0-3 months – Talking to a baby of this age is easy, as they will find your voice soothing. Babies of this age like the sound of your voice and some babies may even try to respond to you when you try talking to them. They also enjoy listening to soothing music so singing to a baby of this age is a good idea. Babies can also sense a change in tone for example if you speak to them with anger or shout they can sense this and that is why they start crying.
3-6 months – For a baby of this age you can play copy cat games, where you say something then the baby tries to imitate what you said. When you are around the baby you should try to use correct language as this will help them in the future because at this age they are going to be copying and listening to everything to try and learn. At first you should try introducing the child to simple words and then try making it harder. You can also try slowly start reading to the child as this is good in stimulating their cognitive development, you can at first read stories that are colourful with lots of pictures and popup books are also a good idea because the child can see what is going on but there is also a bit of writing.
6-12 months – At this age you can take turns in conversations, this will help their communication skills as they develop. Encouraging the child to read books and to listen to different songs and sing along will help with the development of their language. Using different gestures will help them understand what you are saying for example if you are saying “hello” or “bye” you can wave to them, by doing this they will understand you more and may even try to respond to you. You should also try to smile at the child as they can sense when something is wrong at this point in time. If you smile at them they will get happier.
1-3 years – It is easier to communicate with a child of this age, you should try to ask them how their day was and get them to explain to you what they did throughout the whole day, as this will get the child thinking. Playing different make believe games is a good way communicating with the child. Another way is to read their favourite book over and over again and then you can encourage them to read along with words they know. You could also encourage pretend reading, where you get the child to read to you and you just go along with what they are saying.
3-4 years – A child of this age has a good vocabulary know and will understand most things, so to communicate with the child you should listen to what they are saying to you and respond back appropriately.
4-6 years – You should listen to what the child is saying to you as they can now communicate fully with you but may not understand every word but they do understand a lot now. To communicate with a child of this age you can give them different instructions to follow and see if they have understood what you told them to do.
6-8 years – Helping the child talk about their thoughts and feeling is a good way in communicating with a child of this age and making a good relationship with the child. You should make sure your pronunciation is correct and if theirs isn’t you should correct them. If a child of this age starts using bad language and gets angry at you, you should not respo0nd back in the same way you should try to stay calm and tell them that it is wrong to be like that.
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prestigelooksgmailcom (student)
