Baby’s First Words: Focus on Functional
Functional language are words that serve a purpose. Think about all the words you know, and what words are most important? What words help you request, comment, label, and ask questions? Those are functional words.
Think about this: If you could only talk in one-word utterances, and you had to go up to a stranger on the street and ask for something, you would probably tell them the name of the item you wanted (“bathroom,” “drink,” “food,” etc.) Now think if you could only say colors, numbers, shapes, and letters and you had to communicate with that same stranger. If you went up to them and said, “purple” or “octagon,” they would look at you like you have 7 heads! That is not functional!
With this example, you can clearly see that colors, numbers, shapes, and letters are not FUNCTIONAL language words. Nouns and verbs are the most functional words, and they should be taught to children first before focusing on the more academic words like colors and shapes.
Now that you are focusing on function: How can you support functional language around the house?
See some examples below:
Saying “up, down” on the stairs, when getting in/out of the high chair, while going in/out of the crib, while playing with a block tower.
Modeling “open, close” with the door, books, cabinet doors, and drawers.
Labeling common nouns in play and books (e.g., animals, food items, clothing items, body parts).
Saying “more, all done” in play and during snack time.
Saying “in, out” when putting clothes in the washing machine or taking dishes out of the dishwasher.
Think about all the common nouns and verbs you use in a day in your normal routines, and then point them out to your little one as you’re doing those tasks! It’s that simple! You don’t need to set aside specific time to model and use functional language- you can just include your little one in your daily tasks. Now, that is fun and functional!
