Communication without TALKING

Children communicate in a variety of ways. We all hope that our child will talk. When this doesn’t happen then we look at how he can get his point across. Here are some ways that he may tell you something. Let’s use playing with bubbles to explore these non-verbal means of communication.

Physical manipulation:

Your child will manipulate your body to make a request.
He may take your hand on put it on the bubbles to ask you to blow some.

Giving:

The children will hand you an object.
Your child may hand you the bottle of bubbles to ask you to open it.

Pointing:

The child will point to a desired item that is out of reach.
If the bubbles are on the shelf, then the child might point to them to ask to play.

Gaze shift

The child will look at a desired item.
The child may look at the bubbles after looking at you. Aksing you to blow some.

Facial expression

The child will change their facial expression to happiness or sadness
This will clue you into a yes or no response when you ask, “Do you want bubbles?”

As you can see, your child is telling you a lot. Watch and interpret his expression. Have fun and watch the communication expand!