It’s always exciting to witness your child or student’s first milestones. Especially when it comes to their speech or communication, because you know that from that day on, they will find ways to connect with you. However, you may experience some concerns about your child’s ability to talk or express their needs, and that is why you are wondering how to develop early communication skills.
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Developing communication skills in early childhood
Before a child learns how to speak meaningfully, there are some prerequisites that will allow them to do so. They will start to do certain things, such as gesturing, babbling, or pulling to show. If these milestones aren’t met yet, your goal is to establish these first before speech or other ways to communicate are accomplished.
According to Kid Sense, here are some common pre-language skills or early ways to communicate:
- Taking turns
- Looking and listening
- Smiling
- Anticipation
- Joint attention
Below, find some tips on how to develop early communication skills for your child or student.
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How to develop early communication skills
Play simple turn-taking games
Turn taking games are one of the best ways on how to develop early communication skills for children with down syndrome, autism, and any other developmental condition. Young children love to play games where they get to accomplish certain things, such as stacking rings, stacking blocks, or fixing simple form puzzles.
Take turns playing these games, and don’t forget to say “My turn” and “Your turn” when doing these activities with your child. The turn-taking aspect is a prerequisite for turn-taking in communication and speech.
Use an early communication skills workbook to guide you
There are available resources to parents and students to teach early communication skills. A great example is the “Early Communication Skills Workbook” found in Amazon:
In this workbook, you’ll get to practice certain skills with your child, such as:
Naming Core Vocabulary
Articulation
Simple Sentence Formation
This workbook is available in Kindle and Paperback formats. Get it today.
Singing songs to teach vocabulary
One of the ways to teach early communication skills such as joint attention, turn-taking, and looking as well as listening is by singing songs. Songs are engaging, and helps children establish meaning with gestures, especially if you sing certain songs with gestures.
Some children favorites are:
- Wheels on the bus
- Open shut them
- If you’re happy and you know it
- Itsy Bitsy Spider
Try singing these songs with your child and prompt them to do the gestures as well. Establishing meaning with gestures helps children to understand that they can make meaning through words later on as they develop speech.
We hope these resources have helped you out! As always, don’t forget to check out the Early Communication Skills Workbook on Amazon.
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