Pre-Language Skills
What are pre-language skills?
As soon as a child is born they are learning and developing pre-language or non-verbal skills which will support later language learning. Pre-language skills are the ways in which we communicate without using words and include things such as gestures, facial expressions, imitation, joint attention and eye-contact. These are the skills that set children up to be ready to talk and communicate.
Why are pre-language skills important?
Pre-language skills form the basis from which understanding and talking is developed. For example, a child who has difficulty looking at and attending to their mother’s speech will not have as many opportunities to hear the language and words their mother is saying and attach meaning to those words. This can have a negative impact on the child’s development of understanding and using language.
Similarly, difficulties with joint attention (i.e. when people are attending to the same thing at the same time) will mean fewer opportunities for a child to learn about things in the environment around them. It is through looking at something together and the adult commenting or talking about what they are seeing, that helps a child learn about the world and attach meaning to words (e.g. both looking at the dog through the window and saying “dog”).
Children who have difficulty in the development of pre-language skills may go on to have verbal language and interaction difficulties. Identifying and working on the development of pre-language skills at an early age can prevent difficulties with verbal language later in the child’s life.