Ep. 134: Foundational Skills for Language Development: Part Two

In the second part of this series, Michelle continues the discussion on the foundational skills toddlers need before they begin to talk. This episode builds on the previous one by exploring how play, imitation, and environment shape a child's path to verbal communication. Michelle offers practical strategies for parents and SLPs to encourage these skills, emphasizing that language development is a step-by-step process.

Michelle explains the importance of functional toy play, motor imitation, and following simple directions. She provides actionable tips, such as limiting toys to reduce overwhelm and using the "Tell, Show, Help" method. The discussion also covers how to foster vocalizations, use gestures, and set up the environment to create communication opportunities—turning everyday moments into powerful language-learning experiences.

Subscribe to the Podcast!

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction to Part Two: Skills Before Words
01:40 – How Children Learn Through Functional Play
03:59 – Building Receptive Language Before Expressive Language
06:07 – Motor Imitation and Its Role in Language
08:15 – Following Simple Directions with "Tell, Show, Help"
10:26 – Encouraging Vocalizations and Imitating Sounds
14:21 – The Emergence of Gestures Before Words
16:10 – Creating a Communication-Rich Environment
20:24 – The Power of Extended Wait Time

Quick Notes

Host: Michelle, Speech-Language Pathologist

Key Concepts Discussed:

• Functional Play: Teaching children how to play with toys appropriately to build a foundation for language. Limiting distractions in the environment is key.
• Receptive vs. Expressive Language: A child must first understand words (receptive) before they can use them meaningfully (expressive).
• Motor Imitation: The ability to copy physical actions is a prerequisite for imitating speech sounds and words. Start with actions before expecting words.
• Vocal Imitation: Encouraging non-speech sounds (squeals, laughs, coughs) and animal noises helps build the skill of verbal imitation.
• "Tell, Show, Help": A powerful three-step method for teaching children new skills, from playing with toys to following directions.
• Environmental Sabotage: Intentionally setting up situations where a child must initiate communication to get what they want.
• Extended Wait Time: Giving a child quiet time to process a direction or question before repeating it, which can be highly effective.

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:04:15
Michelle
Hey y'all, it's Michelle with SLP Full disclosure, welcome to the podcast today.

00:00:04:15 - 00:00:18:04
Michelle
If you have not listened to the previous podcast, I encourage you to go and listen to that, because this is going to be part two of skills that toddlers need to master before words emerge. And I think so many times we just want to hear the words.

00:00:18:08 - 00:00:36:15
Michelle
And that's what the moms and dads want. That's what we want a speech pathologist. But it's really important that we start at the very beginning and that we're building those foundational skills. In the previous podcast, I talked about a few skills reacting to the environment, responding to people when they are being spoken to. Are they taking turns?

00:00:36:15 - 00:00:43:15
Michelle
Did they have a pretty, a little bit longer of an attention span? And are they able to shift their attention,

00:00:43:15 - 00:00:46:21
Michelle
to others while they're playing, while they're being spoken to?

00:00:46:21 - 00:00:54:17
Michelle
And all of those skills are prerequisite skills for expressive and receptive language. And I'm going to say this here,

00:00:54:17 - 00:01:02:02
Michelle
so many times we, we talk about the expressive language, because when we get these families in early intervention, that's what the parents want.

00:01:02:09 - 00:01:06:27
Michelle
I want them to talk. I want them to be able to tell me what they want and tell me what they need.

00:01:06:27 - 00:01:08:27
Michelle
Stop the crying and the whining.

00:01:08:27 - 00:01:17:20
Michelle
And as kids get a little bit older when we start getting 18 months to two years and they don't have a lot of language, then we start getting a lot of behaviors because it's very frustrating for them.

00:01:17:26 - 00:01:40:23
Michelle
Can you imagine not having a way to ask for some? Ask someone for a cup of coffee? That would be devastating for me. So I tell parents all the time, it's very frustrating when they know what they want, but they don't have a way to communicate that. The first part of this podcast talked about some of those prerequisite foundational skills with attention and really just interaction.

