Young children have to learn how to talk, what words mean and learn about language. This is quite a complex task and we need to give them time to experiment and practise.

You will find that they talk about what they can touch, hear, see, smell and taste. Basically

things about the real world around them.

Kids need to learn the following:

• paying attention to the talker and listening to the actual words
• understanding what has been said
• thinking how to respond
• making sure the person has understood what they said before continuing

As adult, we do many of these things automatically, but our kids dont. A way to help children develop these skills is to break them down into separate tasks.

We can say things to them when we are talking like "listen now please", and getting down to there height so we can look at them eye to eye. Also, we need to stop what we are doing when they talk to us and give them our attention, just like we'd expect them to do to us.

Good luck