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What I often recommend to parents of children who learn two spoken languages...

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who also struggle with the question ‘How are we going to boost how much language input our child gets?’, is to look for other families where that language is spoken 

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or where sign language is used. Or to look for any other sources that you can find, like children’s films or TV programs or that kind of thing. 

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And whatever you can find, try to make as much use of it as possible. I also know clubs where parents...

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who are Italian-Dutch or English-Dutch,come together. This is also a way to... 

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not only offer more language, but also to exchange experiences and tips and tricks. 

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That can be very helpful and comforting to you as a parent.

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-So clubs of parents who are in similar situations who look for each other and exchange tips? 

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-Yes. In these situations, it’s about offering sign language to a child. And I can imagine that you might look for ... 

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who use sign language with their children. Because they offer sign language to their child the same way as you offer spoken Dutch to your child. 

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Of course you can’t just make friends with someone, simply because of their deafness...

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but that’s a way in which you might be able to access more language in a creative way. 

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Reading to your child is also very important. So there are many studies that show that reading to children... 

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 improves their language development. And they perform better later in school, too. So being read to is a very good predictor of success at school. 

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So like that...

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I also think that offering a rich language environment is important. So for example, naming the things you see.  

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When I have my day at home with the kids, I always tend to do the same kind of activities.  

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We might bake or do some crafting. And once you include all the domestic stuff in between, the day is soon gone. 

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But I always give the advice to try to do something different, because then your child will hear different words.  

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And that’s a way of offering your child a rich language environment in an unconscious way.