Communication Skills: How to support your child at home

Communication is an important part of a child’s development. Communication is more than spoken language; it includes both verbal and nonverbal language as well as listening. Communication starts in infancy with cries, sounds and gestures, and continues to develop into adulthood. Early language and communication skills build a foundation for learning, social interaction and overall development. Communication is essential for children to connect with others and the world around them.

Here are some simple ways to support your child’s communication skills at home:

-           Reading Together: Giving children daily exposure to books and stories can encourage their curiosity and imagination. Reading can expand children’s vocabulary as they learn new sounds, words, phrases. Reading time can also build on children's listening skills which is an important part of communication.

-           Ask open ended questions: Ask your child questions beyond simple yes or no answers. Ask questions that encourage your child to describe and share thoughts. Eg. What do you think would happen if? Tell me about?

-           Engage in conversation: Put aside time to engage in conversations with your child. Choose topics of interest and use these opportunities to role model language and conversation to your child. Respond to what they tell you prompting them to share more. This will help your child to feel heard and valued and will build their confidence in talking and sharing with others.

-           Practice active listening: Active listening involves being present and, in the moment, when your child is communicating. Listening to your child will involve eye contact, concentration, acknowledging and responding to what is being said. It will involve pausing and being patient as your child is gathering their thoughts and their words. Demonstrating active listening to your child will help them to practice listening when communicating with others.

-           Use daily routines and activities: Communicating with your child during daily routines and activities gives your child natural opportunities to practice their communication. You can use the same words and phrases to build on their verbal language. You can practice naming and labelling objects together. You can even create language games that you can play together as you go about your day.

Communication is a skill that is interconnected to all other areas of a child’s development. By providing a language rich environment and endless opportunities to practice and nurture communication, we can help children to build confidence and connection with others through language.