User: 2.1 Explain the ways in which adults can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development of children during the early years

Weegy: Interacting with and providing stimulating environments for young children helps to put in place the building blocks for their growth and development. [ Communication is crucial to speech and language development, as is early reading to children and encouraging their engagement with books and reading. Before formal education can begin, children must learn to: * play * talk * listen * understand, and * attend Children benefit from opportunities to develop their early communication skills in the home, nursery and play environments in relation to their social skills, development of play, comprehension and expressive language skills. Resources such as the Play, Talk, Read website and the play@home programme are useful tools for supporting parents to interact and communicate with their child and increase an awareness of developmental milestones and skills. Early Years staff can help to promote early language skills by: * being aware of the need to simplify the language they use in terms of vocabulary, sentence length and complexity, when compared to speaking to older children and adults * making use of symbols and gestures to support language comprehension whenever appropriate * supporting children’s attention and listening skills * providing opportunities to develop an awareness of rhyme, rhythm and word patterns * making use of comments to prompt use of language rather than overusing questions * providing opportunities for small groups using resources provided by their local speech and language therapy department * providing sufficient response time for children within play and interaction. Play and activity encourages children to communicate and thus to practice and develop their language and communication skills. [ They will need to communicate with their playmates and others, so that creates a situation where they can practice and develop their language skills. In the end, it is practice that allows for the development of language skills and activity is a good way to encourage that practice. ] ]
Expert answered|selymi|Points 3132|