Google Translate for Parents
- Courtney Aponik
- May 1
- 7 min read
“Hey Google, what on earth did my child just say?”
Sometimes it feels like your child is speaking a language of their own; a language that no one, not even you, can understand. More often, maybe you have found yourself translating what your child is saying to family members, teachers, or strangers. It might feel like you’re the only one who can understand their words and no one else can! It can feel like you’re your child’s personal version of Google Translate.
You're not alone. But what happens when the rest of the world doesn't understand?
In this post, you’ll learn why communication breakdowns happen, how to respond in the moment, and simple strategies to help your child become a more independent communicator. You’ll also learn when to seek support from a speech-language pathologist.
What is Communication Breakdown?
A communication breakdown happens when a listener does not understand what a speaker is trying to say.
This happens to all of us—kids and adults! We mishear things, forget details, or assume others know what we’re talking about.
For children, though, breakdowns happen more often because their communication skills are still developing. Some common reasons include:
Speech sound errors, or difficulty saying speech sounds clearly (e.g., saying “dodee” for doggy).
Grammatical errors, or inaccurate use of grammatical markers and sentence structure (e.g., saying “her jump” for she is jumping or “I runned yesterday” for I ran yesterday)
Disorganized language, or difficulty telling a clear story (e.g., jumbled story telling, missing details or main point)
Word retrieval, or having trouble accessing the right word in the moment (e.g., “I want to play with the…um…um…”)
Limited vocabulary, such as using one word for many things (e.g., calling all animals “dog”)
Pragmatic or social communication challenges, such as difficulty with turn-taking, staying on topic, or using body language
What's Typical?
All children experience communication breakdowns—especially toddlers and preschoolers.
As language develops, these breakdowns should gradually decrease. But when they inevitably do happen, children may feel upset, embarrassed, or even give up trying. (Note that, when this happens frequently, it’s an indication that your child needs more support. See
the section below, When is Intervention Needed?).
If you’ve ever seen your child become overwhelmed or melt down because you couldn’t understand them, you know how hard this can be.
The good news? These are teachable moments.
Your Communication Repair Toolkit
When children learn how to “repair” communication breakdowns, they are not only improving their language, they are also learning how to handle frustration and express themselves more confidently.
So what can you do in-the-moment?
Here are a few strategies to facilitate communication repair:
The Power of the Pause
When your child says something unclear, resist the urge to jump in immediately. Give them a moment to try again. Sometimes your child needs extra time to organize their language or retrieve the word they are trying to say.
Rachel and her grandma are making crafts. Rachel is having trouble asking for grandma to pass her something she needs.
Rachel: “I… um… the um…” pointing at the scissors
Grandma: waits, looks expectant but calm
Rachel: “The scissors! I need the scissors.”
Repetition
Sometimes your child spoke too quickly or you simply didn’t hear it. Ask them to say it again, slower, clearer or louder. For example, you can say “Let’s try that one more time. I don’t think I heard you.” or “I know what you’re saying, but tell Grandma again so she can understand too.”
Sam and dad are sitting on the porch doing their favorite activity–watching for garbage trucks. Sam gets excited and starts jumping up and down, but dad doesn’t see any garbage trucks nearby.
Sam: “Isee awabbit!”
Dad: “I didn’t quite catch that. Can you say it again slowly?”
Sam: “A waaabbiiiiit! Look! On the gwass!”
Dad: “Oh yes look there’s a rabbit!
Ask for More Information
Sometimes your child might use vague language because they have not acquired the word for what they are thinking of. You can ask for more information by asking them to describe, and then use this opportunity to expand their language. For example, you can say, “Tell me more,” “Which one,” or “Who are you talking about?”
Mary: “I want the circle marker.”
Parent: “Which marker?”
Mary: “The circle marker for the dots.”
Parent: “Oh! The dot marker?”
Mary: “Yeah, dot marker!”
Rephrase and Recast
Some children struggle to formulate or retrieve language, resulting in grammatical errors, sentence structure errors, jumbled story telling, or missing key details. Asking them to rephrase gives them the opportunity to clarify their message. Sometimes they might not be able to rephrase–in these cases, it gives you a chance to listen more closely and decipher their message. In these cases, you can also recast by repeating their message with more clarity and accuracy.
Child: “Him go there and then me and we go and play.”
Caregiver: “Hmm, can you say that again in a different way?”
Child: “Him go to the park and then me went and we played.”
Caregiver: “Oh, you’re saying, ‘He went to the park and I played with him’?”
