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By ShariHarpaz, CCC-SLP, Speech-Language Pathologist, Ebeanstalk.comIveseen it more now than ever…children are talking much later thanthey used to. And I have a pretty good idea of why they are talkinglate. Go up to the mirror, and take a look…its our fault.Becarefull…the kids see what we do and often imitate it. And whetherparents like it or not, early language development is chieflyinfluenced by interaction with their children. Infants develop earlylanguage skills through engaging in vocal play. They learn thesatisfaction of communicating by going back-and-forth with a parentmaking sounds. Interacting with babytoys in a mutual way also contributes tolanguage development. As toddlers they develop vocabulary and learngrammar through language stimulation from their environment andinteraction with their family and peers.Here is the problem;in our busy world our dependence on technology and the need forinstant gratification has constrained these important interactionswith our children.Does this sound familiar? Well, this is theproblem… We text message our friends quickly when in a car.We check email on our phones and PDAs during family dinner.Children play portable video games or watch DVD more frequently. Allof these changes have changed the way families and friendscommunicate and this has negatively impacted early languagedevelopment for many young children. As a result, there has been asignificant increase in children who are late-talkers. Thinkback to when you were young. you probably played games and sang songsin the car to help pass the time. BUT…today technology is fillingour spare time. Cars have DVDs. Our kids have portable video gamesthat they play with for hours. And dont get me started on theyoung-ones having cell phones. Great inventsions absolutely – buttheir presence means there is less time for parents to take part inlanguagestimulation withtheir young children. This doesnt have to be the case. Thegood news is that in many cases all these children need to catch upis more one-to-one language stimulation with their family. Here aremy thoughts about making sure technology doesnt get in the way offamily time.1. Make up a story together Your child willhave to really listen and be creative to help create a cohesivestory. Decide as a family what the title of the story will be first.Then each person takes a turn telling the next sentence. 2.Play I Spy . Increase the difficulty of the game bydescribing the object rather than saying the label (i.e. I spysomething you ride with 2 wheels and handlebars). Hint: Make a rulethat you cant repeat the same object that someone has previouslysaid so that your child really has to pay close attention3.What did you do today? at the end of an active day, everyone cantell what their favorite and least favorite things they did were. Bysharing the good and bad moments it teaches children to vocalizetheir emotions. You, as parents, share your feelings too whichprovides your children with a great model.THIS REALLY WORKS:Take advantage of car rides when distractions can be kept out and youcan gain your childs undivided attention. Be creative and createan open environment for your children to communicate with you and forthem to learn. JUST HAVE FUN! Plain and simple fun.