Does your child understand what you say to them?
Can they follow instructions in school or nursery?
Can you ask them to do more than one thing e.g. go upstairs, brush your teeth and get your school bag?
Children need to understand what is said to them before they can start using words and sentences accurately. Following instructions is a vital skill for learning and keeping safe. Children who have difficulties understanding can be labelled as naughty but it could be that they don’t know what they are supposed to be doing.
Some instructions are easy to follow e.g. go get your shoes- your child may know that before they go out they need their shoes; they will have done this many times and can see the other people around them putting their shoes on. As they get older, children are expected to follow longer, more complex instructions e.g. Put your books in the red box, wash your hands then sit down on the carpet. They need to remember lots of information, know the vocabulary used (box, wash, hands, red) and understand the smaller grammatical words (in, then).
Speech and Language Therapists are highly skilled at assessing comprehension (understanding language) and highlighting where any problems may lie.
If you are concerned about your child understanding language there are lots of strategies you can use to help them:
- Break instructions into smaller chunks e.g. brush your teeth; get your school bag
- Repeat instructions multiple times
- Get your child to repeat back what they have been asked to do
- Encourage your child to ask for help e.g. putting their hand up in class
- Contact us to arrange a full assessment