00:01:40:25 - 00:01:50:09
Michelle
What we're going to turn our attention to today is just kind of building on that. And we're going to start talking about how your child plays with toys so many times,

00:01:50:09 - 00:02:04:11
Michelle
I working with families in bursts or through early intervention, kids are just darting from one thing to another and they get all these amazing toys and they get the blocks, the puzzles, the cars, the trucks, the building things and the playhouses.

00:02:04:11 - 00:02:37:13
Michelle
And they get all of these toys that have all of these different pieces. And one thing that I have noticed, and one thing that I've been really talking to families about, is limiting the number of toys that are available at any given time. I've said this before on the podcast, and it really resonated with a lot of people, but you can teach motor play, you can teach joint attention, you can teach all of these prerequisite skills literally with a bucket, a spoon and maybe a block or two.

00:02:37:15 - 00:03:00:20
Michelle
Throw in a car, a ball. You don't need all of these fancy toys. What happens when we start talking about the next skill, which is learning to play with toys functionally and in an appropriate way, is what I see is they've got all of these toys out, they've got all these different pieces, and they are so overwhelmed by their environment that they can't really focus on that toy.

00:03:00:25 - 00:03:18:18
Michelle
So they've got a bucket, a bucket of blocks over here, and then they've got 25 cars, and then you've got puzzles and you've got books and you've got teddy bears, and you get all these things, and they're so distracted by their environment and by all of those different pieces and all of those different toys that they can't bring their attention.

00:03:18:18 - 00:03:36:21
Michelle
Remember we talked about that in the previous podcast. They can't really bring their attention to the toy that you're wanting to teach them how to play with. And if kids are not learning to play with toys appropriately and play with a variety of toys appropriately, that's really going to limit the language that you can bring into their play.

00:03:37:03 - 00:03:59:23
Michelle
Children learn language through play. They learn language through play and by the parents and the caregivers. The therapist talking to them and talking them through everything that they're doing. If we don't say it and if we don't model it, they're not going to know it. They're not going to learn it. We can't just expect the words to magically appear in their brain.

00:03:59:26 - 00:04:23:26
Michelle
I talk about a word bank. So let's start talking a little bit about receptive language and expressive language. Speech pathologist I know you guys know this. We've got to build that receptive language before we can expect them to be able to use it expressively. When I ask a child during play, oh, give me the toy, give me the car, give me the ball, give me the block.

00:04:23:26 - 00:04:49:17
Michelle
Give me the book. Bring me your shoes. Go get a diaper that is rebuilding receptive language. If a child cannot hear a word and then identified in their environment, whether it be a functional toy in their environment, a functional, a functional item in their environment, or a toy a picture in a book, if we can't say, hey, point to the dog, point to the bird, push the button, turn the knob.

00:04:49:17 - 00:05:19:02
Michelle
If they can't hear those words and phrases respectively, and then respond appropriately, we can't expect them to use that word expressively. And if they do, it's not going to be functional and it's not going to be meaningful. So teaching a child to play with toys appropriately, how do we do this? Set that environment up so that there are limited distractions so that not all 100 toys that they have are out for them to see?

00:05:19:04 - 00:05:39:26
Michelle
Put them in buckets. I tell parents all the time, put their toys in plastic tubs so that the clear ones really so that they can see them and then close that top. That's going to give them an opportunity, and it's going to require them to come and get you and initiate some sort of interaction with you to let you know, hey, that that red firetruck that's in there, I want it.

00:05:40:03 - 00:05:54:00
Michelle
So that's going to give you an opportunity to walk them through. How do we get that toy out of that box. And then we get that firetruck out and we're going to play with just that firetruck. We may get the blocks out and we just teach the block, play with the blocks.

00:05:54:00 - 00:06:07:24
Michelle
Limiting distractions in the environment is something that is very, very powerful and I have found on more than one occasion can be very helpful in helping kids learn how to play with toys appropriately.

