Talking Toddlers

What if the most important part of your child learning to talk happens before he ever says a single word?
Most moms don't start thinking seriously about speech until they're counting words: 18 months, 20 months, two years old. 
But talking is not the beginning of language development. Words arrive after months of listening, watching, babbling, gesturing, imitating, taking turns, experimenting with sounds, and learning that communication gets another human being to respond.
In this episode, I share a simple moment from a mothers' group that captures this beautifully. One nine-month-old baby was happily filling the room with a giant “AHHH!” Instead of treating it as noise, I joined her - and expanded what she was already doing. Within minutes, three babies were watching, listening, experimenting, and trying new sounds.
That is how learning happens.
We’ll talk about why language grows through participation, not performance, why questions like “What's this?” and “Can you say ball?” can easily become testing, and how ordinary moments throughout your day give your baby hundreds of opportunities to practice real communication.
I’ll also walk you through my Model → Shape → Practice → Fade framework and show you how it applies from babbling all the way into words and early phrases.
You don't need more speech drills.
You need to recognize what your child is already giving you — and know how to build from there.
FREE RESOURCE: The Top 10 Essential Skills Every Baby Needs Before Talking
Find the free guide in the show notes and learn what to watch for long before you're worried about word counts.
Because long before the words arrive, your child is already learning how to talk.
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Helpful links:
▶ Watch Talking Toddlers on YouTube:  Click HERE

📘 Download Erin’s free guide: 10 Essential Skills Before Talking

💬 Learn about parent coaching or schedule a Clarity Call:
CLICK HERE TO CONNECT
🌿 Visit Hyer Learning:
www.HyerLearning.com
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DISCLAIMER:
This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your pediatrician or a qualified health provider with questions about your child’s development or health. The views shared are based on Erin Hyer’s professional experience and are intended to support informed parenting, not to replace individual consultation or care. Every child and family is unique — please use your discretion and consult trusted professionals when making decisions for your child.

Whining is one of the most common - and frustrating - phases of toddlerhood. But often, it doesn’t become a pattern because a child is “bad” or manipulative. It becomes a pattern because it works.
In this episode, Erin Hyer, speech-language pathologist and early child development specialist, explains why toddlers whine, why “use your words” is often too vague for very young children, and how parents can begin replacing whining with clearer, more effective communication.
This conversation is not about punishment, shame, or demanding more maturity than a toddler actually has. It’s about understanding how young children learn, recognizing what they are developmentally capable of, and knowing how to guide them with calm, simple, intentional support.
Erin walks through the difference between whining as a learned pattern and whining as a child’s best available communication in the moment. She also shares a practical framework parents can begin using right away: model, shape, practice, and fade.
If you’ve started noticing more whining lately — or you want to prevent it from becoming your toddler’s default way of communicating — this episode will help you understand the why behind the behavior and what your role is in shaping something better.
Because the little years really are the big years.
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Helpful links:
▶ Watch Talking Toddlers on YouTube:  Click HERE

📘 Download Erin’s free guide: 10 Essential Skills Before Talking

💬 Learn about parent coaching or schedule a Clarity Call:
CLICK HERE TO CONNECT
🌿 Visit Hyer Learning:
www.HyerLearning.com
Educational and coaching information only. This episode is not a substitute for an individual speech-language, developmental, behavioral, or medical evaluation.

Do you jump in the second your baby struggles? Wipe her face after every bite? Keep the TV or a podcast running because the house feels too quiet?
These are ordinary, loving habits — but sometimes our instinct to help, clean, entertain, or keep things moving can quietly take away the very experiences our babies and toddlers need to grow.
In this episode, Erin Hyer, speech-language pathologist and early child development specialist, walks through 7 loving habits that can slow your child’s development — and explains what is happening underneath each one.
You’ll learn why it matters to:
give your child time to struggle and problem-solve
prioritize floor time over too much container time
protect quiet so language can develop
let babies explore food without constant wiping and interruption
give toddlers enough time to process and respond
allow boredom and child-led play
follow your child’s attention instead of constantly redirecting it
This is not about guilt or doing everything perfectly.
It’s about noticing the small patterns that fill your child’s day — and knowing when to step in, when to wait, and when a few extra seconds of space may be exactly what development needs.
Sometimes slowing down is exactly what gives your child enough room to do the growing.
🔗 GRAB YOUR COMPANION GUIDE HERE
Episode 162 SHARED ATTENTION: CLICK HERE
Helpful links:
▶ Watch Talking Toddlers on YouTube:  Click HERE

