Comprehension

Comprehension, also known as receptive language, is understanding what we hear or read. It enables us to make sense of the world and follow instructions. It involves understanding concepts such as size, shape, location, texture and time. As we continue through school, the concepts we are expected to comprehend become more complex and abstract. Strong auditory comprehension skills are vital for school success because:

1. Classrooms are full of spoken language
2. Children need to understand the information and instructions they will hear in the classroom
3. Children are expected to remember what they hear and follow through with the instructions they are given
4. Learning activities are based around the comprehension of concepts.

How to help your child develop their comprehension skills:

1. Make sure you have your child’s attention before giving them information or instruction
2. Simplify your language – keep it simple
3. Give instructions and information in small chunks
4. Use gestures and facial expressions to help your child understand what you need them to know
5. Explain the meaning of new words
6. Check if your child has understood what is expected of them
7. Use lots of describing words in you speech to model concepts e.g.big, little, heavy, quickly, beautiful, happy
8. Ask questions to help you child describe objects – Talk about the colour, size, shape, of the object, what it does, where you find it, how it feels etc
9. Read lots of books together
10. When your child asks a question praise them “That was a great question, you are thinking really hard”
11. When your child tells you about something they have seen or done, ask them more about it, “What did they do next? What did they use? Tell me more about….”

Newcastle Speech Pathology provides professional assessment and intervention for children and adults with comprehension difficulties. Call us today to discuss your child’s language skills.