Why Are Parents so Important in Supporting Children's Communication?

Research shows that you are the ideal person to build your child’s early communication skills because:

• You spend the most time interacting with your child.
• Your child is most comfortable communicating and interacting with you.
• You know your child’s interests and preferences that will make interactions motivating and fun.
• You can use communication strategies naturally throughout your child’s day – so your child is learning in situations that are meaningful to them.

If you are concerned about your child's language development, working collaboratively with a speech-language pathologist will enable you to learn to use research-based strategies that have been shown to help children develop improved communication and language skills. This is true for all children with language difficulties, including children who are on the autism spectrum or children with developmental disorders.

Read more about what the research says about parent involvement in early language intervention.

How to Start – Identify Your Child’s Stage of Communication

The first step to supporting your child’s communication development is to recognize what they already do. This will help you identify your child’s current Stage of Communication.

The Hanen Centre’s research-based It Takes Two to Talk® parent program organizes children’s early communication development into four stages: Discoverer, Communicator, First Words User and Combiner. Each stage includes the reasons why your child communicates, how your child communicates, and what they understand. You can find more information about the Stages of Communication in the It Takes Two to Talk® parent guidebook.

Read about the main feature of each stage:

Strategies to Build Communication at Each Stage

Knowing your child’s Stage of Communication will give you a good idea about the next steps in their development. The It Takes Two to Talk® parent guidebook provides many practical ideas and strategies for supporting your child’s communication skills at each stage, and for helping them progress to the next stage.

Your child learns best when they are engaged in enjoyable back and forth interactions with the most important people in their lives. See below for a practical strategy you can use for each stage of communication.

Discoverer Stage

Interpret your child’s looks, sounds, and actions
Interpreting your child is a powerful strategy to let them know that you are interested in what they are feeling or doing. When you interpret your child’s looks, sounds, and actions as if they are communicating something specific, it helps them understand that what they do has an effect on others. In time, your child will start to do these things on purpose and that’s the beginning of intentional communication.

How to Interpret:

• Step 1: Observe, Wait and Listen™ to see what your child is interested in or reacting to. Your child may react by moving their body, using facial expressions, looking around, reaching towards, and/or making sounds:
  • Get face to face with your child, and observe what interests them – are they looking at the ceiling fan? Are they interested in the light coming from the window? By playing close attention to your child, you will see what has captured their attention.
  • Wait to see if your child sends you a message – do they look at you? Smile? Move their arms? Treat any action, look, or facial expression as though they are trying to tell you something.
  • Listen for any sounds your child makes – do they babble when they spot a favourite toy? Do they giggle when their big brother makes faces at them? Again, treat any sound as though they are trying to tell you something.
• Step 2: Think about what your child might be feeling and wanting to communicate. This may mean taking your best guess based on what you know about your child and the current situation.
• Step 3: Put into words what you think your child is trying to tell you. Use short, grammatically correct sentences, then wait to see your child’s reaction.

Communicator Stage

Join In and Play Using Fun Sounds and Words

Following your child’s lead by Joining In and Playing is a great way to show your child you are interested in what they are doing and communicating about. Joining In using fun sounds and words that match your child’s interests makes it easier for them to understand what you are saying. For example, you might use the fun word, “pop!” if your child is playing with bubbles or the fun sound, “moo!” if your child is playing with a toy cow. Because these sounds and words include an excited voice, gestures, and facial expressions, they are fun to hear, and your child may be motivated to try and use them too!

How to Join In and Play Using Fun Sounds and Words

• Step 1: Observe, Wait and Listen™ to see what your child is interested in or what they might want to send a message about:
  • Get face to face with your child, and observe what interests them – are they looking at the ceiling fan? Are they interested in the light coming from the window? By playing close attention to your child, you will see what has captured their attention.
  • Wait to see if your child sends you a message – do they look at you? Smile? Move their arms? Treat any action, look, or facial expression as though they are trying to tell you something.
  • Listen for any sounds your child makes – do they babble when they spot a favourite toy? Do they giggle when their big brother makes faces at them? Again, treat any sound as though they are trying to tell you something.
• Step 2: Wait for your child to send you a message.
• Step 3: Follow your child’s lead. Join In and Play the way your child is playing. While you play, use fun sounds or words and lots of animation in your voice to keep the interaction interesting. Add a gesture to your fun sound or word and wait for your child to take another turn.

First Words User Stage

Highlight and Repeat Your Language

How you talk to your child makes a big difference in helping them learn language. When you Highlight and Repeat your language, you make the important words stand out, so that it’s easier for your child to understand and use the words when they’re ready. Children need to hear words repeated many times in many different situations to understand the meaning of the word and then to use the word themselves.

How to Highlight and Repeat Your Language with the Four S’s:

• Say less – use short, grammatically correct sentences.
• Stress the important words by saying them slightly louder or changing the tone of your voice.
• Go Slow – give your child time to process and respond to what you said.
• Show – use actions, gestures, sign language or pictures to help your child attach meaning to what you said.

