Adults and Communication Development of the Child

2. 1 Explain the ways in which adults can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development of children during the early years. Adults can effectively support the speech, language and communication development of the child by the parent talking fluently and clearly so the child can hear the patterns of the language they are learning. The adult can also help the child’s understanding of communication by miming the actions they are saying, this help the child put together the actions and words to understand what he adult is saying.

An adult can extend the child’s development by introducing new words, and getting the child to use more intellectual words such as ‘dog’ instead of ‘doggy’. Babies communicate by crying for their needs such as for a nappy change or a bottle. Adults can support the child’s development by talking to babies in short phases and high pitched voices and emphasis on key words, this is called parentese.

Another way that adults communicate with children is by eye contact, if the child has sigh issues then the babies response would be by listening intently and becoming still, as for a baby that is well sighted would ‘dance’ and smile. Adults can extend the child’s communication development by repeating a word to the baby to get them used to the word, and then showing the child the meaning, by also miming and using body language. 2. Explain the relevant positive effects of adult support for the children and their causes. The positive effects of adult support for the children involve improvements in speech, language and communication skills, social interaction, behaviour and emotional development / self confidence. Praising and encouragement are very important when supporting the child’s speech, language and communication development as they need a lot of praising or rewards when the child is speaking correctly.

By the adults giving the child rewards and praising them supports the child as they know they are doing good, and will continue to excel and improve their development, as well as the child gains self – confidence and self – esteem when they are being praised which allows the child to experience new things and experiences, this would help the child’s communication as they would have the confidence to speak up and ask questions. There are a few methods that are used to praise children, one is verbal, such as praising the child by giving them positive comments about what they are doing and how they do things like ‘Brilliant Tony!

You played really well’ As this has two positive comments would make the child feel good, and would then go and play well again and this would improve their social interaction as well as their motional development. Another positive method that the adult could use is symbols, such as smiley faces and well done stickers when the child has done something well such as reading, this would have a positive effect on the child development as they feel confident as they can read well or playing well, which could lead to the child trying to learn and do more things as they feel good about themselves.