My child only speaks in two word phrases at age 3 years and 3 months

Question:

My child is 3 years and 3 monthes old ,She speaks two words sentences ,she can repeat almost every word told
to her ,but the other children in her age speaks three or four words sentences ,and they can pronounce the
words clearer than her .I don’t know why ? does that mean she is less clever ? I see that she observes things
a lot ..she loves watching the series at TV ..she loves watching people..on TV ..She imitate me and others in
every thing even in cooking and washing the dishes…What do you think ?Why she is not talking like other
children ..Is that normal ?Is she clever ? Iam worried about that ..

First response:

Several things could be going on here but I need more information to better support you.
1. Is your child learning to speak more than one language in your home?
2. How many hours a day does she watch television?
3. Is she an only child?
4. Has she ever attended any formal preschool or daycare setting?
5. When she speaks the two-word phrases - can you understand those two words very clearly, somewhat clearly or it depends?

Many children continue to speak in two-word phrases at this age and small tweaks to their environments, learning activities and amount of television viewing usually
change this within a matter of months.  The best thing to do is figure out how to model more with longer sentences and the worst thing to do is punish her for not speaking in longer sentences.

Try not to worry - this is definitely NOT a sign that your child lacks intelligence.  She is more than likely extremely clever!  It is comforting for me to hear that she is imitating you and your actions.  It is also a good sign that she is so observant.

More details:

1- My child is learning one language ” Arabic “, I don’t want to teach her English until she speaks Arabic very well.

Ahhh… I see. It is certainly a parent’s choice of when and how they choose to introduce a second language to their child.  I believe your little one could benefit from at least seeing English vocabulary words and pictures now.  There is plenty of research that proves it is easier and quicker for a three to six year old child to learn multiple languages than even a ten year old child.  It is something to think about.  Comparing the English words to Arabic will help to increase her vocabulary in both languages and her critical thinking/problem solving skills.  From what you have described to me, your daughter seems to be a global thinker.  An “old soul” kind of a child.  She will learn to read through whole words rather than through breaking everything into small sound units called phonics.  Although she will need formal training in both areas of language learning, she will be a stronger whole word reader.  The one thing to remember about learning languages is… ONE language (Arabic in your case) should be used consistently for conversation.  It is too difficult to try and learn to converse in phrases with more than one at a time.

2- She watches television almost most of the time ,as soon as she wakes up she asks to watch TV ,actually it is my mistake and her father..we  watch TV all the time when we are at home,actually living in Saudi Arabia makes it difficult to go out a lot because of the hot weather ,This is why we stay at home most of the time and watch TV we are not used to do lots of activities.She does not like to watch the cartoons ,she loves watching children ..and the television series especially if there is lots of laughing , screaming , crying , kissing and hugs.

O.K.  this is a serious problem and this is the root of her literacy delays.  This has got to stop.  I want to provide you with some examples of things you can do instead of allow her to watch television.  I suggest parents create a schedule for their young children and try hard to stick to the schedule.  Please go to this link to see a page I have created for you that has a sample schedule and the picture icons for you to use if you like to make your own.  Your little girl will love it!  She will love having a variety of engaging active learning moments throughout her day.  The only reason she doesn’t do that now is because television feels “good.”  She doesn’t know anything else.  Feel free to ask me anything about this process.

The other thing is that your little girl must start learning to use her imagination through play.  This is critical for the development of problem solving, innovative learning skills and critical thinking.  It will help her conversational skills tremendously.  I suggest she have tea parties with her stuffed animals, grandma, cousins, etc…  She can pretend to go places in her make believe car.  She needs a box filled with dress up clothes (nothing fancy… just stuff you don’t wear anymore) and other “props” that she can pretend with like old paper towel tubes, telephones, an object that could be a pretend steering wheel, etc…  I can’t emphasize enough to you, the parents, and anybody who babysits her… IMAGINARY PLAY is CRITICAL to language development.  When she watches television there is a one-way dialogue and she isn’t a part of that because she is simply listening.  She will talk more and use her vocabulary in different ways with this kind of play.

