Behaviour

All people need to be able to communicate with others. The development of communication will assist social development and emotional and psychological development.

Areas of language development

Children’s language skills develop in four distinct modes, as follows.

Children's language skills develop in four distinct modes, represented here by four buttons. Click each button for further information.

Receptive

Receptive language involves a child's understanding of what is being said. For example, the adult says: 'Would you like your bottle now?' and the child nods or makes a sound that indicates understanding.

Expressive

Verbal communication from the child begins with babbling and single words, leading eventually to two- word, then more complicated, sentences. Expressive communication can also consist of non-verbal signals (smiling, nodding, pointing, etc).

Written symbolic

The child starts to recognise symbols, then letters of the alphabet, beginning with the first letter of their own name. You can assist this process by introducing a picture of the child and their name on their place mat, coat rack or bed.

Non-verbal/body language

Children imitate adults and other children as they mature, developing facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures and body movements as forms of communication. The way children display their emotions through their body language will develop over time and vary between individuals.

People who have a hearing impairment may use sign language as another form of verbal communication. Signing is a language that is taught to the hearing impaired. Letters of the alphabet, sentences and expressions such as 'Good' are represented by hand signs.

Ways to develop language skills

a carer pointing out something in a book, and explaining it to a child.

Language can be developed through many ways, including:

talking to babies and children
repeating sounds back to babies
pointing out and naming items
asking open-ended questions
making comments about what is happening
participating in experiences and explaining, discussing and questioning
looking at books, photographs, pictures
telling stories, reading poems, singing songs
using puppets and finger-plays
building ideas or stories on a felt board.