What should I expect for my child's language development?

We like these guidelines:

AGE	Comprehension	Expression	Use of Language
18 months	Points to familiar and common objects on re quest Understands  simple commands (e.g. Pick it up, fetch your shoes)	Uses at least 10 words meaningfully Attempts imitation of  words and short phrases Chatters nonsense to self with wide range of different sounds and intonations	Responds to other people e.g. answering questions
2 years	Shows body parts on request Associates 2 nouns in a simple command (e.g. put the paper in the bin)	Spontaneous use of approx 50 words which can be understood by familiar adults	Starts conversations with others
2 1/5 years	Understands simple short stories and conversations Follows simple stories with  pictures	Combines 3 words Begins to ask questions, use negatives and adjectives Participates in  rhymes and songs	Carries on conversation for several turns Responds to other peoples conversation
3 years	Selects objects pictures in relation to verb (which one do we wear?) Understands common prepositions (in, on, under, behind)	4 to 5 word sentences which are intelligible to most people Using plurals and past tenses, not always correctly Asking what, where, who questions
4 years	Gives solutions to situations (what do you do when you are cold), Identifies some colours, comparatives and superlatives (big, bigger, biggest)	Uses complete sentences Asks ‘why’, ‘when’ and sometimes ‘how Relates stories and simple sequences of events’	Enjoys jokes Talks about own experiences Assume adult  shares their knowledge
5 Years	Follows a simple story without pictures Asks meaning of abstract words Size, shape, colour, quantity and position words used as aids to reasoning and understanding	Mastering irregular nouns and verbs (mice, men, drank, say)

if you are concerned please get in touch www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

What is normal speech development?

I'm always being asked what is normal or typical for speech development. This is the best guide I have found:

Normal Speech Development

2 ½ - 3 years

Sounds used	Sounds emerging
M n
P b t d k g
	f  s
W y h

3 – 4 years

Sounds used	Sounds emerging
M n
P b t d k g
F s	‘Sh’  v  z l  ‘ch’  j
W y h

 4 - 5 years

Sounds used	Sounds emerging
M n
P b t d k g
F v s z ‘sh’  ‘ch’ j	Th  r
W l y h
	Sp, st, sk, bl, pl, gr

These are based on developmental norms for English (Elks & McLachlan)

If you are worried, please get in touch www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

As our knowledge of neuro-science develops, it must inform our practice

Natasha Hallam and I were discussing the importance of keeping up-todate with current research and knowledge with George, aka Autism Advocate Dad at the recent SCERTS training in Sheffield, with Emily Reuben. This is true for all aspects of our work but especially true when working with children with social learning challenges. 

With advances in MRI technology, our knowledge of neuro-science is developing so we can see how our approach to working with children and young people with ASD should progress.

Children with a diagnosis of ASD have delays or difficulties in:

• the development of communication
• the development of social relationships
• play and imagination

Studies of children with  social language difficulties actually show physical neurological differences in the way they process social stimuli. If a neuro-typical baby look at people's faces, an area of the brain called the limbic system “lights up” with a heady cocktail of dopamine, opioids and oxy-tocin being produced. This is addictive, so the more it happens , the more the baby craves it. The parent is rewarded by the baby's reactions so will do it more and more. The parent-baby interaction is set up and the path to social communication is well underway.

Children who are non-nuero-typical/have ASD do not have this response. The area of the brain is not lit up by human contact but other areas may show sparks  for certain objects which appeal to them. 

 We call this the social motivation models of ASD. This believes that early differences in social attention set up developmental processes that ultimately deprive the child with ASD of adequate social learning experiences. This causes an imbalance in attending to social and non-social stimuli which further disrupts social skill and social cognition development. So, if a child is not motivated to seek out the social attachments his skills will diminish due to lack of experience and practice. If they are motivated, the skills are practised and reinforced.