Offer Choices
Maybe you have an idea of what they want, but you don’t know for sure. You can offer choices to model more specific language.
Child: “Truck! Truck!”
Caregiver: hands child the green truck
Child: “No!!!!” bangs truck and starts crying
Caregiver: “Were you asking for a different truck? I’m not sure which one you wanted. Do you want the red truck or the blue truck?” picks up both trucks and emphasizes each one when she says the color
Child: “Boo!!”
Caregiver: Thank you for telling me which one you wanted! Here is the blue truck!
Show Me!
Sometimes a child’s speech errors can make it hard for you or others to understand what they are saying. You can ask them to point, gesture, or lead you to what they are referring to so you don’t have to guess!
Mom and Bobbi are getting ready for bed. Bobbi is frustrated and clearly wants something, but mom doesn’t know what he is asking for.
Bobbi: “I wan boo call”
Mom: boo call?! what?!
Mom: “I hear you want something. Can you show me?”
Bobbi takes mommy’s hand and pulls her to the toys
Mom: “Oh! You want to bring your blue car to bed with you!”
Sometimes we have to rely on our best guess, and that's okay! We all naturally guess sometimes, and we get used to constantly interpreting for our kiddos. However, there is a difference between interpreting a breakdown and interrupting with a guess. Guesses shouldn't be used as an intentional tool to support communication because it can oftentimes have the opposite effect than we are intending!
Try to avoid tools like guessing, interrupting, or finishing their thought for them. These tools are found not to be effective and can reduce opportunities for language practice, feel dismissive, or lead your child to stop trying.
Check out these examples of ineffective tools:
Guessing
Child: “I wan dat tat!”
Parent: “Oh, you want your cat! Here you go.”
Child: gets upset “NOOO!”
Instead try:
Child: “I wan dat tat!”
Parent: “I hear you want something. Can you show me?”
Child takes parent’s hand and pulls them to the silly hat.
Mom: “Oh! You want to put on the silly hat!”
Interrupting your child or finishing for them
Child: “I want the… the… the…”
Parent: “Cookie. You want a cookie.”
Child: nods but doesn’t attempt the word
Instead try:
Child: “I want the… the… the…”
Parent: pause and wait, no matter how torturous it might feel
Child: “cookie!”
So here’s your final cheat sheet:
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo? Well…
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo? Your work is done? Well…no. Where’s the fairy godmother when I need her?!
Unfortunately, your unpaid job as Google Translate isn’t over yet. Think of it this way: your goal isn’t to stop being Google Translate overnight, but to slowly help your child become their own translator. Like learning to crawl or walk or ride a bike, it takes time for children to learn language and communicate it appropriately. It might feel like a never-ending battle, but with time, practice, and encouragement, they’ll gain the skills to repair breakdowns confidently and be understood wherever they go.
Time, patience, encouragement, and modeling is crucial.
When is Intervention Needed?
What if you feel like nothing is working? What do you do?
Here are a few signs your child might need a little extra
support:
Your child becomes frustrated or angry when they are frequently not understood.
You find yourself translating for them all. the. time.
You notice your child is making more speech and/or language errors than other kids their age.
They are struggling to communicate their needs at school or daycare.
It is impacting their academic or social success.
If you have any concerns about your child’s communication development, seek out assessment with a qualified SLP. You can get in contact with an SLP through early intervention (0-3 years), private practice (all ages), or your school district (3+).
Talk Time and You
At Talk Time, we have experienced SLPs that are familiar with all forms of communication breakdown and have been educated regarding the best models of support individualized to your child’s needs. We work with you and your child to offer neurodiversity-affirming, child-led services that are strengths-based and play-centered—designed to help your child grow toward their goals in a fun and engaging way!
We provide comprehensive speech and language evaluations to understand your child’s communication strengths and areas of need. Every evaluation comes with a detailed written report and customized treatment recommendations.
Talk Time offers individualized therapy sessions, peer dyads, and small group programs to
support a wide range of communication needs. In addition, we offer caregiver coaching to set up parents and caregivers with practical tools to support their child’s communication between sessions. Our goal is to empower caregivers with personalized strategies they can confidently use at home.
If you have any concerns about your child’s communication development, seek out assessment with a qualified SLP.
If you are interested in learning more about the services we provide at Talk Time, we invite you to explore our website.
If you have any questions about our services, please feel free to contact us at:
1-508-252-8331
You are not alone in this journey! SLPs are happy to partner with you to best support your child as their voice grows stronger, clearer, and uniquely their own.
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