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Speech Pathologist Nikita Pinto reveals the critical pre-linguistic skills children need to develop before they can speak their first words. These foundation skills are essential building blocks that support all future communication development.

• Reacting to sounds and people in the environment forms the basis of listening and understanding
• Responding to people and turn-taking establishes the back-and-forth pattern essential for conversation
• Attention span is crucial as children need to stay focused to absorb language information
• Joint attention allows children to share experiences with caregivers about objects or events
• Playing with toys provides exploration opportunities and contexts for language learning
• Understanding familiar words precedes the ability to speak them
• Vocalizing and making different sounds develops into first words

Parents often focus exclusively on getting their child to say words, missing the importance of building connection first. Children need to hear words repeatedly in different contexts for approximately six months before they can use them meaningfully. Using facial expressions, animated voices, and body language ("affect") helps captivate children's attention and makes words "stick."

Instead of asking lots of questions, provide information by commenting and naming things in your child's environment. Use the "four-to-one rule" - offer four pieces of information before asking one question.

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