Communication and Language

In the UK around 20% of children speak or understand more than one language. You might hear the terms ‘bilingual’ or ‘English as an additional language’ used to talk about these children.

In the past, some professionals told families to only speak English at home.  Now we know that this was not helpful advice. We have strong evidence from across the world that speaking more than one language is good for children for many reasons.   

Will my child get confused if they hear two or more languages at home? 

No. Around half the world’s population speak two or more languages! Lots of studies show that children can tell the difference between different languages early on. They might do something called ‘code-switching’ which is when they replace a word in one language with a word from another language – so they use two languages in one sentence. It’s nothing to worry about and is a normal part of bilingualism – even bilingual adults do it!  

Will my child do worse at school if they hear two or more languages at home? 

No. In fact, many bilingual children do better academically than children who hear and speak one language. A strong foundation in one language helps children to learn other languages, including English, better – this is helps them to do well at school. 

Will my child have speech and language challenges if they hear two or more languages at home? 

No. Bilingualism does not cause or contribute to speech and language challenges. However, some bilingual children will have speech and language challenges, just as children who speak only one language do. The difference is that a bilingual child with speech and language challenges will have difficulties in BOTH or ALL of their languages – not just in English. 

Are some languages more useful than others?  

No. Every language is important. Of course, developing English is important for children going to English-speaking schools. But research shows that when a child knows their home language, this helps their academic achievement, self-confidence, and family relationships. Later in life, it can improve their job opportunities. Importantly, it helps your child understand their culture and identity better.  

What can I do to help? 

• Talk to your child in the language that feels the most comfortable to you. If your child learns one language well from you, it will be easier for them to learn English well too. 
• The more your child hears your home languages, the more they will learn your languages. Get other family members involved too. 
• Share your feelings, stories, and songs in your languages. Be proud of your languages and share them like a gift! 

Tiny happy People resource

In typical development, children learn to talk and understand words gradually. They learn best from listening and talking to other people. You – as the child’s family – play an important role in helping your child develop their early communication skills. The tips below can help develop your child’s skills. 

Get down to your child’s level: Children learn a lot from looking at your face and body language when you talk. Make it easy for your child to see you by getting down to their level and talking and playing face to face. 

Get your child’s attention before talking: It can be difficult for children to pay attention if there are a lot of distractions or background noise. Turn down music or the TV when talking or playing together. You can get your child’s attention by calling their name or gently touching their arm. Wait for your child to be ready before you begin talking. 

Use simple language and repeat words: Children need to hear words lots of times before they can understand the words or use them to talk. Keep your sentences short and say important words several times (e.g. ‘Spade. That’s a spade. A green spade. Spades are for digging’). 

Add one word: Help your child use longer sentences by adding one word to what they say. So if your child says ‘I got teddy’, you could say ‘Yes, you’ve got a fluffy teddy!’. You can find more ideas for learning words here.  

Pausing: Pausing gives your child extra time to think about what they want to say. If you ask your child a question, pause for at least ten seconds to let them answer- this can seem like a long time! Pausing can also allow your child to join in with a song, rhyme, or word without feeling under pressure. For example, ‘Jack and Jill went up the … (hill)’, ‘I’ve got one, two,… (three)’. 

Use comments not testing questions: Testing questions are questions that we already know the answer to. For example, we might ask ‘What colour is that?’ or ‘What’s this called?’ even though we already know the answer. Testing questions can make children feel under pressure and they might respond with just one word, or no words at all. Comments put less pressure on your child because they can choose how they want to answer. For example, if we comment ‘Wow I love this purple car’ your child might tell you about their favourite colour, their car, or something else completely! 

Choices: Choices are a great opportunity for your child to practice the words they are learning. Show your child two things to choose between- ‘shoes or wellies?’, or ‘milk or water?’. Your child can show you what they want by pointing or by trying to say the word. 

Follow your child’s lead: Children learn words most easily when the words they hear match what they are paying attention to – so it is easier for them to learn the word ‘ball’ if they are playing with a ball. Join in with your child when they play. For example, if your child is driving cars around the walls – you could do the same with your cars. Following your child’s lead can help you notice when they are ready to hear a new word, and when they are busy playing and don’t want to be interrupted! If your child looks towards you, points, or shows you something- say the words you think they need. For example, if your child shows you their car going backwards, you can say ‘Reverse!’ ‘Our cars are reversing’. 

