Language Development

As a pediatric speech connection specializing in the early intervention population, the most common question I get asked by caregivers is, “why hasn’t my child said their first word yet?” Then immediately after that question comes, “when is my child going to start communicating?”

Chances are, your child is already communicating – just not verbally. From birth, babies begin communicating using facial expressions, motor movements, eye contact and sounds. This is known as non-verbal communication. Long before communicating with words and phrases, children utilize an impressive array of non-verbal forms of communication to interact with people. These “pre-language” or “pre-linguistic” skills are the foundation for language development and are directly tied to your child’s ability to produce his/her first word. Exciting! As soon as children learn that these non-verbal skills have significance and can influence the behavior of people around them (for example, that they can get their bottle if they make a certain sound or look/point at it), they begin to interact more intentionally. It is through these back-and-forth interactions that a child learns the power of language and communication.