Before a single word, your child is sending signals all day. A look. A reach. A turn of the body. The conversation already started.
Before a single word, your child is sending signals all day. A look. A reach. A turn of the body. You do not have to wait for speech to start a conversation. It already started.
The signals are small and quiet. A glance held a beat too long. A hand that drifts toward a shelf. In a busy moment, these slip right past us. And every one we miss teaches the child that reaching out did not work.
A signal that gets no answer is a door that stops getting knocked on. Catch the small ones, and your child keeps reaching.
Watch their body and their eyes. When you catch a signal, say what you see, then respond. "You are looking at the bubbles. You want the bubbles. Here they are." You named it, and you answered. That is a full conversation.
When you answer a signal, your child learns a powerful thing. What I do gets a response. That belief is where communication begins.
Long before children speak, they point, look, and reach. When those moves get a warm, reliable answer, children make more of them. More signals lead to more back-and-forth. More back-and-forth is the soil that words grow in.
Children whose early signals are noticed and answered tend to communicate more, sooner. The answering is what teaches them their voice has power. Researchers have found this across many different studies.
Some children send quiet signals. A small shift in the body. A change in their breathing. A flick of the eyes. If your child is hard to read, they are not failing to communicate. Their signals are just turned down low. You can learn to see them.
"A child who seems hard to reach is often reaching the whole time. In a key you are still learning to hear."
Pick one moment to watch closely. Catch one signal, name it out loud, and answer it. What will you watch for?
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