Songs, nursery rhymes, and music: Children can learn words and actions through songs and nursery rhymes. Listening or moving to music can also help get them ready to notice sounds which can be important for learning speech sounds. Share songs, nursery rhymes, and music with your child in any of the languages that you use at home. 

Share stories: Looking at books together is a great way to help your child learn new words. Start by simply talking about the pictures that your child seems interested in. See our information on book sharing.  

When should I use these tips? 

Your child is learning to communicate all the time. It is most helpful to use these tips to support them during your daily routines, rather than on a one-off occasion. For example: 

Having fun and playing with your child is a really helpful way of encouraging their speech, language and communication skills. Try having some time playing and chatting with them every day with no distractions. You can use any toys or games that you have already at home.  

We have suggested some of our favourite toys for supporting speech, language and communication skills below. Some of these will be better for children who communicate less, and some are more suited to children who understand lots of words and communicate more. Choose the games you play with your child based on what they are interested in and the level they are at.

Imaginative play 

Dressing up clothes, doctor or vet sets, teddy/dolly tea sets, Playmobile/Happyland… you can use any of these toys to join in with your child’s imaginative play. Talking about imaginative play at the same time helps them to learn new words and develop their creativity.  

Messy play 

Messy play helps with lots of areas of children’s development, including their communication skills. Things like water play, sand play, chalk boards, finger painting and playdough all help children to develop their awareness of how things feel. Talking while you play will help your child learn new words for actions (e.g. pour, squash, squeeze, pull, rub), as well as words to describe colours and how things feel. 

Inset puzzles 

Inset puzzles have pieces that fit inside holes on a wooden tray or board. Name the pieces as you and your child put them in to help them learn new words. Give them choices between two pieces (“Do you want the car or the fish?”). You can also use words to talk about when things fit or when they’re “too big”, “too small” or “stuck”.  

Musical toys 

Listening to, and playing, music can help develop your child’s attention and listening skills. These skills are really important for communication skills. Games to try include:  

• Dance or clap to the beat of the music 
• Copy each other’s tune or rhythm 
• Play musical bumps or musical statues 
• Drum together: beat out a rhythm together using drums or household objects like pans and spoons. 

 Repetitive books 

Repetitive books are books that have the same words and sentences repeated in a pattern. Examples include Dear Zoo, The Gingerbread Man and Where’s Spot? 

Don’t be afraid to tell a story more than once, as repetition helps children to understand and remember the words that they hear. Children love to join in with the bits that they remember – try pausing at the end of a line your child knows well to see if they can fill in the missing word.  

Simple lotto boards 

Lotto boards can help children develop their attention skills and learn words to name things. Talk to them about the pictures they find – name them and talk about colours, size and shape. Slowly increase how much time you spend playing or how many pictures you use. This will help your child pay attention for longer amounts of time. 

Colour and shape matching; counting games and activities 

Examples of these types of games include Dotty Dinosaurs, Red Dog Blue Dog, marble run, click clack car tracks, Mr Potato Head, Pop up Pirate, Kerplunk, and Lego – but there are many others available as well. 

These games can help children learn important words. Talk about the colours and shapes that you can see while you are playing and then later around your home. 

Puppets 

Puppets are a great way to develop imagination and story-telling skills in children. Make up stories and act them out with puppets or re-tell familiar stories that you already know. 

Coloured bricks and threading beads 

Talk about what comes first, second and last while you are putting coloured bricks and threading beads in order with your child. Understanding these sorts of words will eventually help your child to understand more complicated words like first, next, last, before, after, and other words that talk about time. 

Board games 

Playing board games helps children learn how to take turns, which is an important communication skill. Board games also help children to develop their attention skills and to think about other people while they are playing. Children need to be able to understand the rules of board games, so generally these work best for older children.  

Rhyming lotto, rhyming books 

Having fun with words and rhymes can help children learn skills they need for reading and writing. Talk about rhyming words and sing songs and rhymes with your child too. Thinking about the different sounds in words will help children learn to read and write later on.  

Why is it important to help my child learn new words?  

