In my previous post on Early Communication I gave a brief summary of early communication milestones for speech and language for monolingual and bilingual children. I also spoke briefly about some ways to help stimulate speech and language. In the following series of posts I will go into more depth about the specific acquisition of language and speech.
In today’s post I will concentrate on receptive language (the understanding of language) in English.
Before children begin to speak they have already acquired a great inventory of vocabulary and concepts that they understand. Even if they are not using their words to speak they know more than they can say. It is very important to help stimulate your child’s understanding of language from birth.
The key to understanding the meaning of words is through repetition, repetition and more repetition. As a parent you are their primary model for language. That is why we call this technique – modeling. We model language for a child to understand language and use our language. Children usually have a greater inventory of nouns at first because it is simpler to make the association between a label and an item. For instance – if your child sees an apple and hears “apple” paired with the item multiple times (hundreds) then eventually your child will know the word for apple.
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to speak with your child. Talk about EVERYTHING. Talk about what you are doing in your routines! If you are changing your child’s diaper, then talk about what you are doing. Here is an example of what that language would sound like.
Down (as you lay your child down). I am pulling your pants/shirt/skirt off. Pull off (as you take them off). I am opening your diaper. Open diaper (as you open it). Oh, your diaper is full! Full of peepee/poopoo. Let’s pull the diaper off. Diaper off (as you pull it off). Let’s clean you up. Wipe bottom. Wipe, wipe, wipe (as you wipe). All clean! Much better. I will put cream on. Cream on your bottom. Cream on. Hmm, where’s the diaper? Here it is! A clean diaper! I am putting on your diaper. Put on (as you put it on). Diaper is on. Let’s put your shirt/pants/skirt back on. Shirt/pants/skirt on. Up (as you pull your child up)! All done! All clean! Put the diaper in the trash. Open trash. Open. Bye bye diaper. Bye bye (model waving bye to diaper). Close trash. Close. Let’s go play/eat/sleep!
Have fun while you are modelling language! An expressive happy face and exaggerated intonation will stimulate your child to pay attention to your words. Snuggle and kiss your baby. Keep your language as simple as possible but still maintain the correct grammar. You can emphasize certain words by repeating them after the complete sentence in shorter phrases.
I just want to mention that I understand that parents are very busy and I do not expect you to always model language in such a way. However, talk to your child as often as possible and set times aside in your day or week when you can focus on using these strategies (e.g. during bath time on Monday, before bed for the night on Tuesday).
I also understand that in some cultures these suggestions/strategies may not be in sync with the way your family interacts. However, there truly are benefits to speaking to your children even if they are not yet speaking. I can help address your concerns and adapt these suggestions to ensure the best outcome for your family/cultural values and child.
The following is a list of basic concepts in English that children should understand according to their age. For each age gap (e.g. 1-2 years old) I give examples of how to model those concepts and how to check if your child understands those concepts. The age gap indicates by when your child should understand the concepts so you should be teaching/modelling concepts before that time frame. For example, if your child should understand “in” between the ages of 1-2 years old then you should be modelling and using the concept “in” from birth to 2 years old. Of course you will continue to use these concepts in conversation for their entire life; this is just an idea of when you should begin to model/teach specific concepts.
In play with your child you can model putting objects in (a box, a bag, a shoe, a hat, a house) while saying the word “in” as often as possible. Say you have a farmhouse – each time you put an animal in, say a variety of word combinations such as “go in”, “animal + in” (e.g. cow in, horse in, duck in) and/or “go in + animal” (e.g. go in cow). Then ask your child “put the animal (cow, pig, sheep) in” and see if your child can put them in. Have them try to attempt to say “in” each time, if they don’t then you say it for them each time. If your child is starting to imitate then they will try to say “in” or something that sounds like in.
Your child might understand the concept in a usual routine such as putting things in a bag, box or a house. However, think of using different objects or items around the house. Put a toy in a shoe, put a cow in a sock, put a noodle in a bottle. Ask your child to put objects in unexpected places and see if they can follow the direction – make sure they know the vocabulary first. You can point to the place you want them to put the object in and name it.
Point to the shoe. Say “shoe! Put the cow in the shoe!” Then see if your child can do this. If not, then help them go get the shoe. Then take the cow in their hand. Say “put the cow in the shoe” and put your hand over theirs to help them put the cow in the shoe. Then say “the cow is in the shoe!I did it!” You should say “I did it” because even though you helped your child, we want them to think that they put the cow in the shoe themselves so that they feel successful. By asking unexpected requests you can see if your child truly understands the concept by using a novel unfamiliar requests and actions.