00:06:07:26 - 00:06:31:07
Michelle
But we've also got to be playing with them. We can't just buy all the toys, the light up things and give them a car and expect them to know what to do with it. We have to be in the floor with them, and we have to be showing them what to do. That's going to also help with that motor imitation piece, something that that I talk about all the time in early childhood development, motor imitation.

00:06:31:14 - 00:06:51:07
Michelle
If a child can't do with their body what we're doing with our body, it's going to be really hard for them to do with their mouth and their voice, what we're doing with our mouth and our voice. And the only way they're going to learn expressive language is if we tell them the words, and they're willing to put themselves out there and willing to try to say that word, when we ask them to.

00:06:51:10 - 00:07:15:10
Michelle
So what can we do to teach them to play with toys? We're going to sit down and we're going to play with them. Motor imitation doesn't have to necessarily be the nursery rhymes, which we should be doing those early on when they're still in their their bouncy seats and when they're little bitty babies doing the itsy bitsy spider, playing peekaboo wheels on the bus, because I can't make a child say a word that I can take their little hand.

00:07:15:10 - 00:07:33:07
Michelle
And I can help them do wheels on the bus. I can take their little hands and help them do Itsy Bitsy Spider. I can take that blanket and and put it over their face and then pull it down quickly for peekaboo so I can help their body do it. The same thing with play. If a child doesn't understand how to play with a truck, we're going to show them.

00:07:33:10 - 00:07:46:05
Michelle
We're going to tell them, we're going to show them, and we're going to help them. Something that I talked about in the previous podcast, tell Show Help said very quick, three little words to remember, especially for young moms and for,

00:07:46:05 - 00:07:49:27
Michelle
even for speech pathologist, when there's a lot going on, tell them what you want them to do.

00:07:50:03 - 00:08:14:29
Michelle
Roll the car, show them what you want them to do. You take a car and you roll it, and then you help them roll that car along the track. The tell show help is very powerful, and it's going to help them. Pushing buttons, turning knobs. How do we get things on? Teach them to play with the toys appropriately by limiting the number of toys in the environment and giving them an opportunity to watch you interact with those toys as well.

00:08:15:11 - 00:08:27:24
Michelle
This brings us to another skill about understanding early words and following those simple directions. Tell. Show help. Again, I'm going to tell you I'm going to show you. I'm going to help you when we're trying to get them to follow simple directions.

00:08:27:24 - 00:08:30:02
Michelle
Put the let's put this in the garbage can

00:08:30:02 - 00:08:33:29
Michelle
and then we're going to wait. Then we're going to go stand next to the garbage can.

00:08:33:29 - 00:08:58:15
Michelle
And we may point to the garbage can, put it in the garbage can. And if they don't do it, then we're going to lead them by the hand. And we're going to take them over there and we're going to help them do it, and we're going to praise them for completing that task. The most important thing in teaching kids to follow directions is that when you give that direction, that you give it verbally, that you give it verbally again and you show them, give them something to imitate that motor imitation piece and then help them do it.

00:08:58:15 - 00:09:15:21
Michelle
Because if they don't ever complete that task, then they're going to be like, hey, that meant nothing. We've got to pair that verbal direction with that motor act of what we're trying to get them to do, whether it be roll the car, whether it be stack the blocks, whether it be pointing to pictures, body parts point to your nose.

00:09:15:23 - 00:09:37:21
Michelle
Then we point to our nose by showing them, and then we help them point to their nose. My friends always make fun of me because I use gestures so much when I talk, and I know if they're listening to this podcast, they're all probably cackling right now. Because anytime that I'm talking and I say something about brushing my hair, I actually take my hand and rub it like I'm brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, you know, opening something.

00:09:37:21 - 00:10:04:17
Michelle
I do the motion like I'm opening something. And I think that's just something that I have that's ingrained in me because that's how we teach kids by doing the motions with them. And teaching kids to follow directions and building that receptive language is. So sometimes it's it's a skill that I see so often that is is overlooked because it's easier as parents when we're overwhelmed and a lot going on to just do it for them.

