Parents often assume that their child is able to follow directions because the child’s teacher has no concerns at school (In this example I am referring to preschoolers or kindergartners). If I said “give me the car” while looking at the car and not the ball, for example, the child would most likely have given me the car because that is the item I was looking at. In therapy sessions when I would request a specific item from a child, I would always make sure NOT to look at the one I wanted the child to give to me. Joint attention is basically sharing attention.Īn example is when a parent looks at an object and the child or baby turns to look at the same object.Ĭhildren are often assumed to understand more than they do because they are able to use joint attention. Joint AttentionĪ child may use joint attention to feign an understanding. In this scenario you are evaluating the ability of your child to understand spoken words. If you show your child 2 items they will easily be able to chose the one they actually want. Try giving a choice between a non preferred item and a preferred one, if your child chooses the preferred item (no matter the order of presentation) then they are able to understand and make a choice.īut make sure the items are presented verbally. If you said “do you want strawberries or yogurt?” and now they choose yogurt, then that is definitely what is going on. The child may say strawberries because it is the last word they heard. For example, “do you want yogurt or strawberries?” Therefore, make sure you switch the ordering of the choices. Many children will choose the last word in the list of choices. In order to see if your child can truly make a choice, pay attention to your wording. This leads the parent to believe that the child has understood and made a choice. When a choice is given the child takes one of the items offered, regardless of wanting it or not. *This article may contain affiliate links* Making A Choice How Some Children “Fool” The Adults Around Them When a child struggles to understand spoken language, this is known as a receptive language disorder. Rather, they are using strategies, almost like coping strategies, that help them fit into their surroundings.īelow I will explain 5 ways parents and educators can check to see if a child is or isn’t understanding language. When I say “fooled” I don’t meant that your child is doing this intentionally. There are children who are true “ late talkers”, meaning that they are developing as expected in every area except for expressive language (spoken language).īut then there are those who do have difficulty understanding, and have fooled their parents, making them think they actually understand more than they do. While in most cases this was true (the child understood at an age appropriate level), there were a few children who actually did not understand what they should have. “My child understands but doesn’t speak” is a sentence I often heard from parents who brought their child in to see me for a speech and language assessment.
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