Why does my toddler learn animal sounds but not basic functional words?
Young toddlers often master advanced concepts like numbers and animal sounds while completely avoiding basic functional words to ask for things. This leaves parents wondering how to encourage practical communication and whether it is simply too early for effective word use.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Keep modeling the wordsDid this help you?
- 2Repeat the word back to the child before giving them what they want without withholding itemsDid this help you?
- 3Give the child a few seconds of processing time to answerDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My 8 year old has problems with saying no, she is a constant people pleaser it seems and no amount of talking with her gently changes her thoughts.”source ↗
“Recently one of her friend's that is always over here, sister came over maybe 10 years of age, basically my daughter gave her all her squishys for a terrible scam of a trade.”source ↗
“How do I get through to her the importance of standing up to yourself and should I ban her friends sister from my house? My wife and I are at basically at odds with this.”source ↗
“How do we get him to use those words when he wants something? Or is it too early for him to use those words effectively?”source ↗
“I guess since he started talking so young, we felt like we weren't doing something right since we thought he would say basic commands first.”source ↗
Where this came up
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