Building Blocks to Communication: The foundational skills needed BEFORE words come
As a pediatric speech-language pathologist who has spent many years with the Early Intervention population, a significant portion of my kids come to me because they are not yet talking. Often times, we refer to them as “Late Talkers”. What many do not know is that there are a set of crucial, foundation skills that are needed BEFORE those words can come. The following are a set of skills that all toddlers master before they begin to talk. Because these are foundational, basic skills, if any one these skills are disrupted, you will likely see a delay in language but if several of these skills are missing, a stall in language development is inevitable. However, when we intentionally work to help late talkers obtain each of these foundational skills, he or she will likely begin to talk! We must focus on addressing the underlying issues, or missing skills, that have created the delay.
These 11 skills form the foundation for every single social, cognitive and language milestone a child will achieve during his preschool years, and it doesn’t stop there. These areas remain important, even as we grow and mature throughout the rest of our lives. You will see that all of us, from toddlers to teenagers to senior citizens, use these basic communication skills every day.
Reacts to events in the environment. This is the foundation for interacting and communicating and is the initial milestone we look for in all children. When a child can do these things, we know that at the most fundamental level, his/her little brain is working! Their eyes, ears, hands and body are receiving information to be processed and there’s a noticeable reaction. During the first three years of childhood, discoveries create new neural pathways in the brain. This develops into how a child thinks, learns, remembers and pays attention. Hence, a child reacting to environmental events is the cornerstone for developing cognition. It comes first and sets the stage for all other skills a child acquires.
Responds to people when they talk to or play with him or her: Communicating always involves at least two people. When kids don’t respond, it’s one-sided. Responding to others is essential for language development because if a child doesn’t routinely respond and interact with you when you try to talk with them, play with them or teach them something, it’s highly unlikely they are learning.
Takes turns with you during interactions: Sometimes, a child knows how to respond when you begin an interaction with them, but they do not know how to begin or how to keep the process going. Or a child knows how to initiate a request, especially when he really, really wants something, but they do not know what to do beyond that. After one “round” of interaction with someone else, it stops. This milestone is critical in helping a child become conversational. Toddlers who are talking, but not communicating, have not acquired the ability to take a turn. This makes their language development feel stalled. They don’t understand how to consistently respond beyond their first turn, so their interaction ends.
Develops a longer attention span: this is absolutely necessary to learn anything. Our brains are designed for focus and deep thinking. If a child doesn’t give himself ample time to develop this skill, improving cognitive skills and learning language becomes very difficult. This is particularly true when a child doesn’t seem to understand how to listen to others. Listening is such an important part of developing an attention span. If a child is not attending to the words other people are saying, it’s highly unlikely that he or she is learning language.
Shifts and shares joint attention with others: a “triad” made up of three components – the child, you, and an object of your attention and focus. Both of you understand that you are looking at and talking about the same thing. The key is a child’s ability to shift their focus between you and the object or event and then share what’s happening with you. This is critical in language development because if a child does not include another person in a sustained interaction, then he or she is likely not listening and absorbing what others say. & Again, a tuned-out, disconnected child misses vital opportunities to learn language.
Plays with a variety of toys appropriately: this refers to whether or not the child use an item in the way it’s intended. For example, he rolls a ball, pushes a car, stacks the blocks and knocks them down or puts mommy’s shoes on his feet. Play is how children learn, link information and make associations. Before a toddler can say the word, “block”, he must learn about the block –how it feels in his hands (and mouth!), how the block looks, different ways he can move the block, etc. All of these things occur before he is ready to associate the word “block” with the wooden square in front of him.
Understands early words and follows simple directions: a child MUST understand words BEFORE he can use them to communicate. Examples of early receptive language skills include identifying familiar people and objects, consistently responding to their name, pointing to body parts, responding to “no” or “stop”, and following routine commands. Routine commands may include “open your mouth” as you feed them, “put your arm in” as you get dressed, or request to retrieve an item “Go get your __”.
Vocalizes or makes sounds purposefully: Typical developing babies and toddlers make noise all day, every day. They learn that they can use their little voices to your attention. Babies babble and make purposeful noises for months and months before vocalizations begin to sound more like words. When a child is very quiet for most of the day, they are not getting the practice they need in order to be able to talk.
Imitates actions, gestures, sounds, and words: This “watch and do” process is how all of us learn just about anything. We pay attention while someone else does something and then we try it too. Language development is no exception.
Uses early gestures like waving and pointing: Gestures are important because they let us know a kid connects the meaning with a nonverbal action. This lets you know his thought process is becoming symbolic or representational.
Initiates interaction with others: This means the child takes the lead in letting you know their intentions. They work to get your attention. Toddlers and preschools are quite demanding. They want to express themselves and they want you to notice them, interact with them, and most of all, meet their needs. Without the ability to initiate, a child is left in the position of dependence on others, or they become very self-isolating.
To decide if a toddler is a late talker, we need to know what the expectations or “norms” are. While there is much more to consider than vocabulary size, looking at the number of words a toddler says is a good starting point in deciding if there’s a potential problem with language development. The following is data from LinguiSystems’ Guide to Communication Milestones:
Vocabulary:
12 months: 2-6 words other than mama & dada
15 months: 10 words
18 months: 50 words
24 months: 200-300 words
30 months: 450 words
36 months (3 years): 1,000 words
42 months: 1,200 words
48 months (4 years): 1,600 words
54 months: 1,900 words
60 months (5 years): 2,200-2,500 words
6 years: 6,000-7,000 words
12 years: 50,000 words
Once we determine that talking is something that a child cannot YET do, we can help them and search for a solution. We can uncover the reasons they are not yet talking, and, more importantly, we can find strategies that are successful. If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development, ProActive is here to help your child THRIVE!