The model shows many of the different areas of speech and language development in children. Each of these areas contribute to successful communication and children learn these skills at different paces. Some children may have difficulties with one or more area. The development of these skills can be supported with strategies to help children to reach their full potential.
Please use the drop down menu under the families tab to learn more about the different areas of communication.
Main messages from the communication tree:
- there are many different skills involved in a complex process of communication development, some skills are fundamental to others developing
- all skills continue to develop alongside each other, depend upon one another, they are not separate from each other
- this is a generalised model and not all children develop language in the same way or in the same order
- development differs between individuals – all patterns of development are valid and should be adapted to by adults supporting those children.
The roots of the tree: These are the fundamental skills that support the successful development of communication skills in children.
- Awareness of self and others
Children develop an awareness of others and a sense of self by interacting with others and by exploring their bodies, objects and environment around them. It comes from others listening, understanding and responding to the individual needs and feelings of the child.
- Motivation to communicate
The desire to communicate comes from having the motivation to do so (the reason). Many children have a strong natural desire to communicate but others may need support to develop this and we may need to work harder to understand their motivations.
Children need to be able to notice sounds in their environment and to be able to listen and pay attention to language in order for them to learn to understand and use it themselves. Attention and listening are skills which develop from birth and continue to mature with time.
Children learn to share interactions with others by paying attention to the same activity at the same time as someone else and letting each other know that they are sharing and enjoying that moment. This is a very important fundamental skill for communication development and can be challenging for some children.
Young children need lots of opportunities to learn early communication skills through play. Symbolic play is a particularly important step in language development. For example, by understanding that a toy cup represents a real cup, a child starts to understand that words represent things, people, events and so on.
As with all aspects of development there is not only one way to develop play and those children with neurodivergent characteristics may play in a different way, for example you might see lining up, categorizing, sorting, focus on construction and repeating play patterns, but this varies from child to child.
The tree trunk: Understanding Language – (receptive language)
With established skills in the roots of the communication tree children will develop an understanding of language; learning that a word represents an object, person, place, action and so on. As skills develop, children learn to understand longer phrases and a greater range of vocabulary. Children also learn to understand the meaning of gestures, signs, objects, pictures and symbols and these visuals can be used to support the understanding of spoken words. Many children understand a lot more than they are able to express.
The branches and leaves: Using language – (expressive language)
This can include gestures, signs, the use of objects/pictures/symbols/electronic aids as well as spoken words that children learn to use to communicate messages to others.
Some children will learn to use single words and gradually learn to combine these to make phrases and sentences. Children who are learning in a more neurodivergent way may start by copying others and using learned phrases or ‘chunks’ of language such as phrases from TV or nursery rhymes and overtime they learn to break these down into units of language that they can re-build. These language ‘chunks’ can often have a meaning that does not necessarily relate directly to the words they are saying and over time we can learn to understand their messages.
The rainbow: Being understood by others
Skills that impact our ability to understand children’s communication include clarity of speech sounds which in many children continues to develop up until the age of 7 years. Interrupted flow of speech (stammering) and effective use of voice can also have an impact on a child’s communication. Children who use alternative methods to communicate such as signing or symbol/electronic aids are dependent on others accepting and understanding these methods of communication.
The ‘sun and the rain’: Communication partner
To support children’s communication skills to develop they need to have other people to communicate with – both adults and other children. Good communication partners will be available and responsive to children’s attempts at communication, they will show children how to communicate by demonstrating how to listen, using words or other forms of communication that the child can access (for example signing) and joining in with interaction on the child’s level.
- Opportunities to communicate
Children need opportunities to communicate and these can be created by adults being on the child’s level, leaving pauses and waiting, joining in with their play and following their lead, as well as strategies such as offering a choice of two, for example ‘milk or juice?’.
- Communication friendly and language rich environment
This usually refers to an education setting but can also include the home environment. A communication friendly environment is one where adults use every means possible to help children to learn to communicate; to understand and be understood and this may include visual and auditory cues, embedded into practice and used routinely by all the adults in the setting.
