Expressive language skills are the words, sentences, expressions, and gestures that we use to convey and communicate our messages, intentions, and ideas to others.
With expressive language skills, we can tell stories, describe objects and concepts, answer questions, and form correct sentences. Children who lack this skill (expressive language skill) will find the aforementioned abilities difficult to do.
Developing expressive language skills
- Talk to your child: The importance of verbal communication with your child, even as a baby, cannot be overemphasized. The more words a child hears, the larger his vocabulary.
- Offer choices: Help the child label objects by offering multiple choices. For instance, hold an apple and banana, then ask the child to choose an apple.
- Ask simple questions: Simple questions about body parts and animal sounds are good ways to encourage the development of expressive language skills.
- Play games: games such as ‘fill in the missing word’ in a rhyme and ‘name that object’ are great ideas.
- Limit toddler screen time; this gives them time to interact with other people.
Problems with expressive language
Difficulty in expressive language skills may be expressed in the following ways:
- Difficulty describing or explaining something
- Difficulty retelling a story
- Difficulty labelling objects or items
- Problem of fluency.