If your child isn't talking yet, the real question isn't "how do I get words out of them right now." It's what your child is already communicating, and what kind of modeling would make the next step a little easier. That shift matters both for your relationship with your child and for the information you'll eventually hand off to a speech-language pathologist, pediatrician, or early intervention team.
Watch across several days, not one hard afternoon. Pay attention to gestures, pointing, and imitation: does your child respond to their name, use scripts or sound attempts, reach for a device or AAC system, or show signs of understanding more than they can say out loud? A pattern across ordinary routines tells you far more than any single moment of frustration.
Start small. Pick one routine that already happens every day, bath time, snack time, getting dressed, whatever it is, and model one useful word, phrase, gesture, or AAC button inside it. Then pause and give your child real time to respond, in whatever form that takes: an approximation, a sign, a point, a script, a tap on a device. All of that counts as communication. And if the moment starts turning into a standoff, let it go for now.
Underneath the day-to-day approach, a few things are worth keeping in mind: the pre-linguistic foundations (joint attention, imitation, sound play, gesture, AAC modeling) matter as much as spoken words do, and it's worth being honest with yourself about timelines rather than waiting indefinitely for things to click.
If this is part of a bigger pattern, don't wait to ask for help. A hearing check, an early intervention evaluation, a private SLP evaluation, a school-based evaluation, or a general developmental assessment are all reasonable places to start. Getting evaluated early isn't an overreaction. It just means your child gets access to communication support sooner rather than later.
For more on building language into daily life, Little Words has guides on quick practice sessions for toddlers who won't sit still, turning bath time into speech practice, cause-and-effect toys that encourage talking, a year-long plan of language activities for preschoolers, why pretend play matters so much for speech, building language over a bowl of goldfish crackers, activity lists for 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds at home, and a broader roundup of speech therapy apps, plus the full library of parent guides if you want to keep reading.
Important: Little Words is educational support for home practice. It is not a medical device, not an AAC replacement, and not a substitute for a licensed speech-language pathologist, pediatrician, early intervention program, school team, or developmental evaluation.
