Teenage moms may feel unprepared to tackle even the basics of infant care. Often, their living, financial and educational arrangements are precarious, and they can find it difficult to focus on their baby's needs. However, teaching teenage moms about their child's language development is critical, as a language-poor environment can lead to problems later on with cognition and peer relationships. Make your lessons accessible to teen parents by explicitly teaching them how to help their child's language development, keeping in mind that they are unlikely to get the information from other sources.
Step 1
Engage teenage moms by discussing whether or not language is important. The group consensus will be that it is extremely important. Talk about ways that the moms use language everyday and ask them to list the things that would be difficult to accomplish were they unable to speak or understand language.
Step 2
Talk to your group of teenage moms about how they are their baby's teacher, and that they are responsible for the majority of the language that their baby learns. Tell the group about activities they can do with their child that facilitate language development. Examples of such activities are singing songs, reading books and keeping a running conversation going as moms go about their daily activities.
Step 3
Demonstrate effective ways to talk to infants, and then ask your group of teen mothers to pair up and role-play the communication technique you have shown them. You can demonstrate how parents can mirror their baby's expressions, name nearby objects, and talk to infants about activities that are taking place around them.
Step 4
Inform teenage moms about the connection between television and poor language development. A study by Dr. Fredrick J. Zimmerman of the Child Health Institute at Washington State University clearly showed a decrease in language development when children under 16 months of age watched television, as described in his 2007 research, "Associations between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years."
Step 5
Break down the stages of language development into ages and provide concrete examples of what teenage moms can expect when their child is a specific age. Hand out the information in a packet so that the moms can refer to it as their child grows. For example, a child who is 6 to 12 months old may be able to say "mama" while a 2-year-old child typically has a vocabulary of around 50 words.
Step 6
Give teenage moms resources they can turn to in the event that their child does not meet important milestones in his language development. Moms need to know that early intervention can be critical if their child is showing signs of a language delay. You can include this information in the same packet that includes the stages of language development.
Tips and Warnings
- Keep teen parenting classes interesting to teenage moms by breaking the information up into small segments. Do a variety of activities to maintain their attention.
References
- Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program: Effects of Abuse and Neglect on Development (PDF)
- Iowa State University Extension: Understanding Children--Language Development (PDF)
- University of Washington: Associations between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age Two Years (PDF)
