Domain 3: Expressive Communication

Children begin to experiment with sounds and other various forms of communication to show interest in and exert influence on their environment.

Indicators for children include:

• Cries to signal hunger, pain, or distress
• Uses smiles and other facial expressions to initiate social contact
• Coos and uses physical movements to engage familiar others
• Babbles and experiments with all types of sounds (two-lip sounds: “p,” “b,” “m”)
• Combines different types of babbles
• Begins to point to objects in his/her environment

Strategies for interaction

• Engage in simple turn-taking, e.g., make a cooing sound after the child has made a similar noise
• Repeat the babbling sounds that the child makes; encourage the child to make more sounds
• Create a language-rich environment; communicate with the child throughout the day about what is happening
• Take into account the home language of the child and try to use familiar words in that particular language

Children’s language progresses from babbling to utterances and to first words. Toward the end of this age period, babbling decreases as children begin to build their vocabulary.

Indicators for children include:

• Babbles using the sounds of the home language
• Creates long, babbled sentences
• Uses nonverbal communication to express ideas, e.g., waves bye-bye, signs “more” when eating
• Utters first words; these words are for familiar objects and people, e.g., “mama,” “bottle”
• Names a few familiar objects in his/her environment
• Uses one word to convey a message, e.g., “milk” for “I want milk”

Strategies for interaction

• Acknowledge and respond to the child’s communication attempts
• Expand on what the child is saying, e.g., “Milk? You want to drink milk?”
• Show appreciation when the child is attempting to use new words
• Talk and read with the child often; use words and books that reflect the home culture
• Narrate what is occurring throughout the child’s day, e.g., “Let’s sit down and have lunch”

Children continue to experiment with language and expand their vocabulary as they begin to speak in two-word utterances.

Indicators for children include:

• Uses more words than gestures when speaking
• Repeats overheard words
• Has a vocabulary of approximately 80 words
• Begins to use telegraphic speech, consisting of phrases with words left out, e.g., “baby sleep” for “The baby is sleeping”

Strategies for interaction

• Continue to engage in conversations with the child about topics meaningful to him or her
• Encourage the child when speaking and elaborate on what the child is saying
• Acknowledge and extend what the child is expressing, e.g., “Yes, I see the baby; the baby is sleeping”

Children communicate about present themes and begin to combine a few words into minisentences to express needs and wants.

Indicators for children include:

• Speaks in three-word utterances, e.g., “I want ball”
• Begins to use pronouns and prepositions, e.g., “He took my toy” and “on the table”
• Makes mistakes, which signal that he or she is working out complex grammar rules
• Uses adjectives in speech, e.g., “blue car”
• Uses simple sentences, e.g., “I want the yellow cup”
• Has a vocabulary of more than 300 words

Strategies for interaction

• Model but do not correct when the child is speaking, e.g., “Oh, Mommy went to work?” after the child expresses “Mommy goed work”
• Speak in simple sentences when communicating with the child
• Allow children to play and experiment with language through songs and word rhymes
• Expand on what the child is saying, e.g., “The baby is crying; maybe she is hungry?” after the child expresses, “The baby is crying.”