By 6 months of age, a typically developing child, begins to follow eye gaze and can recognise when they have lost a caregiver’s attention.  A neuro-typical infant may show distress when a caregiver’s eyes avert. The 'still face experiment' is a good example of this, where the infant seeks out his mother's eye contact and when she doesn't get it, she works really hard to try to make it happen before becoming distressed when it doesn't.

By 10 months of age, a child begins to shift gaze from a caregiver to objects of reference to predict and anticipate the actions of others.

By 12 months of age, a child will initiate shared attention on desired items or items that are of interest to the child. 

This means that a neuro-typical child:

• is drawn toward social vs. non-social stimuli,
• derives pleasure from this engagement,
• notices attention shifts of others,
• initiates bids for engagement, actions, and objects of interest
• Practices ways of getting more social attention and indeed, they become very skilled.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show limited neural sensitivity to social stimuli and tend not to look toward people’s faces. They will  miss gaze shifts between people and objects and will have difficulty predicting actions and initiating bids for engagement.

Another difficulty is picking out speech from background noise:  when a neuro-typical child hears speech sounds, the sounds are processed as social or intentional stimuli, while children with ASD may just  hear sounds.

Plus, MRI scans have shown that children with ASD may use a different area of the brain to process  social stimuli (e.g., faces, speech sounds). This area is the same as we all use  to process images and sounds that are non-biological.  This makes predictions of actions, intentions, and emotions less efficient and more intellectual. 

So what does that mean for therapy?

We need to respect these differences and early intervention is the key. We must work hard to make them see the point in social interaction for themselves. Hanen's More Than Words is a research lead, evidence based approach which shows how we can develop this, by thinking about how we set up and structure interaction. Later we like social thinking approach to take this further

The theory underlying the approach in the More Than Words programme proposes two key factors:

1. Learning to communicate is a very social process and that children learn to communicate from birth within everyday interactions with their parents.
2. Parents foster their child's communication development by responding to it promptly and building on what the child is communicating about. This applies to all children, including those with autism. However, it has been shown that children with autism also benefit from some very specific ways of responding to them.
   

We need to responsive, which means:

1. Responding promptly (within a few  seconds of a child doing or saying something).
2. Responding  positively – responding in a way that shows the child the parent is really interested in what she or he is saying.
3. Sticking with what the child is “talking” about and interested in – this means not trying to direct his attention to something else when he is already focused on something or someone. We can use his interests as the basis for communication.

Being responsive involves Following the Child’s Lead, which takes advantage of what the child is currently interested in and attending to. We can, therefore, capitalise on the child’s current focus of attention. This is thought to increase the child’s ability to learn from the language he hears since his attention is already 'captured'. This is in contrast to us directing the child’s attention away from what he is interested in to something else, which can be challenging for the child.

It's so exciting: the more we know, the more we can understand and then the more effective we can be!

Intensive interaction: learning to enjoy each others company

According to the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD):

'Intensive Interaction is a practical approach to interacting with people .... who do not find it easy communicating or being social ... It helps them develop their communication abilities.'

I really like this approach, which was developed by Dave Hewett and Melanie Nind, in the 1980s. I enjoy using it with those trickier-to-engage individuals.

We use Intensive Interaction to help us develop more successful and meaningful communication when working alongside people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities and/or autism, whatever their age.

Hewett and Hind talk about how learning to become better communicators ourselves, we can support the children we care for, or work with, to develop their own confidence and competence as communicators. This is enabled by the child's learning of the Fundamentals of Communication:

•              Learning how to be with another person

•              Learning Joint focus' and how to have activities with another person

•              Learning to attend and concentrate

•              Use and understanding of non-verbal communication: body language and gesture

•              Use and understanding of eye contacts

•              Use and understanding of facial expressions

•              Turn taking: taking turns in exchanges of behaviour

•              Use and understanding of vocalisations

•              Sharing personal space and ...

•              Use and understanding of touch.

Intensive Interaction is about creating mutual pleasure:

•              During Intensive Interaction we (parents, carers and support staff) adjust our behaviours so that we become more interesting and socially engaging for the child.

