Talking Toddlers

You talk to your toddler all day long. You narrate everything. 
And still — he's not talking, or not very much. 
So you do what everyone tells you: talk to him even more.
After almost forty years with toddlers and the families raising them, here's what Erin Hyer, speech-language pathologist, can tell you: talking more isn't the fix.
Language isn't built by the number of words you pour in during the day — it's built by the back-and-forth between you and your child.
In this episode, Erin unpacks why "just talk more" is the advice every worried parent hears, where it came from, and why it quietly misses what actually matters.
She breaks down the famous "thirty-million-word gap" and what the research that followed really found, why screens can't build language no matter how "educational" they look, and the one small shift you can start today.
You'll walk away understanding: 
→ Why talking AT your child isn't the same as talking WITH him 
→ The "thirty-million-word gap" — and what came after it 
→ Why screens and apps don't build talking 
→ What "serve and return" is — and how to start it at breakfast, bath, and bedtime stories 
→ The one shift that does more than a thousand more words
Share this with every mom wondering why her little one isn't talking yet.
 📘 FREE GUIDE — The 10 Things That Come Before Talking: CLICK HERE 
📞 Book a Clarity Call with Erin — Click here and let's talk. 
📩 Join the INSIDERS list — Screen-Free Summer Activities ─────────────────────────────
Talking Toddlers | Erin Hyer, M.S. CCC-SLP Early intervention. Prevention over remediation. Real information for the first three years.
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.
📩 Questions: contact@HyerLearning.com
 🌐 www.HyerLearning.com

If you've ever said "no" to your toddler and watched them do it anyway — you're not failing. You're just missing one piece of information that changes everything.
The developing brain under three cannot reliably process negation. "Don't throw" registers as "throw." "No hitting" registers as "hit." 
And the more you escalate, the more you reinforce the exact behavior you're trying to stop.
In this episode, Erin breaks down why throwing, hitting, and grabbing are not three separate problems — they're one neurological reality — and gives you the specific language and strategies your toddler's brain can actually receive and learn from.
You'll walk away understanding:
→ Why "No" fails — and the developmental timeline behind it
→ What's really happening when you lose your patience (it's more honest than you'd expect)
→ Why your toddler laughs when they hit — and what that laugh actually means
→ How to respond to throwing, hitting, and grabbing in the moment
→ The four things that work every time, across every situation
This is the episode to share with every mom in the thick of the toddler years.
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📞 One question about your child you can't get a clear answer to? Book a Clarity Call with Erin — CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE NOW
📩 Join the INSIDERS list — weekly insights, tips, and more: The Top 10 Essential Skills Every Baby Needs Before Talking
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Talking Toddlers | Erin Hyer, M.S. CCC-SLP
Early intervention. Prevention over remediation. Real information for the first three years.
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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.
📩 Questions: contact@HyerLearning.com
 🌐 www.HyerLearning.com

Is your child a late talker? Or is something else going on? 
After 40 years working with toddlers and their families, I can tell you that the term "late talker" gets thrown around so loosely — by pediatricians, educators, and early intervention teams — that most parents are left more confused than helped.
In this episode I'm giving that term its definition back. We walk through a six-area CHECKLIST you can use today, in your own home, to get a clear and honest picture of where your child actually stands. Not a diagnosis. Not a label. Clarity.
We cover what a true late talker looks like, the THREE RISK FACTORS that change everything, why the alphabet and counting don't count toward your child's word total, why gestures matter more than most people realize, and the real TIMELINE for getting help through the system — because most parents don't know it, and not knowing it is exactly why wait-and-see is so dangerous.
Download the free checklist that goes with this episode: 
🔗 CHECKLIST CLICK HERE
If you want to talk through what you're seeing with someone who has been on the floor with toddlers for 40 years, I have a few openings for a Clarity Call — 20 minutes, no pressure, one question: what does my child actually need right now?
 👉🏻 Book here: [CLARITY CALL LINK]
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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.
📩 Questions: contact@HyerLearning.com
 🌐 www.HyerLearning.com

Is my baby behind? Should she be crawling, walking, talking, or doing more by now?
If you’ve ever found yourself Googling developmental milestones late at night, this episode will help you breathe, think clearly, and know what to watch.
In this episode, Erin explains what milestones really are — not rigid deadlines, but guideposts that help parents notice progress, ask better questions, and support healthy development in everyday life.
You’ll learn why progress matters more than the “perfect” date, how to think about developmental plateaus, and why parents are not passive observers. Your daily rhythms, interactions, play, movement, sleep, and connection all help shape your child’s growth.
This is not about panic. It is about becoming informed, confident, and curious — so you can support your baby or toddler with more clarity.
If you’ve been wondering, “Is this normal?” this episode is for you.
📥 Free resource:
The Top 10 Essential Skills Every Baby Needs Before Talking
👉 Book a Discovery Call 
These are FREE, one-to-one conversations designed to help determine what to focus on first.
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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.
📩 Questions: contact@HyerLearning.com
 🌐 www.HyerLearning.com

Your baby fusses in the car seat and your chest tightens. Your toddler falls apart when the block tower tumbles. Every instinct says — fix it, fast. 
But what if rushing in is quietly preventing the very thing you want to build?
This week on Talking Toddlers, Erin pulls back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood pieces of early development: resilience.
After nearly four decades in private practice, Erin has watched two patterns play out in mom after mom — the 'Rescuer' who soothes every whimper, and the 'Reprimander' who expects her toddler to handle big feelings like a four-year-old.
Both come from love. Both miss the middle. 
And the middle is where resilient children get built.
In this episode you'll learn:
→ The clear difference between real distress and productive struggle — and how to hear it 
→ Why resilience and emotional regulation are not the same thing (and how confusing them works against you) 
→ How co-regulation actually works — your calm is the curriculum 
→ The simple 3-word framework — Acknowledge. Encourage. Wait. — you can use today 
Erin also shares the story of why she stopped doing direct therapy after watching the children walking through her door change — and what that pattern is teaching us about prevention vs. intervention.
This is the kind of episode every new mom needs in her ears before her baby's first frustration — and the kind every overwhelmed mom needs to hear right now.
🎓 Foundations Course enrollment opens June 1st. Get on the waitlist by signing up for INSIDERS:
📥 Free resource:
The Top 10 Essential Skills Every Baby Needs Before Talking
👉 Book a Discovery Call 
These are FREE, one-to-one conversations designed to help determine what to focus on first.
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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.
📩 Questions: contact@HyerLearning.com
 🌐 www.HyerLearning.com