Do you remember the first time you noticed your little one sending a message to you, intentionally?
What did your child try to tell you and HOW did he or she let you know what they wanted ?
Perhaps it was the time your baby reached her arms up and looked at you to let you know she wanted out of her crib. Or maybe it was the time that your little one dropped his cup off the highchair and reached his hand down to the floor, looked at you and made a sound like, “uh uh” to let you know that he wanted it back. These moments of communication with the hands (sometimes paired with sounds) are gestures and they are the underlying communication skills that a young child develops before they begin to talk!
Recent research developed by Amy Wetherby, Ph.D, Speech-Language Pathologist with her First Words Project at the Florida State University has revealed that a young child with typically-developing communication skills will actually use 16 gestures by 16 months of age! There is SO much learning happening in the developing brain in the first year of life and through toddler-hood.
So you may be wondering….what gestures do young children use? This information is referenced from the FIRST WORDS PROJECT – Florida State University. Here are some examples of the earliest gestures that young children use to communicate.
By 9 months of age: children learn to take an object from a parent’s hand , then they learn to “give” something to someone
Children learn to shake their head “no” and may turn away from food they don’t want
By 10 months of age: children learn to reach and then they will raise their arms to let you know they wish to be picked up
By 11 months of age : a child learns to “show” something to get someone to notice what they are interested in
These gestures continue to develop all through the toddler years with children sometimes combining gestures to communicate, or pairing a word with a gesture.
The take-away here is that the use of gestures leads to the use of spoken words.
If you are wondering how your child is coming along in the area of early communication, please know that it is never too early to speak with your child’s physician or find the support of a pediatric Speech Language Pathologist in your area. Some young children are slower in their use of early gestures just as some children are slower in making sounds or learning to sit or crawl. Milestones help us to know when to offer some extra help for your young child. Many families seek support as soon as they are concerned and this is often the BEST outcome for a young child .
This early support for your young child and your family is called “early intervention” and it can lead to wonderful growth in attachment and connection with your child… which can lead to your child learning even more gestures and then, in time….those precious spoken words .
Please check out this link to the information on gestures and the 16 by 16 Series : https://firstwordsproject.com/about-16by16/ from the Florida State University for very clear descriptive and visual information on the development of gestures.
If you want to know the best way to help YOUR child learn to use more gestures, my very best idea is for you to sing songs and nursery rhymes with your child, in a face-to-face way . Even if your child doesn’t love the song the first time, try it again another time. Try to create a little routine with the song and use YOUR hands to show your child what the words in the song mean. * think …. or the Eensy Weensy Spider.
If you need some help , you can try your local children’s library for toddler Story Times , or your local Early ON Centre (Ontario) for Songs and Story times or reach out to a pediatric Speech Language Pathologist in your area.