Verbal Skills

Remember that communicating is not only about using words to speak. It includes your child’s desire to connect with others by exchanging ideas and feelings, both verbally and non-verbally.

During the first years of life, children’s brains are developing rapidly and laying the foundation for learning. The interactions that children have with adults influence how children develop and learn. As a result, early childhood educators play a key role in providing children with interactions that can support their growth and development, particularly their language and communication skills.

Although the first year is really important for language development in children, major learning continues throughout a child’s early years onwards, as learning language is a lifelong process.

As your child grows, he will gradually build a repertoire of words and directions that he hears around him and try to use them to express his needs and feelings. Although your child might not be saying much in his early years, he can still understand a lot of what is going on around him.
Remember that communicating is not only about using words to speak. It includes your child’s desire to connect with others by exchanging ideas and feelings, both verbally and non-verbally.

The language skills of 5-year-old’s are well developed. They pronounce words clearly, speak in complex and compound sentences, use correct grammar most of the time, and have a good vocabulary that continues to grow rapidly. Children this age enjoy starting conversations and talking to others, can wait their turn to speak during group conversations, and are typically able to include appropriate details when sharing personal experiences.

Activities that can help in your 5 year old’s Verbal skill development:

• Take advantage of daily activities. For example, while in the kitchen, encourage your child to name the utensils needed. Discuss the foods on the menu, their color, texture, and taste.
• Help your child follow two- and three-step directions. For example: “Go to your room, and bring me your book.”
• Offer a description or clues to an object, and encourage your child to identify what you are describing. For example: “We use it to sweep the floor” (a broom). “It could be hot or cold, it doesn’t have a color” (water)
• Encourage your child to give directions. Follow his or her directions as he or she explains how to build a tower of blocks.