Read this post to learn how you can support your child’s talking and understanding.
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Children develop differently, and some talk and understand more or less than others their age. It is normal.
However, there are often underlying issues with communication (talking and understanding) that your child might be experiencing.
Very often, children on the Autism Spectrum experience communication problems, which is one of the indicators of autism.
Other developmental disorders, delays, or learning difficulties might cause problems with communication.
Problems with communication may lead to other issues in daily life. They can cause frustration if the child is not understood or they cannot understand you.
Communicating, talking and listening to people make us human and are very important.
Suppose you are worried about your child not reaching milestones expected for their age. In that case, it is always good to talk to a health professional.
Working with children with communication, speech and language problems, I often had to carry out speech and language interventions.
But you don’t have to be a speech and language therapist or pathologist to start helping your child with their speech and understanding.
With my simple and easy tips, you can support your child and help them boost their speaking and understanding. And in most cases, they do not require special resources or preparation.
You can incorporate these tips into your everyday routine because they are not complicated and will feel natural when using them.
Below you can read about 13 ways you can help your child with their speech and understanding.
1. Slow down
Speaking slowly and clearly will help your child understand better.
If you slow your speech down, the chances are your child will hear the sounds clearly.
It will also give your child time to think and follow along.
If you speak slowly, your child will not feel rushed and won’t be under pressure.
2. Keep it short and simple
Use simple language and short sentences, making your child’s understanding easier.
Keep it simple and slowly build up and expand their vocabulary when ready.
You may start with just nouns, naming things, for example, cat, book, car etc.
Then when they are comfortable with it, you may add ‘doing’ words (cat running, boy eating).
When the sentences you use are long and complex, the child won’t be able to make sense of them, so keep it simple first.
3. Use your child’s name
Throughout the conversation, keep using your child’s name to get and keep their attention.
Their name might already be something they hear often and is familiar to them.
They will more likely respond to you if they know you are talking to them by using their name.
And with more people in the room or around, calling their name will indicate that you want to talk to them.
If they are not looking at you and making eye contact, saying their name first might be a good start to initiate interaction.
4. Give them time to process and respond
Children’s brains are not as developed as adults, so they need more time to process information, register what they hear and make meaning of it.
They might need a little bit of time to think and find words or ways to express what they attempt to say.
Give them as much time as they need, and don’t try to rush them, as this will create pressure and stress and might discourage your child from communicating.
5. Use gestures, actions and pointing
To make the meaning clearer use gestures, point to objects as you name them and use an action to demonstrate what you’re talking about.
For example, you might mime putting shoes on when you ask your child to put them on.
You may point to an object or show them the thing when you talk about it.
In that case, they are more likely to understand the association and remember it in the future.
6. Repetition
It often takes a lot of repetition for a child to learn and remember new words, so don’t be afraid of repeating them over and over again.
It takes time before they link an object and its name, so be patient and don’t give up.
7. Don’t ask too many questions
Asking too many questions may pressure your child and discourage them from learning.
For example, seeing a cat, try to say “a cat” a few times rather than asking, “what is it?”.
Pause for a little while to allow your child to repeat it.
Asking too many questions might overwhelm them and may make them feel like they are being tested.
Try to create a positive experience when encouraging your child to talk.
8. Add on
Repeat and add a word to what your child says.
Acknowledging what they say will assure them they are on the right track.
Then add another word or words to extend their phrase.
If your child says “car”, you may say “a car, a red car”.
You may also point to a car or a picture of it when saying this word to reinforce it and give it a reference.
9. Talk about things as they happen
Narrate everything you do with your child.
Accompany your daily routines with a talk.
For example, “Mummy is brushing her teeth. Max’s turn now”.
It is an excellent opportunity to learn new words and expand vocabulary and language.
You may talk as you go for a walk, describing the things you see and noticing people, objects, and signs.
You can talk about different colours you see or people’s actions, for example, “a man is running” or “a cat is walking”.
You might talk about sizes of things: “big house, little house” etc.
10. Use playtime as an opportunity to talk
Playtime is another excellent opportunity to learn to talk and understand.
You may narrate what your child is doing (“you are brushing doll’s hair) or play alongside your child and talk about it (“I’m pouring tea into this cup”, “the ball is bouncing”).
This way, you teach them new words, and they can immediately see what it means.
It is also great for teaching positional language (on, in, behind, next to).
You can talk about where the toys are, “Look! The teddy is in the box”.
You may also want to ask your child to perform an action with a toy, “can you make the teddy jump?”, “give the doll a drink”, etc. This will develop their understanding.
You can try one (or more) of my 50 fine motor skills activities to do together with your child and talk about the actions, materials, colours and sizes involved in them.
11. Books
While looking at the picture books together, you can talk about what you see in the pictures.
For example, “The witch is flying on a broom”, “the witch’s hat is black”, or “Who’s on the broom next to the witch?” (using Room on the Broom book).
When asking questions, remember they won’t be able to answer “why” questions if they struggle with “who” and “where”.
Start with who and what, move on to where and then when and what when they are ready.
A good start is pointing to objects in the picture.
You can ask, “Where is the cat?” and have your child point to the cat.
This shows their understanding.
12. Emphasise keywords
Your child may know keywords like, for example, drink, car, and park.
Emphasising them in the sentence may help your child with their understanding.
For instance, in the sentence “Let’s go to the park”, the park is a keyword.
Making it clear and perhaps saying the sentence slowly, emphasising the word park, may help your child understand.
13. Practice taking turns
Taking turns is important because communication is a two-way process.
You can practice taking turns playing simple games like rolling a ball to each other and then accompanying it with a talk: “Mum’s turn”.
Everyday routines can also be opportunities to practice taking turns.
You may, for example, take turns brushing your teeth or tidying up.
So these are my 13 ideas to boost your child’s talking and understanding.
I hope you found them helpful.
You could see how easily you can start helping your child with their talking and understanding.
You can do it stress-free today and with no fancy resources and supplies.
Let me know how you support your child’s speech in the comments.
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