Pre-Verbal Skills that Prepare Kids for Talking: Stage 2 - Sustained Attention & Engagement
- Tamara Gonzalez-Scheulov
- Sep 7, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 30, 2025
Before children begin to talk, they go through a stage of development where they learn how to connect, engage, and interact with others without using words. These early abilities, called prelinguistic skills or pre-verbal skills, lay the foundation for speech, language, and social communication.
This three-part blog series explores the foundational prelinguistic skills that prepare kids for talking. These skills are widely recognized in early intervention and are often evaluated during play-based assessments of early communication and social development.
Three Stages of Pre-Verbal Development
To make this information easier to follow, prelinguistic skills are grouped into three developmental stages:
Stage 2
Sustained Attention & Engagement
STAGE 2
Sustained Attention & Engagement
In this part of the 3-part blog series, we focus on three skills that help children stay connected during play, share attention with others, and learn through interactions and sustained engagement.
Prelinguistic Skill | Focus |
Sustained Attention | Staying focused & regulated |
Joint Attention | Shifts and shares attention |
Functional Play | Plays with a variety of toys in age-appropriate ways |
Adapted from Laura Mize’s 11 prelinguistic skills (2017)
Develops Sustained Attention
Attention in young children doesn’t mean sitting still or staying quiet. For toddlers and preschoolers, attention is about staying engaged in play or interaction long enough to learn from it.
When a child’s body feels regulated, attention becomes easier to sustain. Some children stay engaged with movement and active play, while others do better with slower, calmer activities. Watching how your child responds helps you choose what supports their attention best.
SLP Tips
How to Help Your Toddler Stay Engaged for Longer
Use Movement to Spark Engagement.
Short bursts of movement like jumping, bouncing, spinning, can help “wake up” the body and brain before focused play. Try alternating movement with short play activities.
Build on Predictable, Repetitive Routines
Repetitive play routines (peek-a-boo, “ready, set, go!”) help toddlers feel regulated and engaged. Once familiar, add small variations - longer pauses, silly twists, or extra actions - to gently stretch attention.
Daily routines work too. During snack, sing a familiar phrase and pause to let your toddler respond with a sound, gesture, or word.
Joint Attention
Joint attention is when a child and caregiver share focus on the same thing such as a toy, an activity, or an event. Think of it as a triangle of attention with three points: the child, the caregiver, and the object or event. True joint attention happens when all three are actively involved.
Two Sides of Joint Attention
Joint attention has two parts:
Responding: The child follows your gaze or point
Initiating: The child draws your attention to something interesting.
What It Looks Like
SLP TIPS:
How to Help Your Toddler Shift & Share Attention
Shape Eye Contact
Get face-to-face and down at your child’s level
Hold toys near your face so your child sees both you and the object
Pause and wait to give your child time to look up
Help Your Child Respond to Their Name
Call your child’s name during playful routines like peek-a-boo or singing
Pair their name with something fun (“Emma… ready, set, go!”)
Start in quiet spaces and gradually practice in busier settings
Encourage Early Gestures
Model showing and pointing during play and books
Celebrate reaching, waving, clapping, or showing
Respond warmly so gestures feel meaningful
Engages in Functional, Purposeful Play
Functional play happens when children use toys and objects as intended - rolling a car, stacking blocks, feeding a doll, climbing, throwing, or kicking a ball. This type of play builds cause-and-effect thinking, coordination, and early problem-solving. It also links words to actions (“car go,” “block fall,” “up high”).
Why Functional Play Matters
Functional play bridges the gap between exploration and pretend play and creates rich opportunities for language learning.
SLP TIPS
Helping Your Child Learn to Use Toys
JOIN IN AND PLAY
The best learning happens when you play together.
Follow your child’s lead and join what they’re already doing
Observe, wait, and listen to see what interests your child.
Play at their level using your own toy so you’re an active play partner.
Add short language or sound effects (“go,” “boom,” “up”)
Take turns to keep play going—every look, sound, or gesture counts
GET OUT AND PLAY
Outdoor play naturally supports functional play and language—slides, balls, sand, buckets, and climbing all invite exploration.
ROTATE TOYS
You don’t need many toys. Rotating a few items keeps play fresh, and everyday objects often work best.
Why These Skills Matter
When children can stay engaged, share attention, and play meaningfully, they notice more, imitate more, and practice the back-and-forth rhythm that communication requires.
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 1 & 3 of this three part blog series:
References
Prelinguistic Skills
Mize, L. (2017). Let’s talk about talking: Ways to strengthen the 11 skills all toddlers master before words emerge. Teach Me To Talk.
Sustained Attention and Sensory Integration
Ayres, A. J., Parham, L. D., & Mailloux, Z. (2005). Sensory integration and the child: Understanding hidden sensory challenges (25th anniversary ed.). Western Psychological Services.
Dunn, W. (2001). The sensory profile: User’s manual. Psychological Corporation.
Routines and Sensory Regulation
Fiese, B. H., Tomcho, T. J., Douglas, M., Josephs, K., Poltrock, S., & Baker, T. (2002). A review of 50 years of research on naturally occurring family routines and rituals: Cause for celebration? Journal of Family Psychology, 16(4), 381–390.
Parham, L. D., & Mailloux, Z. (2010). Sensory integration and the child: 25th anniversary edition. Western Psychological Services.
Spagnola, M., & Fiese, B. H. (2007). Family routines and rituals: A context for development in the lives of young children. Infants & Young Children, 20(4), 284–299.
Joint Attention
Bruner, J. (1975). The ontogenesis of speech acts. Journal of Child Language, 2(1), 1–19.
Scaife, M., & Bruner, J. (1975). The capacity for joint visual attention in the infant. Nature, 253(5489), 265–266.
Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., & Tomasello, M. (1998). Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 63(4), i–174.
Play
Fromberg, D. P., & Bergen, D. (Eds.). (2015). Play from birth to twelve: Contexts, perspectives, and meanings (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Pellegrini, A. D. (Ed.). (2011). The Oxford handbook of the development of play. Oxford University Press.
Greenspan, S. (1999). Building Healthy Minds: The Six Experiences That Create Intelligence and Emotional Growth in Babies and Young Children. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.