The importance and benifits of adults and the environment supporting the speech, language and communication development of children
There are many ways in which we as adults can support and extend speech, language and communication development effectively in children during their early years. We need to make sure that the language we use is appropriate for the child’s age/stage of development. We can use resources to help us aid communication, these could be photos, pictures, objects and symbols. With a baby we would use lots of exaggerated facial expressions and single words. We could get really close to them so they can see our face and are on their level and talk in a sing song kind of voice. We can also talk about the things we are doing as a baby will take this all in and listen to us. We can sing songs and rhymes to them. Adults can also look at and talk about simple story books as it really is never too early to share stories. One year old: Adults can copy what sounds the baby is making taking it in turns to simulate having a conversation. Use words that need actions for example bye bye and wave. Saying up and lifting hands up as this will help the baby to understand what the words are and will hopefully encourage them to join in. Singing action songs and playing peep po games will encourage concentration and communication in babies. Eighteen months: As adults we can sing nursery rhymes that need actions, talk to them about what we are doing for example “ Let’s go and get you a drink shall we”. If they point to something then we can tell them what it is, if they say a word to us then we can repeat the word back to them, look at picture books and talk about them in very short sentences for the baby to understand. Get down to their level and play games such as rolling a ball and also spending time outside exploring talking about what we are seeing and doing.