Comprehensive language: what it is and tips to promote it in childhood

For communication to be that, two key aspects must be given: expression and understanding. We express ourselves as we send a message to our interlocutor, and we understand when he or she returns it to us in the form of another message.

Comprehensive language is that faculty of communication that is put into practice when we try to identify a received message, whether in the form of words, images or gestures.

Next we are going to delve into this language modality, what its most outstanding characteristics are and what we can do to help develop it in babies.

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What is comprehensive language?

When we speak of comprehensive or receptive language, we refer to the ability of people to understand what others say. It is the process that involves receiving a message and understanding what they are telling us or indicating. Human beings can communicate in various ways, and communication does not have to be verbal, because in its non-verbal aspect important information can also be transmitted. We transmit information through oral, written, pictorial or gestural language.

Comprehensive language is extremely important during child development, because the ability to understand speech, understanding what certain gestures, actions or sounds mean, is the first step in language acquisition. In fact, understanding comes before expression. The smallest babies, who barely know how to babble, although they do not verbalize, they are capable of understanding and following certain instructions.

Communication is the combination of expression and understanding, therefore, understanding or receptive language is very important to be able to communicate with others successfully. As children improve their expressive abilities, they also expand their vocabulary, which allows them to understand more and express themselves better. They are acquiring more capacity to receive information from their environment, be it with words that they hear and images and gestures that they see.

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Comprehensive Language Development

For the development of comprehensive language to occur, it is necessary that the little ones are immersed in an environment where they are exposed and in direct contact with images, sounds and, especially, listen to the way in which the people around them express themselves. At the same time, it should also be made easier for them to observe other people gesturing, showing body language rich and expressive so that the little ones associate it appropriately with the environment or the action that is being making.

Communication with gestures is an essential factor. As they watch others express their emotions, feelings and thoughts accompanying them with gestures, the little ones internalize them and incorporate them into their behavioral repertoire through imitation. This is enhanced by their constant learning tendency, always attentive to the stimuli of the environment and learning new things on a daily basis.

Therefore, To build the understanding aspect of language, it is very important to bring children together with other. The little ones learn and develop better when they are in contact with their peers, of the same age, developing skills to socialize and play. Communication involves interacting with other people, it is a social process and cannot be developed without establishing contact with other people.

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Tips for Receptive Language Stimulation

To contribute to the development of comprehensive language in their sons and daughters, parents and other caregivers can do so by applying the following strategies:

1. Maximize body expressions

Especially with younger children, leaning on body expressions is very useful to develop the understanding capacity of the little ones. By visually observing what is intended to be communicated, it will be much easier for you to associate the words with their meaning.

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2. Talk to them at the same level

Getting on the same level as the little ones and making eye contact before saying something is a good way to get their attention. Eye contact can be encouraged placing objects that are of interest to the child, such as her favorite toys, while talking to her.

3. read them stories

Stories are a very good tool for promoting language, both expressive and comprehensive. They are especially useful in your first steps towards acquiring verbal language. It is advisable to select appropriate books for their developmental stage, which have very clear images of objects or actions.

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4. instruction sets

Attention, concentration and working memory are fundamental aspects for language comprehension. These can be promoted by instruction games, simple entertainment in which they have to follow some basic guidelines. They can be things as simple as "put the ball on the table", "now, give the ball to dad"...

5. Use simple and clear sentences

In the first moments of the child's language acquisition, it is essential to use simple and clear words or sentences. This will make it much easier for the boy or girl to understand what they want to say, rapidly and progressively associating more and more meanings. The more words they know and understand, the more words they will use, and by the age of three they will be able to speak in sentences of more than two words.

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Comprehensive language problems

As we said, understanding is a fundamental aspect of communication, with which boys and girls who have difficulties in this aspect of the language they can present serious learning problems, especially if they are not detected or intervened early. These types of problems can be shown with different symptoms:

• Difficulty understanding what other people have said
• Trouble organizing your thoughts
• Difficulty maintaining routine
• attention deficits
• Problems distinguishing phonemes.
• Difficulty following simple instructions at home.
• Has trouble answering or understanding questions and requests.
• He does not understand the plot of the stories that are read to him.
• Behavior problems, probably due to the frustration of not understanding the environment.
• It is difficult for him to continue to recognize and follow social norms.
• Does not participate in social situations.
• Poor social skills.
• He expresses himself poorly, has a limited vocabulary and has trouble learning new words.

These and other symptoms make communication at school, at home, and with other children a real odyssey. This is why it is so important intervene as soon as possible in the event that a child, be it a child or a student, is suspected of having language comprehension problems, and with a high probability of expression. Early intervention can make the difference between a child who is frustrated with school that he does not understand and a happy little one who learns as best he can with the right tools.