How Does Your Child Communicate

Margaret H. Briggs, PhD, CCC-SLP
Board Certified Specialist in Child Language
Executive Director

Communication is all about interaction—it can happen in many different ways. A parent’s job is to figure out how your child communicates and keep it going. And remember… make it FUN

Find out:

What does your child like?

  • What does she like to play with?
  • What is his favorite food?
  • What kind of physical play does she prefer?
  • Who does he like to be with most?

How does your child sense the world?

  • Movement
  • Touch
  • Sight
  • Sound
  • Smell

What is your child’s learning style like?

  • Rote—memorizing things
  • Gestalt—learning things in chunks without really understanding
  • Visual
  • Hands-on
  • Auditory

How does your child communicate?

  • Cry or scream
  • Body movements, gestures, facial expressions
  • Reach
  • Take your hand
  • Look at things
  • Point
  • Make sounds
  • Use words, phrases, or sentences
  • Echoing what others have said

Why does your child communicate?

  • Calming and enjoyment
  • Protesting or refusing
  • Requesting
  • Socializing
  • Getting you to notice
  • Greeting—hi or bye-bye
  • Responding
  • Showing or commenting
  • Asking questions
  • Talking about the past or future
  • Expressing feelings
  • Pretending or imagining

What you will need to help your child’s communication grow

  1. bubbles
  2. books
  3. toys that move
  4. toys that you can pretend and role-play with
  5. balloons
  6. water, dirt, and sand
  7. food and treats
  8. dolls and puppets

Strategies

  • Be silly and child-like
  • People games are best
  • Stay silent—wait
  • Make mistakes
  • Pretend something’s broken
  • Interpret what your child says
  • Intrude—insist on joining in what your child’s doing
  • Take turns together
  • Ask questions
  • But make more comments than questions
  • Give hints
  • Keep the interaction going—as long as you can “Just one more…”

Adapted from Sussman, F. (1999). More than words. Toronto, Ontario Canada: The Hanen Centre (www.hanen.org)

© Margaret H. Briggs, Ph.D. Briggs and Associates, APSLPC 10/10

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