Words are the building blocks of communication!
Children learn words through social interactions, and in order to participate in social interactions, children need to understand and use a variety of words including people and social words. Many children naturally learn these words through listening and watching others communicate; however, some children need extra help adding words to their vocabulary.
If your child needs support learning and using words, being intentional about the words you use with your child can help them build the vocabulary they need. Use this list of people and social words to help you think about which words your child knows and which words they need you to help them learn.
People
- Mummy
- Daddy
- Sister / Sibling’s Name(s)
- Brother / Sibling’s Name(s)
- Grandma
- Grandad
- Auntie
- Uncle
- Cousin / Cousin’s Name(s)
- Lady
- Man
- Girl
- Boy
- Baby
- Friend / Friend’s name(s)
Social Words
- hi / bye*
- yes / no*
- more
- all gone
- finished
- stop*
- help
- please / thank you
*teach accompanying natural gestures with these words
If you would like more information about children’s language development or speech and language therapy with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy, please get in touch. Follow us on Facebook for more speech, language and feeding tips and sign up for South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy’s newsletter if you would like new posts sent directly to your inbox.