00:10:04:24 - 00:10:06:13
Michelle
It's easier to,

00:10:06:13 - 00:10:26:02
Michelle
just go put that thing in the garbage can. It's easier for us to just go pick up those toys. It's easiest. It's easier for us to just go and get their shoes for them before we leave the house. But those are skills that you can start working on early on. That's really going to build that foundation for language and more complex directions as they get older.

00:10:26:12 - 00:10:53:16
Michelle
Building those vocalizations, making purposeful sounds. What does that look like? We know that in infants they're going to start cooing. They're going to start smiling. They're going to start squealing. And I tell my parents all the time when they make a sound, make it back to them, because when we imitate them, it gets their attention, because when they hear a sound that they make and then they hear a sound that we make that sounds exactly like them.

00:10:53:23 - 00:10:57:09
Michelle
We're teaching that reciprocal back and forth turn taking,

00:10:57:09 - 00:11:13:19
Michelle
teaching a child to copy what you do vocally is very, very hard because if they're not willing to do it, there's no magic button on the bottom of their foot or behind their ear that we can push. That's going to help them turn their voice on. So that's why we have to build those skills early on with that motor imitation piece.

00:11:13:19 - 00:11:36:29
Michelle
You can do what I do, and if you can't do that, then I'm going to help you with those motor acts. But then we're also going to build that skill of vocal imitation by copying everything that they do. Are they copying things that they hear? Are they copying the squeals or are they copying us as we roll the egg, roll the car as we kick a ball, as we raise our hands, as we do something silly?

00:11:36:29 - 00:11:56:15
Michelle
I tell parents all the time, do silly things with the toys, take the toy and put it on your head. Put put a spoon on your ear. Do silly things like that, because that lets us know that that foundational skill of motor imitation is really starting to build. And without that skill, they're not going to be able to imitate things verbally.

00:11:56:17 - 00:12:21:26
Michelle
We've got to teach them to imitate actions and copy what they see other people do and copy what they hear. Other people say. That's going to be starting with the animal noises. We can't expect kids to not be able to do, you know, the exclamatory, O's and the oohs and the E's. And as we can't expect them to not be able to do that, but then be able to say, I want a cookie or I want juice.

00:12:21:26 - 00:12:45:18
Michelle
So we've got to start with those nonspeech sounds. That's why we do animal noises. That's why we squeal. That's why we laugh, that's why we coo. That's why we do all of those things, those nonspeech kinds of things. Pretending to sneeze, pretending to cough, doing all of those things early on to teach that child that imitation skill. Because toddlers learn to talk by repeating and imitating what we do.

00:12:45:24 - 00:13:05:19
Michelle
If they can't do that, they're not going to be able to learn how to talk. But we can't start with the words. We have to start with actions. Motor imitation. And we have to start with sounds. Those squeals, those coos, the coughing, the laughing, the squealing, all of that. If they can't do that, we can't expect them to say words.

00:13:05:21 - 00:13:27:20
Michelle
And it can sometimes be disheartening for the families that I'm working with it. I get a child at two years old, sometimes even older, unfortunately two and a half, and they don't have any words. And then I start talking about motor imitation skills, and I start talking about play, and I start talking about imitating nonspeech kinds of things, and they're like, but I want them to say, cookie.

00:13:27:20 - 00:13:52:01
Michelle
I want them to say juice outside. I want them to tell me what they want. And yes, I want that too. We all want that. But those skills, those foundational skills must be in place before we can expect that. And if we're asking them to do something that they can't do, everyone is going to be frustrated. So we've got to make sure that we're not overlooking those early skills.

00:13:52:04 - 00:14:21:18
Michelle
Tracking joint attention, eye contact, attending to activities for an extended period of time, anticipating what's coming next, playing with toys, appropriately, shifting that attention, and being able to imitate what we're doing motoric imitate what we're doing vocally, starting with those nonspeech kinds of sounds. Is your child able to gesture? Are they pointing or are they leading you by the hand?