Use these concepts in your daily routine and in play.
Target the concept in and on by putting items in the fridge, on the table, on the counter. Model the concept another in sentences like “I need another apple, banana, spoon, fork” or ask for help by saying “give me another apple, spoon.” Target the concept under by putting items or getting items from under the sink or under the oven.
Blows bubbles up or down. Model language as you blow bubbles “bubbles go up/down.” Ask your child to blow bubbles up/down. If they cannot do so then hold the stick for them in front of their mouth in the direction you want the bubbles to go and ask them to blow up/down. Reward them and be very excited when the bubbles go in the right direction.
Here are a few of my favorite toy choices that you can use with children 9 months to 2 + years to work on these receptive language skills.
Model these concepts in your daily routine and in play. If your child doesn’t demonstrate that they understand the words by following directions then you will know which concepts to teach your child.
While eating you can talk about the food using number and size concepts. I have one banana, I have two bananas. One banana. Two bananas. You can also have your child follow directions such as give me one apple or give me two apples. You can compare the size of food – regular tomato (big) vs. cherry tomato (little). In play you can compare toys by size and have your child point to the little/big item. Similarly, you can discuss how many of one item you have – “I have one block, you have two blocks.”
It is important that you use the same kind of item/object when comparing size to see if your child understands size concepts little/big because if you say “point to the big fish” and there is only one fish then your child will point to the fish. However, we do not know if they understood big or simply understood fish. When modeling, always use your modifiers (size, shape, color) with the noun – “I have a big cow. The little pig is eating. Put the big block on top. Pick up the little duck.”
Time concepts can also be easily incorporated into your routine during transitions.
When you finish eating lunch/dinner you can say “soon we will go take a bath/nap.” If someone is coming to visit, you can say “grandma is coming over later” or if you are going out you can say “later we will go to the park/see grandpa.” Before you leave the house you can tell your child “wait for me” then “thank you for waiting” or “we are waiting for mommy/daddy then we can go”. While playing with your child, if it is not your child’s turn you can tell them “wait, it’s not your turn.” If your child asks you questions you can also use these time concepts within your answers – “We will eat soon. We can watch TV later. We need to wait for the bath to fill up.”
Before you test your child on his or her understanding of concepts, make sure that you explained the concepts. They need to know what same means before you ask them which items are the same/not same. Once again you can talk about how things are the same and how things are different in your daily routine. Choose items that are very different from each other (e.g. 3 blocks and 1 spoon, 3 fish and 1 cow, 3 socks and 1 apple).
Let’s imagine you are playing with the farm animals. You have three cows and a duck. You can say “Look! I have three cows. They look the same. They are cows. I have one duck. The duck is different. The duck is not the same.” You can then discuss how the cows are the same – “cows have teats, teats have milk inside, cows make milk, cows say moo.” Don’t focus on color and patterns yet. Cows are the same animal – but they can be different colors/sizes/patterns. That is why it is easier to teach same/not the same by using different categories or very different looking things. Similarly, you can discuss how the duck is not the same – “ducks have feathers, ducks fly, ducks say quack.”
Here are a few of my favorite toy choices that you can use with children 18 months to 3 years to work on these receptive language skills.
A sensory bin is a perfect addition to any home. A sensory bin is a box with fun textures a child can play with. For instance, you can have a bin of orbeez (looks like little jelly balls) or a box of rice/beans. You can hide little objects inside that your child has to find. Or you can have them sort what is inside their sensory bin.
You can have your child pour the beans, rice, orbeez or items from their sensory bin into some jars or bowls. Show them the jar – say “Look! The jar is empty! Nothing is inside! Let’s fill it up. Put a lot of beans/rice inside. Then have your child pour the contents into the jar and say “Wow, that is/are a lot of rice/beans! Can you fill up another jar with the same amount as this one.” Then see if your child can fill the jar all the way – the same as the first one. Help them along the way. Then say “Wow! It is so full! Look the jars have the same number of beans/rice. They are filled the same. They both are full.” You can play around with equality and quantity directions as much as you want.
One of my favorite things to do with my active kiddos is to go on a scavenger hunt. A scavenger hunt gives you the ability to stimulate a lot of language skills in a natural way that is exciting. It can take as much or as little preparation as you want. You can use pictures as a map of what your child needs to find or you can simply use your words. I like to provide a visual along with the words so that they have something to look back to and they can circle or check off each item as they find it.
