Early Communication Milestones: Pre-verbal Skills that Prepare Kids for Talking - Part 1
- Tamara Gonzalez-Scheulov
- Aug 8
- 7 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Before children begin to talk, they go through an important stage of development where they learn to connect, engage, and interact with others without using words. These early abilities are called prelinguistic skills, and they form the foundation for speech, language, and social communication. When we nurture these early skills, we help children take their first steps toward intentional communication.
Prelinguistic Skills Every Parent Should Know About
This 3-part blog series is inspired by the work of Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP, a pediatric speech-language pathologist who outlined 11 essential prelinguistic skills that typically develop before words emerge. These skills unfold along a developmental continuum, meaning each one builds upon the last. As a child becomes stronger in areas like attending to others or taking turns, they become better prepared for more advanced communication behaviors, like joint attention and word use.
To make this information easier for parents and caregivers to follow, I’ve organized the skills into three developmental themes:
Part 1: Becoming Socially Connected
Reacts to the environment
Responds to people
Takes turns during interaction
Part 2: Building Engagement and Attention
Develops sustained attention
Shifts and shares joint attention
Engages in functional, purposeful play
Part 3: Moving Toward Intentional Communication
Understands early words and follows simple directions
Vocalizes with intent
Imitates actions, gestures, sounds, and words
Uses early gestures like waving or pointing
Initiates and maintains interaction with others
Each section includes practical, research-informed tips to support your child’s development through everyday routines and play.
Part 1: Becoming Socially Connected
In the first part of this series, we’ll focus on three essential prelinguistic skills that help children become more alert, socially engaged, and ready to take part in simple, shared moments. You can think of them as interaction readiness skills. Together, they build the attention, engagement, and back and forth exchanges needed for communication to grow.
Interaction Readiness Skills
Reacts to Events in the Environment
Before children learn to talk, they need to learn how to notice what’s happening around them. This early skill involves reacting to what they see, hear, and feel, and it tells us they are beginning to make sense of the world.
Children who are developing this skill will show interest in their surroundings. They look toward loud sounds, follow movement with their eyes, and explore toys by reaching, mouthing, banging, or waving them. These actions are how young children begin to learn through their senses. If a child rarely reacts to sounds, seems “zoned out,” or doesn’t explore objects, it may be a sign that they’re not seeing or hearing clearly, or that there’s a medical, neurological, or developmental concern. If you’re unsure, talk with your pediatrician or a specialist, because noticing and responding to the world is a key step in learning to communicate.
To help toddlers interact with their environment, engage them in sensory play, nature walks, and activities that encourage exploration and discovery. Create opportunities for them to touch, smell, hear, and see the world around them, both indoors and outdoors. These shared experiences help children tune in to their surroundings and lay the groundwork for interaction and communication.
Parent Tips: How to Encourage This Skill
Help Your Child Explore the World Through Their Senses
Offer toys and everyday objects that engage the senses, like rattles, crinkly books, soft textures, lights, or music, and help your child notice them by gently guiding their attention or bringing the object closer. Encourage movement and exploration by changing their position or placing toys in different spots to explore. If your child isn’t responding or looking, you may need to pick them up and bring them closer to the object or experience. You can also go on sensory walks together. Notice the trees, touch the leaves, listen to the sounds around you, smell the flowers, or feel the sand on your feet. These shared experiences help your child tune in to the world and build early connections through multi-sensory learning.
Multi-sensory Play
Create opportunities for your child to explore the world through all five senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. You might fill a bin with water for scooping and pouring, offer toys with different textures like bumpy balls or soft fabric, or explore sound by shaking instruments and singing playful songs. During snack time, encourage smelling fruits or herbs and tasting foods with varied textures. Look at books together or notice sights and sounds while out on a walk. Keep it simple and follow your child’s lead. What catches their attention tells you what’s meaningful to them and is often where learning begins.
Model Curiosity
Model curiosity by playing with objects yourself, using expressive gestures and simple language like “shake, shake, shake!” or “so soft!” Pause after you speak to give your child a moment to respond, even if it’s just a glance, sound, or motion.
Responds to People
A key early building block for communication is learning how to respond to others. This means noticing when someone talks, plays, or interacts and showing some kind of reaction, like looking, smiling, making a sound, or reaching out.
These early responses show that a child is noticing others and starting to understand that communication is a two-way process. If a child seems to ignore people or doesn’t respond during play or daily routines, it may be that they don’t know how to engage in this way yet. With the right support, these skills can be nurtured and strengthened over time.
