Building Non-verbal Communication Skills At Home
Playing is the best way to build early non-verbal communication skills with your child.
Let’s start by defining play. Play is any activity that a person engages in for self-amusement — it’s something that’s fun! Try to put aside any stereotypical ideas about play that you might have. Play can be spinning in a chair, opening and closing doors, or filling up a big box only to dump it out again. If your child is spending time doing an activity and having fun, then your child is playing.
Your child may have a different idea of fun than you do, and that is okay. Your goal is to figure out what your child’s favorite activities are and engage with them during those preferred activities. Engaging in play with your child will help build their attention skills, observe their non-verbal communication skills, and set the stage for learning.
Tips for encouraging non-verbal communication during play
Tip 1 - Engage in a play routine your child enjoys
The first component of engaging in play with your child is establishing a play ROUTINE that your child enjoys. That means doing the same type of play over and over. Repetition and consistency are both essential for learning new skills. This may feel boring to you at times, but children often love doing the same things over and over because it’s all new for them! As you practice creating play routines, make sure that you build in wait time for your child to respond. If you do something silly to try and capture your toddler’s attention, always pause for at least five seconds to allow them to engage with you.
Tip 2 - Try a routine with music
If your child enjoys music, play a song for them and then pause it. Wait for a response of any kind. When your child reacts or indicates that they want to listen to more music, resume the song. It is important to look for a consistent response from your child — they should do the same thing each time you pause the music in order to request that you play it again. As your child communicates through gestures and noises, say aloud to them what they might say if they were able to talk today. This will help them learn the words for what they are trying to communicate.
Tip 3 - Spin around together
If your child likes spinning or swinging around in your arms, hold them and spin them around, then stop. Wait to see what your child does. Be on the lookout for any reaction that indicates, “I want you to spin me again.” They may look at you, grunt, smile, tap you, or shake their head. Keep repeating the routine of spinning, stopping, waiting, and resuming once your child does something. If they do not demonstrate a response after you have waited at least five seconds, you can simply say “Spin! Let’s spin!” and continue on with the routine.
Also watch for any reaction that indicates that your child is ready to be done. This could include pushing away from you, reaching toward the ground, making an unhappy sound, or any other expression of displeasure. You can then say, “All done. All done spinning.” In this routine, you have acknowledged your child’s communication to continue the routine and to end it when they are ready.
Communicating in play - 3 at home speech therapy activities - Free PDF Download ↓
At home activity to learning non-verbal communication together with your little one
Moving together with Lap Games
Materials:
Knowledge of a few simple songs or nursery rhymes with corresponding movements on your lap. These are often called Lap Games or Knee Bouncing Rhymes
Examples include:
Rock a bye baby
Row row row your boat
Johnny Whoops!
Or even the instrumental version of the William Tell Overture if you “sing along” with the rhythm
Set-up:
Choose what song/chant you want to do with your child. You can look up videos of these lap games/songs online, as well as find others online or by talking to friends/family.
These are really any songs/rhymes/chants that pair movement with the words/sounds, and often have some kind of movement change to anticipate at the end.
What to do:
Set your toddler on your lap, facing you. Hold them tightly as you begin to sing or chant the song you’ve chosen.
What to say:
Begin the song watching your child for cues that they like this activity. They may change their body movement (moving more or less than before), or making sounds, or saying words, or smiling or laughing.
As you sing, match the movements with the lyrics and enjoy that movement change that typically comes at the end. If your child likes this song/rhyme/chant, do it again. Continue the activity as long as they are showing interest.
You can vary it by changing your volume level (louder or softer, both can be fun), your speed (faster is more exciting, but slower can build more anticipation).
If you’ve done this a few times, you can even pause before that ending movement change to watch for your child to anticipate what comes next--build up the suspense :)
Note: If your child shows signs that they don’t like this movement, slow it down or make less jarring movements. Follow their lead to find what they like. If they still don’t like it, take a break and try again after a nap or a snack. Some children may also not prefer these types of movement games, and that’s ok!
My personal favorite is this variation of Row Row Row Your Boat:
This one is fun to do sitting on the floor with your legs outstretched in front of you and your child on your legs/knees/lap. As you move, gently pull their arms to guide the movement, to imitate a rowing motion. You can also vary it up by rocking them forward/back, or side to side.
(Going slowly, rocking your child on your lap back and forth)
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
(Now change to rock them quickly! And chant faster!)
Row, row, row your boat
Quickly up the stream
If you see a crocodile
Don't forget to scream!! (point off to the distance and yell AAAAH!” )
Communicating in play - 3 at home speech therapy activities - Free PDF Download ↓
You May Also Like These At Home Speech Therapy Tips And Activities:
Created In Collaboration By:
Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP
Stephanie Burgener-Vader, MA CCC-SLP
Melissa Sartori, MS CCC-SLP
Yvette Faire-Bostick, MS CCC-SLP
© 2020-2022. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.
The content offered on ToddlerTalk.com is for informational purposes only. Toddler Talk is not engaged in rendering professional advice, whether medical or otherwise, to individual users or their children or families. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor, speech language pathologist, or other health professional. By accessing the content on ToddlerTalk.com, you acknowledge and agree that you are accepting the responsibility for your child’s health and well-being. In return for providing you with information related to home speech and language practice, you waive any claims that you or your child may have as a result of utilizing the content on ToddlerTalk.com.