General advice to help your child understand
How?
- Reduce your language – less is more! Even if your child is talking a lot their ability to understand you may be a lot less if they are:
- distracted by their environment
- feeling anxious
- overwhelmed e.g. because of their sensory differences
- dysregulated
- Call your child’s name first before giving them an instruction - so they understand the instruction is for them
- You could try using singing if that catches your child’s attention e.g. make up a song that you sing to communicate it’s ‘tidy up time’ or ‘time to eat’ etc.
- Give your child time to process what you are communicating to them e.g. pause more when speaking to your child
- Try and use clear and direct language - e.g. if your child does not respond when you say “time to tidy up” then you could be more clear and literal e.g. “put these toys in the box” (and show them the box to put them in). You could demonstrate to them what you want them to do
- Try and be specific when asking questions - For example, instead of asking “how was school?” you could ask more specific questions such as “what did you eat for lunch today?” or “did you go swimming today with school?”, “was swimming fun?”
- Use visuals i.e. visual ways of communicating something
- e.g. by showing your child an object / photo / picture / using a gesture / using a Makaton sign (a type of hand sign) – please click here for more information on Makaton.
- We all use visuals as adults to help us understand things e.g. road signs, toilet door symbols, a calendar iaries.
- Even if your child can understand spoken language visuals can really help them too, especially if they are feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
You can use visuals to help your child understand
- What activities are happening during their day
- When there is going to be a change to their normal routine
- What is going to happen that week
- What they need to do to complete a task e.g. getting dressed / going to the toilet
- What is going to happen in a new situation e.g. going on holiday, going to the dentist or doctors.
Please see our other advice pages for more information.
Last updated20 Jan 2025