00:14:21:18 - 00:14:26:16
Michelle
Something that we call manding, that nonverbal communication?

00:14:26:16 - 00:14:49:28
Michelle
In typical development, gestures are going to emerge before the words start to emerge. So they're going to start pointing, they're going to start gesturing and leading you to things that they want. So the more gestures we can use, the more that we're building those foundational skills to give them the ability to say those words when they're ready and when we need them to say them.

00:14:50:09 - 00:14:53:21
Michelle
And is your child initiating interaction with others?

00:14:53:21 - 00:14:59:03
Michelle
Gosh, initiating interaction so many times, and I go back to the screen time,

00:14:59:03 - 00:15:10:03
Michelle
the screen time with kids, they're so engrossed in the the videos in the TVs, when we try to take those things away, then they completely lose their mind.

00:15:10:03 - 00:15:24:26
Michelle
And if they don't know how to play with toys R properly again and they don't know and they don't have that joint attention, we can't really expect them to initiate functional, fun play with an adult or a caregiver.

00:15:24:29 - 00:15:35:18
Michelle
Are they deliberate in how they're playing? Do they bring you into their world, or are they just off by themselves, just walking around and holding the car or holding the block in their hand?

00:15:35:18 - 00:15:51:18
Michelle
It's important that we take a look at the environment and we take a look at how the child is responding to their environment before we, you know, jump in as speech pathologist and start saying, let's do this, this, this, and this, because we need to have a good picture and a good overall picture of the whole child.

00:15:51:18 - 00:16:09:28
Michelle
We can't just, you know, children can't depend on others to come to them all the time. We need children to understand, hey, I'm a person. I'm an individual, and I can initiate with you as well. And this is how I'm going to do it. But for them to learn that, what do they have to do? They have to see us do that with them.

00:16:10:04 - 00:16:28:24
Michelle
So again, it's something that we have to model. We've got to make sure that we're setting the environment up for success. It's a astonishes me how often I have parents tell me, I just want them to say mama, or I just want them to say, dad or cup.

00:16:28:24 - 00:16:33:04
Michelle
And then I ask them, well, you know, are they are they taking you by the hand?

00:16:33:04 - 00:16:52:18
Michelle
Are they leading you to things? And parents tell me, well, they'll they go in the kitchen and they can get whatever they want out of the pantry, or I've put their juice down low in the refrigerator so they can get it, or they can get a juice box out of the pantry, they can get their snacks. And when we do that, we've not set that environment up for communication.

00:16:52:24 - 00:17:15:05
Michelle
And while all of those skills, those independent skills are great skills to have, we have to make sure that the environment is set up for that child to communicate. If they can get every snack that they want, or the juice box or the water, and they can get all of that on their own, then they have no reason to initiate interaction with the adult in their world.

00:17:15:07 - 00:17:39:17
Michelle
If they have access to all of their toys all of the time and, you know, it's just in complete disarray, they have no reason to initiate interaction with an adult in their environment to get that desired item or get that toy. I tell parents all the time, sabotage is my favorite thing in the world to do. Take those favorite toys, those preferred items, and you know, they love a specific teddy bear.

00:17:39:19 - 00:17:59:15
Michelle
Take that teddy bear and put it up on the on the kitchen counter. Just just sit it up there and see what happens. Does your child cry? Do they solve it themselves and do they have those problem solving skills? Are they getting a chair and climbing up there and getting it themselves? Because when you sabotage that environment and you set them up, then they have got to do one of two things.

00:17:59:15 - 00:18:16:26
Michelle
They've either got to use their problem solving skills and climb up there and get it themselves, or they're going to have to come and get you and gesture or indicate in some way, shape or form that they want that item that they can see but they can't reach. So setting them up using that sabotage. I love it when kids come in.

00:18:16:26 - 00:18:42:23
Michelle
They're they're I see them or I'm interacting with them and they have on a pink shirt and I'm like, wow, that sure is a pretty yellow shirt you have on. Or if they've got Mickey Mouse on their shirt, I'm like, oh, I love your princess t shirt. So just saying things out of the ordinary and things that are just like completely off the wall to kids is one of my favorite things to do, because you always get a response, you're going to get that joint attention because they're going to look down at their shirt and they're going to be like, lady, you're crazy.

