How do you get them to do this?

[sadattimes]

Angelina can speak REALLY well with 2-3 words but once she goes more its babble and you CANT understand her at all.

So her worker told me to make her speak NO more then 3 words. How on earth am i to do that??? She always goes off with LOTS of words and I can understand what she wants but others look at me to interpret her "language" even her Daddy cant understand but me and my mom understnd her.

I am TRYING to get her to talk 3 words but its not working, how do you teach a almost 3 yr old to speak 3 words???

[becca]

First off, I am not sure that our speech therapist would agree with that approach. But, everyone has a different opinion I am sure.

I guess the only way to do it would be to ask her questions about what she is saying ... questions that require only a couple of words to answer. For instance, if she is asking for juice and going on about being thirsty or what cup she wants, etc ... You say,

Would you like some juice? (yes or no)
Which cup would you like ... the blue or the yellow? (blue or yellow)
Do you want ice in it? (yes or no)

Of course, this is just an example. Again, personally, I would let her babble. It's her way of developing her own speech and language skills. Most likely, one day it will just begin to clear up and you'll find yourself saying, "Remember when she just babbled? It was so cute!"

Becca

[sammytkitty]

I agree with Becca. We do it where Em will reply (although we have the opposite problem with no babbling and no words), but if she does say yeah or no, we say, "Say Yes Mama or No Dada" (we are working on two words grouped together). She probably wants more focus so she will pronunciate more and think more clearly about the formation of the words so she is better understood, which I guess limiting her is one way to do this. I think all speech therapists have their own ways or techniques. One of ours pushes picture charts and sign language, while the other stated that she feels that is hurting Em and does not want to do it-go figure! I would try asking direct questions, and if she answers with babble, repeat what she said in three words and say, "You want juice?, OK, Say...I want juice" or whatever the sentence.
Laura