Nicola Lathey - Small Talk: How to Develop Your Childs Language Skills from Birth to Age Four

About the Authors

Nicola Lathey is a childrens speech and language therapist specializing in children under five. She is the founder of the Owl Centre, a private speech and language therapy clinic for children in Oxfordshire, England.

Originally from West Wales, she now lives in Oxford with her husband and their daughter, Jess. Nicola qualified from University College London in 1999 and, before setting up her private practice, worked for the National Health Service and abroad in Australia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. She was inspired to become a speech and language therapist after observing the therapy given to her younger brother with Down syndrome. This gave her a direct insight into the value of therapeutic intervention.

Nicola is a member of ASLTIP (Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice), the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and the Health Professional Council.

Tracey Blake is an experienced journalist and editor. She has worked at the Daily Mail since 2005 and writes a baby blog called Small Talk on dailymail.co.uk. She lives in Buckinghamshire, England with her partner, James, and their children, Minnie and Monty.

Tracey came up with the idea to write Small Talk after Nicola visited her house for a social gathering. Nicola pointed out that Minnie, who was only 10 weeks old at the time, was very chatty. This surprised Tracey as she had no idea that the sounds Minnie was making were in any way conversational.

A few months later, Nicola visited again and told Tracey that Minnie had started babbling (making consonant noises). Fascinated, Tracey looked for a book on how communication develops in babies, but there wasnt one. So she called Nicola and said that they should write one togetherand the rest, as they say, is history!

For more information, visit www.smalltalktime.com.

New York

Small Talk: How to Develop Your Childs Language Skills from Birth to Age Four
Copyright 2013, 2014 Nicola Lathey and Tracey Blake

First published in the United Kingdom in 2013 as Small Talk: Simple Ways to Boost Your Childs Speech and Language Development from Birth by Macmillan.

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or online reviews, no portion of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Illustrations in
Illustrations of courtesy of Karen Chan

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This book contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the book. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or riskpersonal or otherwisethat is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lathey, Nicola, author.
Small talk : how to develop your childs language skills from birth to
age four / Nicola Lathey, Top speech and language therapist and Tracey Blake.
pages cm
First published in the United Kingdom in 2013 as Small talk: simple ways to boost your childs speech and language development from birth by Macmillan.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61519-203-8 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-61519-204-5 (ebook)
1. Language acquisition--Parent participation. 2. Infants--Language. 3. Interpersonal communication in infants. 4. Parent and infant. I. Blake, Tracey, author. II. Title.
P118.5.L38 2014
401'.93--dc23
2013037684

ISBN 978-1-61519-203-8
Ebook ISBN 978-1-61519-204-5

Cover design by Ploy Siripant
Cover photographs realPHOTO | iStock by Getty Images

Manufactured in the United States of America
Distributed by Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
Distributed simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Ltd.

First printing February 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For our childrenJess, Minnie and Monty

Contents

3 (06 months)

4 (from 4 months)

5 (612 months)

6 (1218 months)

7 (1824 months)

8 (2436 months)

9 (3648 months)

Preface

For the past 14 years, Ive been fortunate enough to have my dream jobI am a childrens speech and language therapist (the US equivalent of which is a speech-language pathologist, or SLP). My work has taken me to child development centers as far afield as Australia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, but now I am based in Oxford, England, where I run my own private practice, The Owl Center.

I specialize in working with children under the age of five and have helped patients with all sorts of speech, language and communication problemsfrom babies who arent yet babbling, to toddlers who are more interested in Thomas the Tank Engine than talking, to children whose speech has been severely affected by their pacifier addiction. I have helped children with a huge range of issues over the years and, in this book, I share my expertise, tips and tricks with you. Small Talk is all about boosting your babys speech and language skillsand you both having fun and bonding while doing it.

Many times, Ive had the privilege to witness the special moment when a child seemingly so effortlessly utters his or her first wordand the parents shed a tear that all their coochy-coos, peek-a-boos and constant repetition have paid off (more on this later).

The magic of communication still has the power to wow me and I hope that this book will inspire you to feel the same.

Nicola Lathey

Introduction

Small Talk has two purposes: to help you identify whats going on with your childs communication and to show you how to encourage the natural stages of language development with fun games and activities. I want to teach you how you can make learning funboth for you and for your child.

Whatever questions you may have about your childs language development, I am here to answer them. Maybe youre wondering why your 18-month-old cant say Mommy when all her peers can, or why your toddler constantly shouts? Will a pacifier hold back your babys speech? Does your friend boast that her baby has mastered 100 words, while yours only knows 10? Just how can weaning affect language development? Does watching TV help or hinder your childs language ability? Or perhaps youre just interested in having a conversation with your 10-week-old? Whatever your reason, this book has been written to reassure and inform you.