Nursery World - Keep talking

Adults use both instinctive and conscious techniques to help under-threes develop communication skills, says Penny Tassoni Language is something that most of us take for granted as we go about our daily lives. We chat, listen and even organise our thinking using this skill. But babies and young children are only just learning about language and its uses. So how can we help them, and what are the landmarks in learning language?

Language is something that most of us take for granted as we go about our daily lives. We chat, listen and even organise our thinking using this skill. But babies and young children are only just learning about language and its uses. So how can we help them, and what are the landmarks in learning language?

A good starting point is to realise that babies' and young children's language is tied in to the quality of support that they receive from adults. This is because, although it is generally accepted that babies are born with some inbuilt sense of language, they need to learn about the rules of communication and how the sounds that they can produce are linked with meaning. The key way in which babies do this is through interaction with adults. The importance of adults in stimulating babies' language is stressed in the new framework for the under-threes, Birth to Three Matters, which has as one of its four aspects 'a skilful communicator'.

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