Children need to know lots of different words in order to be able to talk in sentences and tell stories. Knowing lots of words also helps children when they learn to read and write, and it helps them to do better at school.   

How many words should my child know?  

In typical development: 

• Children say their first words about the age of one (although they understand some words for some time before this). 
• By about 18 months, children might use about 20 words, but they’ll understand more. 
• By two years old, most children can say 50 words and understand between 200 and 500. 
• By three years old, most children can say about 300 words. 
• By the time a child reaches five years old, they may know know and use as many as 2,500 words. 

How can I help my child to learn new words?  

• Watch and notice what your child is looking at, then tell them its name (e.g. ‘It’s a tractor!’). This works better than asking your child what things are called. 
• Remember, children learn words best from other people, rather than watching the TV or using tablets. Play and chat with your child often to help them learn new words. 
• Use gesture or actions to teach new words. This can give children an extra clue about the word’s meaning. For example, if you are talking about a ‘huge’ elephant you could stretch your arms really wide. 
• Share books.  
• Give your child choices. So, rather than saying “Would you like a snack?” ask them “Do you want raisins or cucumber?” 
• Repetition is really important. Children need to hear a new word lots of times before they learn it properly, so keep saying the word you want them to learn! 
• You can tell even young children the meaning of words. Do this by making links with words they know already (e.g. “It’s a puppy! A puppy is an animal. A puppy is a baby dog”). There are different types of words and children need to learn them all. They need doing words (e.g. walking, swimming, driving), describing words (big, heavy, red), and words that can be used to name things.  
• Add one word to what your child says. Remember to say the grammatical parts of sentences like ‘a’ and ‘ing’ as this helps your child know where the words go in sentences. For example, if your child says, ‘Cat’, you could say, ‘Yes, a fluffy cat’ or ‘The cat’s hiding’.

Tips for supporting understanding of words and sentences in children aged 18 months to five years. 

How do children develop skills in understanding words and sentences? 

Children learn to understand words and sentences gradually over time. This starts when they are still babies, for example when they begin to notice that their parent or caregiver says the word ‘bath’ every time they turn on the taps. Over time, as they hear more talking, children start to understand more and more words and sentences. Children need to hear a word many times in lots of different situations before they fully understand it. 

In typical development: 

•  By 18 months, most children can understand the names of things around them, such as ‘ball’, ‘teddy’ and ‘mummy’, as well as other simple action words like ‘kiss’ and ‘sleep’.  
• At 3 years, children start to understand more complicated words like ‘big’ and ‘little’.   
• By 3 years, children will also usually understand longer sentences such as ‘find your shoes and put them in the bag’.  
• At 4 years, most children will understand sentences containing more complicated words such as time, colour and number words. For example, ‘tomorrow’ ‘purple’ and ‘three’.  
• Children’s understanding of questions will develop over time: 
• By two years, most children understand simple questions like ‘where’s teddy?’. 
• By three years, most children are able to understand what, where, who questions. 
• By four years old, most children understand more complicated ‘why..?’ or ‘what would you do if …?’ questions.  

How can I support my child’s understanding? 

Supporting children’s understanding of words and sentences is a really important part of developing their communication skills. You can help your child’s understanding using the tips below. 

Get down to their level: Make it easy for your child to notice you and hear what you are saying by getting down to their level and talking or playing face-to-face. Sit opposite them on the floor or at the table.  

Turn off the TV or music while you’re chatting or playing together: Young children are still developing their listening skills, and it can be difficult for them to listen and understand if there are a lot of distractions or noise. Turn off music and the TV for a while to have some quiet times when you talk or play together. 

Get your child’s attention before talking: Say your child’s name to get their attention before saying something else. Have a look at our fact sheet on supporting your child’s attention and listening skills for more ideas. 

Follow your child’s lead – Watch and notice what your child is looking at, then tell them its name (e.g. ‘It’s a tractor!’). This helps build up your child’s understanding and works better than asking your child ‘what’s that?’.  

Repeat words again and again. Children need to hear a new word lots of times before they learn it properly. You can help by repeating words often in lots of different sentences and at different times. For example, ‘look at the branch’, ‘it’s a big branch’, ‘he’s climbing along the branch’. Have a look at our factsheet on helping your child learn new words for more information. 

