite foods, toys, and people such as:
Mama, dada, hi/bye, no, cookie, ball, water, drink, bubbles, car, baby
Kids learn words through exposure and repetition so aim to target words your child interacts with frequently. Also, think about the sounds in the words as well as word length. Words with 1-2 syllables are easiest as are words that contain reduplicated sounds such as mama, baby, bubble, etc. The earlier developing sounds include: P B M T D H W N
Remember a word only counts, if the child is able to produce it independently. Pronunciation does not have to be correct (e.g. ‘bubu’ for bubbles or wawa for water).
In 2011 researchers at the Child Study Institute at Bryn Mawr College identified the following 25 words every toddler should be using by age 2:
all gone, baby, ball, banana, bath, bye-bye, book, car, cat, cookie, Daddy, dog, eye, hat, hi/hello, hot, juice, milk, Mommy, more, no, nose, shoe, thank you, yes
Children typically start combining words together around 18-24 months, or when they have approximately 50 words in their vocabulary.
If your child is not yet producing words, or has less words in their vocabulary than developmentally appropriate, speak with a speech-language pathologist for further guidance.
Talk soon, Kim
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