You can use items as they are in your home, no moving of objects is required. Take pictures of the objects you want your child to find – fridge, bed, blanket, shoes, towel, sink, soap, shampoo, shirt, TV, plant, window, spoon, teddy bear, etc. Depending on how long you want the scavenger hunt to last – pick at least 10 items. I wouldn’t do more than 30 at a time depending on how easy the items are to find as you don’t want it to become a tedious task for your child. Once you have a list of items in mind, just go around and take pictures of the items and make a quick map by putting the pictures on a word document then print the page to give to your child. You can also use your phone and just have your child swipe through the pictures if you prefer. Ideally, use a printed picture map, it makes it more fun to hunt for their treasure!
Have your child find each item and then tell you where they found it – “I found the TV in front of the couch”, “I found the book beside the lamp”, “I found the table between the chairs”, “I found my slippers behind the door”, “I found windows all around the house”, “I found the soap next to the sink.” You might need to help your child use these terms because they might say things like “I found the fridge in the kitchen”, “I found the teddy bear on the shelf.” Congratulate them on their find and expand on what they said to use the new concepts. If they say “I found the soap in the kitchen” you can say “that’s right the soap is in the kitchen. And the soap is next to the sink. Look! The soap is next to the sink.” You can also ask questions using the concept to prompt their use/understanding – what is the soap next to, what is between the chairs, what is in front of the couch?
You can pick the items beforehand and hide them in specific places. This will allow you to target specific concepts that you want by hiding things “next to, beside, between, behind, in front, around” other items in the household. You will have to remember where you put each object! If choosing this option I would choose fewer items so that it is easier for you to remember where you put everything. You will also most likely have to help guide your child and give them hints if the objects are not easily visible and/or if you have a big home. You can also just pick one or two rooms that are used for the scavenger hunt so that it is a little easier. The level of difficulty is entirely up to you! If you have a child that frustrates easily or gives up if things are too hard, then start at an easy level, especially when introducing the activity for the first time. If it is too easy you can always ask your child “was that too easy?” and if they say “yes”, ask them “should I make it trickier next time?” and see what they respond. Children usually love tricks because they feel more successful in their accomplishement if the task was tricky to do.
Like the example for the scavenger hunt with little prep, have your child tell you where they found everything. The difference is that you can choose the location of the objects and know beforehand which concept you want to target. You can also choose to target only a few concepts at a time. For instance, one day you make a scavenger hunt where all of the objects will be “behind” or “in front” of something else and have your child try to say “I found _ in front/behind of _.”
If your child is unable to tell you where they found it then model what you would want them to answer. Try to use the complete sentence “I found _ (concept location – beside, next to, in front, behind, etc.) the _” as your model. If your child is imitating then he/she will try to say this sentence to the best of his/her ability. Once they try to repeat it, if you see they had some difficulty then you can simplify it – “the soap is next to the sink, soap next to sink.”
Always model the correct production for your child – if you want them to imitate afterward you can simplify it so that it is at a level that they can say. Take into account your child’s language and speech abilities.
Identifying colors – this can be easily done while coloring. Get a coloring picture or a book and ask your child to color items a certain color.
Have your 10 colors (white, black, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, pink, purple, and brown) set up in front of you, a little out of your child’s reach. Then tell your child you want them to color their picture a certain way. This activity will not only target identifying colors but it will help your child practice following directions and increase their vocabulary. Give them a picture – let’s say it is a kitchen. You can say – color the fridge pink, color the stove green, color the chairs yellow, etc. Before you give the directions make sure that your child knows the name of all the things in the picture.
You can also work on identifying colors by playing what I like to call “the color game” before your child colors. You take out all of the colors and say I am going to ask you to point to the color crayon I say and see if I can trick you! Again, children love the challenge and to show that they can’t be tricked. Even if they are tricked they will find it fun. It’s a good learning opportunity. Have the 10 color crayons/markers in front of you and ask your child “point to the red/green/white/black crayon/marker.” If they have difficulty pointing you can always take their pointer finger and help them point to the right color. If they are just starting to learn colors you can use less than 10 colors at a time – try 5 colors. If that is difficult then use fewer colors until you can build up your child’s skills to use all 10 colors in the game.
Here are a few of my favorite toy choices that you can use with children from 2 to 4 years to work on these receptive language skills.
Information about communication milestones was referenced from Linguisystems – Guide to Communication Milestones 2012 Edition.
Check out Part 2 for a continuation of understanding basic concepts – preschoolers edition. As well as more receptive language milestones for children birth to preschool age. Leave a comment down below if you have any questions or to share your ideas!
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