Give your child choices. Rather than saying “Would you like a snack?” ask them “Do you want raisins or cucumber?”. Show them the food at the same time as naming it to help their understanding. 

Keep your sentences short and simple. Help your child to listen and understand what you are saying by talking in short, simple sentences. For example, when your child picks up a toy, use simple sentences to name what it is or what it’s doing, for example, ‘it’s a teddy’ or ‘teddy’s sleeping’.  

Make important words stand out when you are talking. For example, if you child is building a tower you could say ‘Wow, that’s a tall tower!’, making the word ‘tall’ stand out by using your voice and excited face and by using your hands to show how high it is. 

Break up requests into short chunks or steps. It will be easier for your child to follow simple requests given separately like “go and get your jumper”, “now get your water bottle”, and then “put them in your rucksack”, rather than telling them all of these things together. 

Use real objects, pictures and actions. Show your child an object at the same time as talking about it. For example, say ‘this towel feels soft and fluffy’ while you are holding the towel and rubbing it with your fingers.  Stretch your arms wide when talking about something that’s ‘big!’.  For more ideas, have a look at our factsheet on using visual support.  

Give your child thinking time. Leaving gaps or pauses when talking with your child gives them time to think about what you have said. Try counting to five in your head after you say something – they may surprise you with what they say or do next! 

Sing favourite action songs and rhymes together. Doing the actions at the same time will help your child understand the words. Don’t be afraid to repeat – hearing the same songs over and over helps them learn the words in the song. 

Tips for helping children aged five to eleven years to learn new words. 

Why is it important to help my child learn new words?   

Children need to know lots of different words to be able to talk in sentences and tell stories. Knowing lots of words also helps children’s reading and writing, and it helps them to do better at school.   

How does my child learn words? 

By the age of five years, many children will have already learned lots of different words. These could include naming words (e.g. dog, car), doing words (e.g. cooking, swimming) and describing words (e.g. heavy, hot).  

Between five and eleven years, children start to learn more complicated words like ‘honesty’ or ‘escalate’. At school, they learn technical words like ‘thermometer’ and ‘climate’. They will also learn more words to describe their feelings, like ‘surprised’ or ‘confused’.  

Children learn new words by hearing them over and over again in different situations.  

How can I help my child to learn new words?   

• Repeating words is really important. Children need to hear a new word many times and in lots of situations before they learn and remember it.  

• Use pictures or actions at the same time as saying the word. Hearing the word and seeing it at the same time gives children extra clues about the word’s meaning. For example, if you are talking about an ‘increasing’ size you could show something getting bigger using your hands. Use photos or videos to talk together about how something works. For example, if you are helping them understand what a ‘wind turbine’ is, look up some photos and videos of wind turbines. 

• Add a word to what your child says. When your child has told you something, you could repeat it back and add a new word. For example, if your child says, ‘There’s smoke coming out the car’, you could reply, ‘Yes, there’s smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe.’ Then describe it, for example, ‘The exhaust pipe lets the smoke out’. Say it again next time you see a car.  

• Read stories together. When you come across a new word in the story, ask your child, ‘Do you know what that word means?’. If they don’t, help them look for clues to work it out. For example, ‘The boy tumbled down the hill – look at the picture. How do you think he went down the hill?’ You could also look up the meaning of the word together on the internet or in a dictionary.  

• Give choices to help your child use the correct word. For example, ‘Do you think it’s a cabbage or a cauliflower?  

• Talk to your child about what words mean. Do this by relating the new word to what they know already. For example, ‘Depth is about how deep something is. Here is a whale in the ocean, the ocean is very deep. Depth is the distance from the top to the bottom.’  
• Talk to us. Try asking your child’s teacher for a list of words they are learning at school. Model these words for your child, repeat them often and give them opportunities to practise them.  

• Talk to your child about new words – talk together about the sounds in the word and what it means. For example, the word ‘recycle’. It begins with a ‘r’, it has 3 syllables (or parts) of the word – ‘re-cy-cle’ – you could clap the word out. It means ‘using things again’.  Talk about lots of examples, ‘we recycle glass’, ‘we can recycle paper’. Find times to talk about the word in real life situations like when you’re putting the bins out or going to the bottle bank.