•              Intensive Interaction flows naturally in time, with rhythms and pauses.

•              During Intensive Interaction we respond to a child's behaviours as if they are intentional communications (even if they aren't!).

•              During Intensive Interaction we use 'contingent responding ' i.e.  we follow a child's lead and share control of an interaction with them.

•              we generally use Intensive Interaction when we want to promote sustained and sociable communication with children (or adults) with a learning need and/or autism, whatever their age or level of disability or development.

•              Intensive Interaction is also good for parents, carers and support staff -  it provides a practical way of developing good communication practices, and it can also help develop better relationships between us and the children we care for or work with.

How do we do Intensive Interaction?:

·         Sharing Personal Space: this is the process of being physically close to someone, but in a way, that doesn't make them feel uncomfortable or awkward e.g. by sitting, standing, or even lying close to someone.

•      Eye Contact: this is an important means of communication for giving and receiving social acknowledgement. We can give and receive eye contact in a number of ways e.g. looking at and away from each other; playing hide-and-appear games; exchanging eye contact in a mirror; etc.

•      Exchanging Facial Expressions: this is done by using facial expressions to socially engage with someone e.g. using clear and sustained smiles; pulling playful faces at each other; using dramatised winks; raising our eye brows; etc.

•      Physical Contact: using sensitive and non-directive physical contact can help build mutual trust, and this can be achieved by: sensitively rubbing someone's arm; gently patting their back; holding hands; rhythmically squeezing hands; clapping hands or hand-over-hand games; walking arm-in-arm; tickling; touching foreheads; rubbing noses; etc.

•      Vocal Echoing: echoing a child's sounds or vocalisations (even if they are not actually words or phrases) can develop into conversation-like sequences e.g. echoing back a child's vocal sounds, echoing back a child's breathing sounds, or their coughs and sneezes; echoing a sound made by a child's activity or a sound made by a child's body; etc.

•      Behavioural Mirroring: mirroring some aspects of a child's physical movements or behaviour can develop into turn-taking sequences that are, or can become, communicative e.g. mirroring aspects of a child's movements or activity; mirroring a child's facial expressions; etc.

•      Joint-Focus Activity: a joint-focus activity is when parents, carers or support staff, and the child they are supporting, focus their attention on the same activity or object e.g. jointly looking at things in the environment (i.e. following a child's visual focus); giving a running commentary on a child's actions; looking at pictures or photographs together; actively listening to music together; etc. I think my most (embarrasing but) significant moment was lying on the floor in Matalan in Burton, staring at the heating pipes above with a lovely lad called John, while people stepped over us muttering! I was able to share in his interest, add language and gain John's respect in one easy move.

•      Joint Action:  this is just doing things together, not to, not for, but with!

e.g. physically exploring objects together; physically playing together with a ball or a balloon, or water and sponges; making sounds together on the same musical instrument; etc. I especially like to make gloop to share with a child to explore how it rolls but then drips through fingers. The surprise is easy to share.

•      Burst-Pause Sequences: a burst-pause sequence is when an action is preceded by a pause, leaving a gap to develop anticipation and expectancy, and so making things more fun e.g.  playing ‘peek-a-boo ' from under a parachute or from behind a cushion; playing 'catch’ together with a '1-2-3 go' countdown to each turn; etc. I like using rhymes for this with younger children. I use the they like best

•      Turn Taking: this is when two people engage together in an activity with both people taking separate roles or turns, thus sequencing their actions

e.g.  taking turns to make noises both vocally or physically; taking turns to make movements; passing facial signals back and forth; physically passing things back and forth e.g. balls, or rubber rings or beanbags; deliberately taking turns to bang a drum; etc. I really enjoyed stamping in a puddle the other day with a  child who took turns, this was the first time I had known him to take turns

See more in The Intensive Interaction Handbook Book by Dave Hewett, Graham Firth, Mark Barber, and Tandy Harrison, available from Amazon