Pointing is one of the most important preverbal skills that children need to acquire before saying their first words.  

Pointing is so important for speech and language development for many reasons:

1. When I child points to something, it makes us look at what they are pointing to.  When you and your child are looking at the same thing, you are engaged in joint attention.    Joint attention is a very important communication and social skill.
2. It makes us label what they are pointing at.  When a child points to something, we typically label the item of interest. For example, if your child points to a bird in the sky, you probably will say something like “Look! It’s a bird!”  Children learn the meaning of words by hearing the label of what they are interested in.
3. It makes us describe what they are pointing at.  After you have labeled the bird in the example above, you may find yourself describing it. You might say, “It’s a bird.  The bird is flying up in the sky!” Now your child is learning more words like “flying, up, and sky”.
4. It makes us ask them questions about what they are pointing at.  In addition to labeling and describing, you may also ask your child questions about the object.  For example, you may say “Do you hear the bird chirping? It’s going chirp, chirp, chirp!” Or when the bird flies away, you might say “Where did the bird go?  Bye bird!"
5. Research also shows that the more children point early in their development, the better their language abilities are later on because of the association between pointing and social communication. 

Enjoy some of these "spring themed" ideas with your little one. "Here is a Beehive" is one my favorite fingerplays and is a fun one to enjoy with all ages!

Waiting is often a strategy many of us have a hard time to do.  In our busy lives, it is natural to feel that we have to keep the page of conversations and interactions going.  However, waiting gives your child a chance to either initiate an interaction or respond to something you have said or done.  Waiting also gives your child extra time to process information.  This is particularly helpful for children with a language delay that often require extra time to process auditory information.  The most important thing about waiting is to give your child enough time to understand that you are expecting him to send you a message.

We recommend that you wait 5-10 seconds to give your child lots of time to communicate before you fill in the silence with more comments or questions.  If you wait a little longer, your child may say or do something new!  When waiting expectantly for your child’s reaction, stop talking, lean forward and look expectantly to signal to your child that you are waiting for a response.

Your child’s turn may be a giggle, a wiggle, a smile, or a word.  Match the length of your child’s turn and pace, stay focused on what your child is interested in, take turns back and forth and the number of turns will eventually increase.

The development of language doesn’t just start with producing words.  There are many skills that come before a child can say words as is shown in this pyramid outline speech and language development.

Children acquire the skills at the bottom of the pyramid and move their way up with each skill supporting and laying the foundation needed to learn the next skill.

Early interaction, attention, listening and play skills are the building blocks for understanding and using language! 

How can parents and caregiver help a child build these skills?  Through daily interactions while talking, playing, reading, and singing with your child!