3- yes ,she is an only child.I leave her with my mother in law when I go to work… My mother in law lives with her daughters and son ,so she does not live by herself ..My child hears a lot of talking …She can hear them talk all the time ..they are 17 and older..We also visit my parents twice a week for four hours each time ,there she meets the children of my sisters and brothers but actually she likes to sit with us the elders not with the children .

Ahhh… I have highlighted what you are saying above that is important to note.  She is always HEARING and I don’t see mention of her speaking.  She is certainly not speaking with the television so that is also HEARING related.  Don’t get me wrong, children also need to listen and hear but if the problem is a delay in their expressive language then that needs to be the focus for practice.  Just like you have “practiced” the pronouns by expecting them to be used.  You must begin to expect her to engage in conversation.  It doesn’t matter if that conversation happens with a stuffed doll… it matters that she is conversing.  If you allowed her not to use the pronouns correctly then she wouldn’t be using them correctly.  I hope you see where I am going with this.  The focus and expectation for her interaction with you needs to be raised a bit.  Developing a schedule and sticking to it will help tremendously because she will not be in front of the television for so long.  She will be talking in long phrases before you know it!  BY THE WAY, correct pronoun usage at her age is AMAZING!  You will not find many that consistently do that - good job mom!

4-She has never attended any formal preschool or daycare setting .I intend to register her at a preschool the next year when her age is 4 years and a half .

Great!  The earlier the better.  Children perform for others in a different way than they do for their parents.  Many times the structure of the school setting is all it takes for a child to grow immensely in a few short months.  Having children to play with on a regular basis is important so she begins to see play as a valuable and fun experience.  We want her to engage in play with others and not sit with the elders.  Through play she is actively involved in learning most of the time.  Passive learning offers very few benefits to brain development and skill development (especially in math and science).

5- sometimes she speaks clearly other times not so clear …especially to strangers,for example, she says a word by omitting one letter ..when I insist that she says the word like I say it  , she says it exactly like me..( I insist only when I think that the word is easy for her and that she can say it correctly ).

Good job!  Being persistent about helping use good speech is important.  It is also important that you not push her with sounds that may be too hard because that is what causes stuttering in young children.  From everything you have explained to me she doesn’t seem to have a speech disorder in articulation (how she pronounces sounds in her native language) but do keep listening carefully and take her to a specialist if her pronunciations don’t get clearer with increase expressive language practice.  She probably has an extremely high receptive vocabulary (words she knows and understands internally) because of her extreme television viewing and time spent with adults.  However, the trouble you are having is with her expressive vocabulary (words she uses in her day to day speech) which again can be contributed to the extreme amount of television viewing.  The good news is that she isn’t that far behind but because she is a girl she should probably be farther than 2 word phrases at this point.

By the way it may help you to know that she is very emotional and enthusiastic about new things to her .She is also very stubborn.

Try creating the schedule so that mother-in-law, cousins, mom, dad, grandparents, etc… are all on the same page with her.  You have stated that she is emotional and enthusiastic, therefore she will buy right into the new way of doing things.  FUN! FUN! FUN!  Make it seem fun and engage with her in conversations (at least 5 minutes in length) every hour.  You will have to start the conversation and continuously prompt her to keep talking to you.  Offer new vocabulary words (orally) during these conversations and have her repeat them to you.  If you teach her the word concrete for example, take her to some concrete and let her feel it and see it.  Three year olds learn through all of their senses.  They can’t just hear a word and know it… this is one reason she loves television.

She is seeing the pictures. Our learning plans offer many more strategies, tips and activities that are designed for her exact age.  They are certainly a great investment.  Please let me know what else I can do for you!

Sincerely,

Tracey Bryant Stuckey

Chief Creative Learning Officer

www.wigglegigglelearn.com