Little Seedlings: How to Grow Your Child’s Expressive Language at Home
- Carmen White
- Nov 12
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Welcome to Together We Communicate
At Together We Communicate, we believe communication is more than words. It’s eye contact, pointing, gestures, facial expressions, sounds, and signs; all the ways your child tells you their wants, thoughts, and feelings.
Our goal is to help families foster communication in all forms, making learning enjoyable, natural, and meaningful. Do this by adjusting how you interact with your child, modeling language (saying something for your child), and waiting (giving your child time to communicate).
This post will walk you through these research-based strategies to help you support your child's expressive language at home. Because your everyday routines are the richest soil for learning to communicate, let's look at how to nurture language growth throughout your day.
Why Families Matter So Much
You are your child’s most important communication partner. Think of language as building a house. Daily interactions form a strong foundation for communication. How you speak, your facial expressions, and your responses all reinforce that foundation.
Research shows that the way caregivers/parents talk with their children shapes language outcomes. Every short conversation, smile, and shared routine adds a “brick” to your child’s communication foundation (Cowan, 2018; Coffey & Snedeker, 2025).
Now, let's talk about how to keep your child interested in communicating with you.
When playing with your child or reading books, you want to get down on their level. You want your child to stay engaged with you so you can provide learning opportunities. When you are on the floor with them or at their level, it gives you the opportunity to hold up items or the book to your face when modeling words for them. Your child can see what your mouth and lips are doing and make connections between your model and the item.
Another way to hold their attention is by following their lead during play! Play should be enjoyable, and it’s natural for your child to lose interest and shift between toys or activities. Make it engaging! Join them! When you play on your child’s level and follow their lead, you build a responsive, rich language environment that supports expressive language growth (Blom et al., 2023).
Talk Through the Day: Self-Talk and Parallel Talk
The more you talk with your child, the more chances they have to learn new words and meanings. Using self-talk or parallel talk provides varied ways for your child to interact with the language in their surroundings.
Self-Talk: Describe what you are doing. “I’m washing apples. Wash, wash. Cut apples. Eat apples. Yum.”
Parallel Talk: Describe what your child is doing. “You’re rolling the ball. Roll, roll, roll!”
Both expose your child to language in real-life contexts, which helps their vocabulary and understanding grow (Coffey & Snedeker, 2025; Blom et al., 2023).
Grow their words one step at a time.
Children learn best when you meet them where they are and add a step. If your child points, name it. If they use one word, add another. Each simple step matters.
This simple approach builds your child’s expressive language naturally and shows them that communication can grow with every shared moment (Blom et al., 2023).
Here are some ways you can do this:
If your child points to bubbles without saying a word → you say “bubbles.”
If your child says “bubbles,” → you say “more bubbles” or “blow bubbles.”
If your child says “more bubbles,” → you say “blow more bubbles.”
Repetition gives your child more chances to hear and remember the model, helping them recall it later. Short, repeated models help your child take expressive steps. Clear repetition builds vocabulary over time (Blom et al., 2023).
Wait and Watch: Give Space for Your Child’s Voice
After you model, pause. Waiting gives your child time to respond with a sound, gesture, or word. Children’s own attempts to communicate are what drive language development. So those pauses matter (Ribot et al., 2017).
Act unsure for a second, then wait. Your child might point, look, or vocalize. That’s communication! Then, respond warmly with your word model.
Choices and Gestures: Reduce Frustration and Inspire Talking
Offer your child two choices so they can point or use a sign to communicate their preference.
“Apple or cracker?” Hold the option to your mouth as you say the word, so they can see you mouthing it as you model.
If your child points to the apple, model the word “apple”. If they say “apple”, you model “want apple”.
If your child responds with a gesture or baby signs, great! They are communicating! You accept that gesture as a word and add to it.
If your child uses the baby sign "more," respond with, "more apples." Gestures and baby signs do not delay speech; instead, they offer your child a way to communicate and support faster word development (Blom et al., 2023).
Everyday Setups that Spark Communication
You can spark opportunities every day by placing a favorite toy in sight but out of reach, offering snacks or toys one at a time, or pausing before the best part of a song. Pausing works well! Remember, it gives your child a chance to join the conversation.
Each moment encourages your child to look, point, or speak. Model the word or phrase in response (Ribot et al., 2017; Blom et al., 2023)
Celebrate All Communication
Smiles, claps, repeating what your child says, or saying "I heard you!" show your child their efforts matter. Even small acts of imitation or pointing are milestones in communication.
Remember: expressive language begins long before full sentences. Every gesture, sound, and look is a seed that grows into words.
Grab your free handout by clicking the picture below!
References
Blom, E., Fikkert, P., Scheper, A., van Wittleloostuijn, M., & van Alphen, P. (2023). The language environment at home of children with (a suspicion of)
developmental language disorder and relations with standardized language measures. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(10), 3917–
Coffey, J. R., & Snedeker, J. (2025). How strong is the relationship between
caregiver speech and language development? A meta-analysis. Journal of
Child Language, 1–36. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-
Cowan, J. (2018). Explaining language skill development to parents using a
house-building analogy. The ASHA
Ribot, K. M., Hoff, E, & Burridge, A. (2017). Language use contributes to expressive
language growth: Evidence from bilingual children. Frontiers in Psychology,
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