📘 Download Erin’s free guide: 10 Essential Skills Before Talking

💬 Learn about parent coaching or schedule a Clarity Call:
CLICK HERE TO CONNECT
🌿 Visit Hyer Learning:
www.HyerLearning.com
Educational and coaching information only. This episode is not a substitute for an individual speech-language, developmental, behavioral, or medical evaluation.
Because the little years are the big years.

What is stealing your toddler’s attention?
If your child seems constantly distracted, overly active, emotionally reactive, or unable to stay with one activity for very long, the answer may be more complicated than simply “they need to learn to focus.”
In this episode of Talking Toddlers, Erin looks at four powerful influences shaping a young child’s developing attention: predictable daily rhythms, restorative sleep, screens and overstimulation, and meaningful play and participation.
You’ll learn why attention is not something we can demand from a toddler, why being still in front of a screen is not the same as developing healthy attention, and how sleep, family rhythms, real-life responsibilities, and open-ended play all influence a child’s ability to regulate, learn, communicate, and stay engaged.
Erin also shares why she believes we need to look much more carefully at the environment surrounding a child before quickly labeling problems with attention or behavior. A developing brain has a history—and patterns of sleep, stimulation, movement, connection, and participation begin long before a child reaches school age.
Most importantly, this is not about blaming parents or creating another list of things to worry about. It is about helping you recognize how much influence you already have through the ordinary rhythms of home life.
Because attention is not built by repeatedly telling a toddler to “pay attention.”
It grows through thousands of everyday experiences where a child is rested enough, regulated enough, interested enough, and involved enough to remain present.
And when attention grows, so do learning, connection, participation, and language.
Helpful links:
▶ Watch Talking Toddlers on YouTube:  Click HERE

📘 Download Erin’s free guide: 10 Essential Skills Before Talking

📞 Book a Clarity Call with Erin — Click here and let's talk. 
🌿 Visit Hyer Learning:
www.HyerLearning.com
Educational and coaching information only. This episode is not a substitute for an individual speech-language, developmental, behavioral, or medical evaluation.

Your toddler snatches a toy. The daycare flags it. 
Another mom clocks it at a playdate. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a question starts to form: is something wrong with him?
Nothing is. He's just being asked to do something he isn't built for - yet.
In this episode, I break down the real difference between turn-taking and sharing — two skills that get talked about like they're the same thing, but develop on completely different timelines.
You'll learn:
Why turn-taking can start as early as 12 months — long before real sharing is even possible
The honest age-by-age timeline for when turn-taking, and eventually sharing, actually shows up (it's later than most people think)
Why genuine sharing doesn't reliably emerge until somewhere after your child's third birthday
How to use the Three P's from episode 161 to build this skill at home
Why what gets called "bad behavior" is often just a brain still under construction
This one also gets personal. Almost forty years into this work, I share what the last three decades have actually taught me about the systems built to manage a room of toddlers — not to understand your individual child.
New here? I'm Erin Hyer, a speech-language pathologist, with almost forty years working with toddlers and the families raising them. 
This episode builds on episode 161 (The Three P's) and episode 162 (Joint Attention) — you don't need to have heard those first, but they'll fill in the fuller picture.
Grab the FREE one-page Turn-Taking & Sharing Timeline
Next week - episode 164 - we’ll sort through why some toddlers can settle in and focus - while others can't get there at all — and it has a lot less to do with willpower or personality than you'd think.
Helpful links:
▶ Watch Talking Toddlers on YouTube:  Click HERE

📘 Download Erin’s free guide: 10 Essential Skills Before Talking

💬 Learn about parent coaching or schedule a Clarity Call:
CLICK HERE TO CONNECT
🌿 Visit Hyer Learning:
www.HyerLearning.com
Educational and coaching information only. This episode is not a substitute for an individual speech-language, developmental, behavioral, or medical evaluation.