HOW I GROW UP AND DEVELOP
WHAT I NEED
FROM PEOPLE WHO LOOK AFTER ME
MY WIDER WORLD
SUPPORT
THE HEALTH VISITING PATHWAY
8 MONTHS
NHS EDUCATION FOR SCOTLAND
SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION
GIVING CHILDREN THE BEST POSSIBLE START IN LIFE
Takes turns in conversations using babble.
Takes turns in games such as peek-a-boo or building a tower.
By twelve months may begin to develop one or two early words.
May say their first word eg ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ around 12 months.
Simple words to name items, request, ask for more.
Uses a wide range of non-verbal communication such as gestures, facial expressions and whole body movements.
Babble using different consonant sounds eg ‘n’, ‘d’ ‘b’ ‘n’.
Attempts to copy sounds made by another person.
Varied babbling– sounds and syllable strings.
Developing adult like intonation patterns.
Enjoys action rhymes and songs and will show recognition of familiar rhymes and songs.
Understands if you point to something and can follow the direction of your pointing accurately.
Responds to their own name by stopping and looking.
Focuses on different sounds and locates sounds accurately.
Developing joint attention.
Development of Intentional Communication - behaviour consciously directed towards influencing others, sending purposeful messages to others through eye-contact, facial expression, sounds and gestures.
May try to copy adult's speech, lip movements and facial expressions.
Begins to understand frequently used words such as ‘bye bye’ ‘no’ ‘all gone’.
SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT KEY
LOOK OUT FOR
- Little eye contact or turn taking
- Baby not turning accurately towards sounds
- Baby does not babble
- Baby does not try to communicate by using noises or body movement
- Parental concern
PROMOTING LANGUAGE
- Responsiveness: recognising and responding positively to a child’s very early attempts to communicate is vital.
- Imitation: Copying a child’s sounds shows that you are paying attention and may motivate baby to babble again.
- Interpret messages - Provide labels for things baby is showing an interest in. Put into words what you think baby is trying to say.
- Use gestures - Using actions and gestures can build shared attention and understanding.
- Pointing to things that baby shows an interest and providing labels will focus their attention and develop their vocabulary.
- Commenting: Talk to your baby as often as you can. Watch carefully to see what baby is really interested in and link language to what baby sees and what baby is doing
PROMOTING INTERACTION
- Turn-Taking – encouraging turn taking through play eg peek a boo.
- Proximity - Babies will interact more when they are face to face to with you.
- Waiting: Allow pauses for baby to communicate back.
OPPORTUNITIES
- Sing songs and share rhymes, especially those with actions and movements.
ENVIRONMENT
- Avoid background noise and distractions to allow baby to listen to adult’s voices
- Having a quiet time each day to play and interact.
Growing up in Scotland (2015) report found that there was a vocabulary gap between the most and least affluent in society. (20% of children with below average vocabulary in more affluent homes and 54% of children with below average vocabulary in the least affluent homes).
This report also found that undertaking frequent home learning activities was positively associated with high vocabulary scores at age three.
Health Visitors and Family Nurses play a key role in prevention and early identification of Speech, Language and Communication Needs. Below are some suggested ways of supporting families and signposting them to relevant support services.
- Consider any support a parent with Communication Support Needs may require. Parents with CSN may be less able to access additional supports and information that could assist with their child's development. Ensure you are aware of parents’ communication preferences and can respond appropriately to these.
- Demonstrate and discuss effective interaction skills.
- Parents with mental health issues, including postnatal depression and postnatal post traumatic stress, may need more support and encouragement to talk with their babies and use parentese – but trying this even a little can be a great help to them. Be aware that postnatal mental health issues can affect both mothers and fathers.
- Where there are capacity issues for parents, consider other family members who might be able to help – grandparents, older siblings – and give them key messages
- Signposting: Attending local bookbug sessions, infant massage, toddler groups or other community resources can support the attachment and communication process.
- Tips and advice on effective strategies to support language and social development for sharing or signposting with parents can be found on the bumps to bairns website
- Parents have access to developmental guidelines relating to early communication skills through the Red book, Ready Steady Baby and Ready Steady Toddler.
- Play at home baby book contains many ideas for supporting communication.
- Play, talk, Read website contains many ideas and examples of positive interaction.
- Consider Motivational Interviewing/ Health Coaching Strategies: For more information: Health Behaviour change e-learning suite
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Using the elicit-provide-elicit model of sharing information and checking understanding.
- Elicit - what the parent/carer knows already
- Provide - fill in any gaps or misconceptions
- Elicit - Explore what fits with family life
- Using open-ended questions, active listening, reflecting back and summarising. (For more information on these techniques see NES Motivational Interviewing resource).
- Using a collaborative communication style - working in partnership with families, empowering them to solve issues and make decisions
RESOURCES
FOR PARENTS
Words Up – parent-friendly posters explaining development and key messages
NATIONAL LITERACY TRUST. VIDEOS FOR PARENTS PROMOTING EARLY COMMUNICATION:
REFERENCES
NHS Education for Scotland
102 Westport
Edinburgh
EH3 9DN
www.nes.scot.nhs.uk
OTHER LINKS
- NES website
- The Portal
© NHS Education for Scotland 2018. You can copy or reproduce the information in this document for use within NHSScotland and for non-commercial educational purposes. Use of this document for commercial purposes is permitted only with the written permission of NES.