00:18:42:23 - 00:19:03:12
Michelle
You don't know what you're talking about. But what I've done by doing that is I've brought them in and they then give me that attention and they are going to either a correct me or it's going to at least start some sort of interaction with me that was not there before. So sabotaging is one of my favorite things in the world to do.

00:19:03:14 - 00:19:10:19
Michelle
So if you ever have small children and they come around, they just know I'm going to say crazy funny things to them and they usually get a kick out of it. So,

00:19:10:19 - 00:19:16:19
Michelle
guys, we've talked about a lot of things and it is been really, really quick and really, really short.

00:19:16:19 - 00:19:29:19
Michelle
A lot of information. Again, I could take each one of these skills that we've talked about in the last podcast and in this podcast, and I could talk about each one of those skills at length for probably an hour each.

00:19:29:22 - 00:19:35:24
Michelle
But what we have to remember is that language development starts at birth.

00:19:35:24 - 00:19:46:01
Michelle
We have got an infant that we can start talking to. We can be exposing them to different sounds, different textures, different toys.

00:19:46:01 - 00:19:50:01
Michelle
As they get a little bit older, we can start that interacting with,

00:19:50:01 - 00:19:58:26
Michelle
nursery rhymes to introduce the motor play, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, the cause effect, the anticipation of what's to come next.

00:19:58:28 - 00:20:17:28
Michelle
All of that is going to lay each one of these skills leads into the next, because then you start to develop longer attention spans. Then they start to shift their attention from one person to another. When you get mom and dad there, when you get mom, dad or a sibling, there, they can shift that attention and they can watch and they can learn,

00:20:17:28 - 00:20:24:08
Michelle
teaching them to play with a variety of toys, get down in the floor and play with these kids, show them what to do.

00:20:24:15 - 00:20:44:25
Michelle
They're not going to know how to do anything if we don't show them. And if we don't help them. And remember till show help. It is so powerful. And using that extended wait time, the extended wait time, that quiet time, when you give that direction, give them time to process it, don't just jump right in. If you ask them to touch their nose, don't say touch their nose.

00:20:44:27 - 00:21:23:15
Michelle
Hey, where's your nose? Touch your nose. Can you touch your nose? Where's your nose? Touch your nose and then wait quietly. Silence can be very powerful. And so many times I have when I have taught this skill to parents, and I've encouraged them to incorporate it in their daily activities and routines. They tell me that the quiet time that extended wait time is a the hardest thing that I've ever asked them to do, that they it has been the most powerful and the most impactful and getting a response from their child, because sometimes the silence can seem deafening, but it gives the child an opportunity to process because we've got to remember their little brains

00:21:23:15 - 00:21:27:10
Michelle
are not processing as quickly as ours process. So

00:21:27:10 - 00:21:29:07
Michelle
a lot of information,

00:21:29:07 - 00:21:31:12
Michelle
child development. My favorite thing,

00:21:31:12 - 00:21:46:24
Michelle
I would love to do a podcast soon about just looking at the whole child and how we can incorporate gross motor, fine motor, adaptive social and emotional into our everyday routines and daily activities to kind of develop the whole child as we're moving through this process.

00:21:46:24 - 00:21:54:12
Michelle
But I hope you guys have enjoyed this podcast. If you guys have any comments or questions, we'd love to hear from you and we hope you guys have a great day. Bye!

00:21:54:12 - 00:22:17:06
Michelle
Thank you for tuning in to SLP. Full disclosure. You can learn more about this episode and our show on our website at AMN. Health care.com. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and subscribe to our show on your favorite podcast platform. You can also find show updates and SLP opportunities on our Instagram at AMN ally.

00:22:17:08 - 00:22:30:04
Michelle
Special thanks to AMN healthcare for making this show possible. See y'all next time!