Some children will communicate non-verbally and we need to recognise those communication attempts and respond to these expressions, movements, sounds, actions and sometimes behaviour. It helps us to think about language as being in two parts.
The first part is understanding this is knowing what words mean. If we understand, then we can answer a question or follow an instruction.
The second area is being able to express our thoughts and ideas. Babies do this by those sounds and expressions just mentioned, and most children go on to develop spoken language. This starts off as a single word, but as children get older, this becomes longer and more complex sentences.
Children need to understand the word before they can use it. And by the time a child is three years old, they will understand so many words that it’s hard to keep count. This means that we have a big task in helping children to learn all of these words. Imagine what would help you to understand if you were in a country where you didn’t speak the language.
Try to use the following tips:
It’s important to know the language levels of the child you’re talking to and then match what you say to that level. For example, if a child is put in two words together, then there will be little point to speaking to them in lengthy, complex sentences because they simply would not understand them. But you could say something similar.
If you chunk it up into parts with a gap after each chunk to enable them to carry out the instruction before the next part is set.
You can also help them by developing their language a little bit – for example, if a child wants their coat and says “coat” to you, you can provide a good language model by replying “here’s your lovely red coat”.
It’s also good to always be positive. This means saying what you want, rather than what you don’t want. Understanding negatives is more complex than understanding things stated in the positive.
Tell the child what you want them to do. For example, say “walk” rather than “don’t run”.
Using objects and toys to show what you’re talking about can also be very helpful – You can point to the thing you’re talking about or pick something up. You can use Teddy or a toy to demonstrate. Think of a simple and imaginative way of showing what you mean. It might be as simple as pointing something out.
If a child hasn’t understood something and you need to repeat what you’ve said, give them some time and then use the same words again.
This helps your child to listen to the words they might not have understood. This is more helpful than using different wording as the child may then focus on the new words and might be confused even further.
Sometimes children need some time and repetition to understand something they’re not quite sure about yet.
You can really help children to understand and express themselves by being aware of their language levels and using the few simple traits we’ve shown you, such as tuning in, matching words their level, using positive instructions, using visual supports, and repeating the same way.