Parent Tips: How to Encourage This Skill
Tune In and Respond
Support your child’s early communication by tuning in to their cues during everyday moments and responding. When your child reaches, looks, makes a sound, or shows interest, they’re initiating a moment of connection. When you notice and respond, by smiling, naming what they see, or copying their action, you’re teaching them that their actions have meaning. These simple responses encourage more interaction and help build connection.
Observe, Wait, Listen
The Hanen Centre teaches a powerful strategy to support early communication called OWL. This approach helps caregivers slow down and truly tune in to a child’s cues, an essential step for building responsive interactions.
Observe: Watch carefully to see what your child is interested in. What are they looking at, reaching for, or playing with?
Wait: Pause and give your child time to respond.
Listen: Pay close attention to your child’s sounds, gestures, or words. Even subtle actions are meaningful. Respond as though you’re having a conversation, even if no words are used yet.
Get Face-to-Face and Join In
Positioning yourself at your child’s eye level makes it easier to observe their facial expressions, wait for their responses, and listen to subtle cues like sounds, gestures, or glances. Being close also makes it easier to join in and follow your child’s lead. Whether they’re stacking blocks, banging on a drum, or looking at a book, being right there with them helps create meaningful, back-and-forth moments that build connection and communication.
Note: For some children, especially those with social communication differences, direct eye contact may feel uncomfortable. Instead of forcing it, work your way up to face-to-face interaction by staying close, being present, and focusing on shared activities. Connection can happen even without eye contact.
Takes Turns
Before children can carry on a conversation with words, they must first learn the rhythm of taking turns, which is the natural back and forth exchange that happens during interaction. This early skill is known as reciprocity. You do something, I do something. You smile, I smile back. You place a ring on the stacker, I add the next one.
These back-and-forth exchanges are how young children learn that communication is shared. When we support turn taking, we help build social connection, attention, and the desire to communicate.
Parent Tips: How to Encourage This Skill
Practice Turn Taking (Again and Again)
Turn taking takes practice. One easy way to practice is by trading objects. Hold out a toy your child wants and wait for them to take it, rather than placing it directly in their hand. After they explore or play with it, hold out your hand and see if they’ll give it back. These quick exchanges help your child learn the rhythm of “your turn, my turn”, a key foundation for conversation.
In the beginning, keep turns short and simple. Young children, especially late talkers, often won’t tolerate waiting while someone else plays. Aim for fast turns using toys that offer quick, engaging feedback, like pop-up toys, fast-rolling cars, ball ramps, Fubbles or other bubble blowers, and musical instruments such as jingle bells, rain sticks, or hand drums. Over time, as your child becomes more comfortable, you can gently work toward longer or more complex turns. The goal is to keep the interaction fun, frequent, and flowing back and forth.
Interpret Your Child’s Message
Even if your child isn’t using words, act as though their response is meaningful. If they push something away, respond with, “Okay, no more” or "all done". If they reach for a toy, say, “You want the car, here it comes!” This shows your child that their actions matter and encourages more communication.
Use Expectant Pauses
After you take a turn, pause and wait expectantly. Lean in, widen your eyes, and show with your face and body that it’s your child’s turn. Even if they don’t respond right away, give them space to try. Their turn might be small: a look, a sound, a gesture, or reaching for a toy. That’s okay! Treat it like a real turn.
For example:
You roll the ball. Pause and wait.
Your child taps it or looks at you.
You smile and say, “Your turn!” and roll it again.
Why These Skills Matter
These three interaction readiness skills work together to create the foundation for all later communication.
Reacting to events in the environment shows that a child is aware of the world around them and ready to connect with it. This awareness is the spark that draws them into shared experiences with others.
Responding to people demonstrates that a child notices others and begins to understand that communication is a two-way street. This is how social bonds form and how children learn that their actions have meaning.
Taking turns teaches the rhythm and flow of interaction. Every game of “your turn, my turn” lays the groundwork for real conversations later on.
What if my child isn’t showing these skills yet?
If your child is older than 12 months and not yet showing many of these early communication skills, consider reaching out to a speech-language pathologist for individualized guidance.
For Part 2 & 3 of this three part blog series:
References
Hanen Centre. (2011). It takes two to talk: A practical guide for parents of children with language delays (5th ed.). Toronto, Ontario: The Hanen Centre.https://www.hanen.org/shop/it-takes-two-to-talk-guidebook
Mize, L. (2017). Let’s talk about talking: Ways to strengthen the 11 skills all toddlers master before words emerge. Teach Me To Talk. https://teachmetotalk.com/product/lets-talk-about-talking
