Engage in frequent pointing with young children, and encourage the kids themselves to point. Incorporate this same gesture into the reading of picture books; point to particular words or illustrations, and ask children to point to what they see. Come up with simple gestures to pair with real-life referents—a clawing motion for cat, a wiggling index finger for a caterpillar—and be sure to say the word aloud as the gesture is demonstrated. Perhaps the most important fact to keep in mind, says Harvard education professor Meredith Rowe, is that a child’s language development is malleable, and that
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