Repeat the important words 3 -5 times during your interaction and in other situations throughout the day.

Don’t ask your child to say the word or expect them to use it right away.

Combiner Stage

Expand Your Child’s Message

Once your child is combining words and/or signs together, you can help them speak in longer and more complete phrases by expanding on their message. When you expand on what your child communicates, you provide a model of the full meaning of their message.

How to Expand on Your Child’s Message:

Expanding your child’s message means that when your child says something, you respond with a slightly longer sentence, always including the word or words your child has said.

That’s why it is called “Expanding”. Your sentence becomes an expanded or a more complete version of what your child has said. For example, if your child points to their doll and says, “Baby seep”, you can expand by saying, “The baby is sleeping”.

When your child is at the Combiner Stage, you should try to expand every time your child communicates, as this is the most important way you can help your child express themselves.

Articles for Each Stage

Here are some helpful links to research-based, practical information you can use to get started supporting your child’s communication. Refer to the Stage of Communication that best matches your child’s skills for suggestions that are relevant to you:

Discoverer Stage

1. Was That Intentional?
   A big developmental step happens when young children learn to send messages intentionally – that is, when they learn to communicate directly to someone to achieve a specific goal. Find out what parents of children with communication delays can do to encourage their child’s intentional communication.
2. Get Face to Face
   Did you know that the way you position yourself when interacting with your child can make a big difference in how much they understand and communicate? Here are some tips you can use to make the most of face-to-face time with your child to help build their communication skills.
3. How to Build a Strong Foundation for Your Child's Language Skills
   Did you know that interaction is the most important foundation for your child’s language learning? Learn how to engage your child in the kinds of back-and-forth interactions that set the stage for the best language learning.
4. Have Fun! – An Essential Ingredient for Language Learning
   Why is fun so important for language learning? Learn how to support your child’s communication by having fun interactions with them using these 6 practical tips.

Communicator Stage

1. Have Fun! – An Essential Ingredient for Language Learning
   Why is fun so important for language learning? Learn how to support your child’s communication by having fun interactions with them using these 6 practical tips.
2. The Importance of Gestures
   The ability to use gestures is an important precursor for language development. Children who produce more gestures early on have been shown to have larger vocabularies and better story-telling abilities later on. Find out what you can do to encourage your child’s gesture use during everyday interactions.
3. It's Never Too Early to Have Conversations with Your Child
   To learn language, young children need to do much more than just hear you use words. What does an "early conversation" look like, and how can you make sure you're having them with your child as often as possible?
4. Laying the Foundation for First Words
   Learning to talk starts long before a child says their first words. There are many things your child needs to learn before they’re ready to use words. Here are some of the building blocks for using words, and tips for encouraging them with your child.

First Words User Stage

1. How to Talk to Children Who Are Learning to Talk
   It's natural to simplify our language when speaking to children who are just learning to talk. But is it possible to simplify language too much? See what the research says about the kind of language that works best to help children learn.
2. Tap into Your Child’s Natural Way of Learning Language
   By age 6, children understand about 10,000 words! This amazing feat happens by children following patterns in the language they hear every day. In this article, we share some tips on how you can help your child find patterns during your everyday interactions.
3. Making New Words “Stick”
   Children with language delays often need extra help to develop an understanding of a new word and to be able to use that word on their own. Here are some tips parents can use to make word learning easier for their child.
4. Tips to Build Vocabulary: Repeat Words That Match Your Child’s Interests
   If your child is just starting to talk, you might be wondering how you can help them learn new words. Here are some tips for how you can identify words that your child will be motivated to learn.

Combiner Stage

1. Tips to Build Vocabulary: Repeat Words That Match Your Child’s Interests
   If your child is just starting to talk, you might be wondering how you can help them learn new words. Here are some tips for how you can identify words that your child will be motivated to learn.
2. Combining Words: A Big Step in Language Development
   First words are exciting, but a child’s first combination of words is also important. Research shows that children who are late to combine words are at risk for future difficulties with language. Learn how to help your child combine words.
3. Early Sentences — A Big Step in Language Development
   Combining words is a big step that allows children to express more than one idea at a time, and it becomes easier to figure out what they’re trying to tell you. Find out how early sentences develop and when to expect your child to start using them.
4. How to Help Your Child Use Early Sentences
   Combining words may happen a bit later for children with language difficulties. Learn some specific ways you can talk to your child to encourage this big step in language development.

Programs and Resources for Parents

The Hanen Centre has developed five programs for parents. Led by a certified speech-language pathologist, these comprehensive, research-based programs help you help your child. You will learn to create and take advantage of everyday opportunities to improve your child’s communication skills. Each program also has an associated guidebook that may be used during the program, while waiting for a program, or on its own. Find out which Hanen Program® may be right for you: