Is your child unable to follow instructions? Does he not respond to his name? Is he unable to point to familiar people, objects and body parts when asked “Where’s the ____?”
If your child is more than 18 months, and your answer is yes to any of the above questions, there could be an issue with receptive language.
What is Receptive Language?
Receptive language is simply the fancy name that speech therapists use to describe a child’s ability to understand words. Here’s a good definition of receptive language from the Victoria State Government of Australia.
Based on developmental norms, a child should start to connect words with meaning between the age of 12-18 months. This means that they should be able to consistently follow simple instruction throughout the day by the time they are 1.5 years old.
Why is Receptive Language Important?
Children first have to understand before they can use language. That’s why many children with expressive language issues also display receptive language problems.
Therefore, one of our first goals for speech therapy should always be to help children make sense of what they hear.
How Can We Improve Receptive Language
Parents are often told by well-meaning adults and speech therapists to talk to their children. However the advice often stops short of telling them how to go about doing so.
In this article, we will break down the steps on how to help your child understand more words.
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Tip #1: Simplify what you say
Some parents, in their eagerness to engage their children, often go into a long tirade. This, however, has the opposite effect of shutting their kids down.
Imagine going to a foreign country and having a kindly local bombard you with a barrage of words. I doubt you can figure out much of what he is saying.
Thus, make it easier for your child by simplifying what you say. Dr James MacDonald, author of “Play to talk”, recommends talking at one level above what the child is capable of. If your child is non-verbal, use single words. If your child is speaking in single words, model short phrases. Doing so ensures that your child can follow your words, while providing a model for how they can do better.
Ideally, your speech should sound like this:
Talking to Non-verbal Child
Mother: Car! Wow! Car! (rolls car on the floor)
Child: (rolls car)
Mother: Beep beep! Car!
Child: (smiles)
Tip #2: Repeat, repeat, repeat
Your child needs to hear a word many times before they can absorb and use it. Renown speech pathologist, Brooke Ingersoll, recommends that parents try to emphasize key words and use them over and over again to help facilitate their child’s language learning.
Talking to a child at the single-word level
Father: Ooh ball! Big ball!
Child: Big!
Father: Ball go! (rolls ball)
Child: Go! (rolls ball back)
Father: Kick ball! (kicks ball)
Child: Kick! (kicks ball back)
As you can see in the example above, the father is repeating the word “ball” many times in various word combinations. This allows the child to hear the word many times and see how it is used in different contexts.
Tip #3: Employ visual cues
Another good way to improve your child’s understanding is to use visual cues. Show your child what you are talking about. Let him see and touch it while you label it. If you don’t have the object with you, use a photo or flash card. This helps to ensure that your child is focusing on the same object with you. By engaging his other senses, he will also gain a deeper mastery of the word.
Borrowing the tagline from Hanen, “Go slow and Show”!
Tip #4: Talk in Context
Nicola Lathey, in her book “Small Talk”, recommends that we should always “Say what you see”. Therefore, when talking to your child, try to focus on what she is doing or looking at. If she is bouncing on the trampoline, say “Jump! Jump! Jump!” as she jumps. Or if she is watching a cat lying on the sidewalk, point and label “Cat! Meow!”
Toddlers, especially ones with language challenges, have difficulties linking your words to things they cannot see. Instead of talking about your zoo trip last week, talk about what your child is doing at the moment.
This is not to say that you can’t talk about something in the past. If you wish to do so, a better way would be to look at photographs together. This way, your child will have a more concrete way of connecting the words to the event.
Tip #5: Be Consistent
There are many ways you can call a dog. You might call it “Doggie”, “Dog”, “Puppy”, “Woof woof” or any number of names you can come up with. However, it would be much easier for your child if you can use the same word consistently so he has many opportunities to hear it.
In addition, try to start and end your games the same way too. For example, if you are tossing your child up in the air, try beginning each time with “Up?” while holding your hands out. And every time you place your child back on the ground, say “Down!”. This gives your child the words to start and end the game.
Tip #6: Make use of routines
The Hanen Centre is a big proponent of using routines to teach language. Because routines follow a fixed order, the child has the opportunity to hear the words in context over and over again. Take for example the routine of putting on clothes.
Putting on clothes
Mother: Shirt! (holds up shirt)
Mother: Arms up!
Child: (puts arms up)
Mother: (slide shirts on)
Mother: Undies! (holds up underwear)
Mother: Legs in!
Child: (puts legs in)
Mother: Undies up!
Child: (pulls up underwear)
Mother: Shorts! (holds up shorts)
Mother: Legs in!
Child: (puts legs in)
Mother: Shorts up!
Child: (pulls up shorts)
As you can see, the mother is using simple language and is repeating the same words over and over again. The child may start off being clueless, but over days and weeks, he will start to understand what each word means.
Tip #7: Maximize clean up time
Utilising clean up time is a great way to work on receptive language. If you have a pile of farm animals strewn on the floor, isolate two of them and tell your child, “Give cow!” Open your palm and place it in front of his eyes.
Give your child some time to respond. If he doesn’t do so, point to the cow, and repeat “Give cow!”
If your child still does not respond, say “Give cow” then help him pick up the cow and place it in your open palm. Praise your child if he does so successfully, and help him if he cannot.
Do the same with the rest of the animals. This allows you to put clean up time to good use while helping your child to learn the names to the various items.
Tip #8: Cue your child appropriately
Children often make mistakes as they are learning something new. To ensure that they remain successful, we have to meet them at their level. This means providing just the right amount of support; not too little that they fail, and not too much that they are robbed of the opportunity to grow. This is where cueing comes into play.
As Laura Mize, my favourite speech therapist, says, “Tell him, show him and help him”. First, we have to tell them verbally what we want them to do. If the child is unsuccessful, we then increase our support and show them what we want them to do.
If they are still unable to comply, we then swoop in with our highest level of support, helping him to perform the task. This is aptly illustrated in the previous point on how we can help a child during clean up.
In this way, we ensure that the child is getting the optimal level of support, while making sure that they are constantly challenged and stretched.
Conclusion
Receptive language is the basis from which your child will learn to talk. Therefore, it is critical for us to help them understand as many words as we can. By employing all these strategies, we are thus helping our late-talking child to develop a solid foundation for his communication.
What other tips do you have to help your child understand more language?
