Talking readiness: essential skills for learning to talk and communicate
We mentioned pre-lingusitic skills in our previous blog post and in this post we’d like to dig a little deeper to explain why these skills are important for babies, toddlers, and young children to demonstrate them. Pre-linguisitc skills are ways that children communicate without using words and they are good indicators of a child’s readiness to begin talking. Generally speaking, young children who demonstrate these abilities appropriately are ready to begin communicating using sounds, words, and even phrases. Let’s dive in:
Attention abilities - A child’s ability to pay attention to a particular activity or person is relative to his/her age. Children between 12 and 24 months should gradually develop the ability to sustain their attention for a few minutes to a preferred activity whereas children who are 4 years old should be able to attend to an activity for 8 to 12 minutes. If a child is unable to pay attention to a toy for the appropriate amount of time, they will likely demonstrate difficulty listening to the sounds that his/her mom is saying in order to later repeat them.
Play skills - Children learn by playing, so their ability to play appropriately is essential. In order to learn how to talk, a child has to be able to use toys functionally, or in other words, use a toy as it’s meant to be used. A child who rolls cars on the floor will be more likely to learn how to start talking at greater ease than a child who throws them or turns them upside down. It is also important that a child demonstrates relative play skills which is the ability to use two toys together in play (e.g., feeding a stuffed animal with a spoon). Children who demonstrate appropriate play skills for their age will more likely be ready to start talking than a child who has more difficulty with play skills. We’ll go into more detail in specific play skills in a future blog post.
Joint attention (eye contact) - Communication is about connecting with another person which is why joint attention is an essential pre-linguistic skill. Joint attention is the shared enjoyment of an object or event. A child’s ability to provide eye contact varies by age, but in general, he/she should be able to look at another person in order to demonstrate shared interest with another person. For example: a child who demonstrates joint attention will look back and forth between an object and his/her caregiver to non-verbally direct his/her attention to the object.
Imitation skills - In order for a child to repeat what his/her parent says, he/she needs to demonstrate the ability to imitate facial expressions or gestures. A child who is able to clap his/her hands after his/her parent demonstrates good imitation skills.
Non-verbal communication - Before children learn how to communicate verbally, they learn to communicate without using words or phrases. In other words, they use pointing to indicate what they want or they shake their head to say, “no.”
Intent to communicate - A child’s intention or desire to communicate with another person is also essential for learning how to communicate non-verbally and verbally. If a child is not motivated to connect with another person, he/she will likely demonstrate significant difficulty using words to communicate.
A young child’s pre-linguistic skills are usually evaluated by a speech pathologist to determine the child’s readiness for talking. If a child is having difficulties with these skills at a young age, a speech pathologist will likely work on these skills in therapy before targeting verbal communication. As always, if you are concerned about your child not demonstrating these skills, it is important to speak to your pediatrician or a speech pathologist.
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