Early communication Minimize
Communication is about getting a message across to someone else and listening in turn to the messages they send back.  When we think of communication we think of speech but there are many other ways of getting our message across.  We can communicate by pointing, looking, making different expressions with our faces, moving our bodies in different ways, shouting, crying, laughing, using our hands, throwing things and even by saying and doing nothing at all.

Babies, therefore, are ready to begin communication as soon as they are born, and by trying to understand your baby’s or your child’s messages and responding to them with your own, you will be helping your child to learn how to communicate effectively even before speech develops.
  1. Spend time talking to your child and let him watch your face.  Use your face and exaggerate your facial expressions to keep your child interested as well as making your voice sound interesting by varying pitch.
  2. Encourage your child to listen to different sounds by playing with different noise-making things e.g. rattles, drums and see if your child will turn his head to look at them. Encourage him to look by slowly bringing the item closer and showing interest in it yourself.
  3. Encourage your child to copy different activities:
    1. Pulling faces e.g.
      1. Sticking out tongue
      2. Puffing out cheeks
      3. Saying ee-aw like a donkey when you see a donkey or a picture of one
    2. Babbling - When your child babbles, copy him and this will encourage him to do it again. Taking it in turns to babble in this way is a form of early conversation.
    3. Actions
      1. Playing peep-bo
      2. Banging a drum
    4. Social situations
      1. Waving bye-bye
      2. Shaking head for no
    5. Making different noises
      1. Animal sounds
      2. Object sounds
  4. Encourage your child to notice when someone appears. For example: “Where is daddy/nanny/mummy?”
  5. Music - Encourage your child to listen to musical toys and even dance to the rhythm.
  6. Encourage your child to notice things around him and take interest in them.
    1. By pointing to things and talking about them as you walk to the shops.
    2. By saying your child’s name you can alert him to look at people or things close to him.  An interesting face or object will then encourage him to continue looking and (learning)
  7. Spend time with your child encouraging him to look and be interested in different things.  Talk to your child in simple, repetitive language while you share activities with him.
    1. Blowing bubbles – let them pop on your child’s hand and feet
    2. Jack in a box – say boo as Jack pops up
    3. Touching thing with different textures. Let your child feel different things but do not leave him alone with them. Here are some ideas:
      1. cotton wool
      2. fur
      3. water
      4. bubbles
      5. keys
      6. fruit
      7. fir cones
      8. grasses etc
  8. Encourage your child to tell you what he wants by gesturing if he cannot say the words yet.  Always say the word to your child so that he can hear how you say it even if he doesn’t say it himself.
  9. Let your child see that sounds are fun by talking to your child in many different situations and smiling and taking notice of your child when he makes sounds of his own.
  10. Let your child see that you have understood his attempts to communicate by:
    1. Responding when he:-
      1. cries
      2. points
      3. shouts
      4. makes sounds
  11. Early attempts at words often go unnoticed because they do not sound very much like the words they are intended to be.  Try to be aware of any attempt to say a word and give as much encouragement as you can e.g. child points to ‘cat’ and says ‘ta’’.  Say, “yes, it’s a cat” in a lively manner.  It doesn’t matter if your child was not trying to say the word,this will give him the correct encouragement to try another time.
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