In the years of experience in communication and language and learning difficulties we frequently see a poor foundation that hardly supports language or even makes its appearance impossible. The natural evolution towards language is based on this base and is often not given the attention it deserves, being in many cases the direct door to the appearance of language and its development and functionalization.

We want to give a personal space to this work, this essential preparation for the future language of our children. In many cases of SLI and ASD we see children with poor prelinguistic skills that are hindering the correct development of language , so in any of the situations that your child finds themselves in, this foundation will be the key to learning, language, communication and socialization.

ACQUISITION OF BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR THE LANGUAGE

In many cases, before beginning the intervention itself, it is necessary to ensure that the child masters a series of basic requirements. Although most children acquire these requirements quickly, the deficits of children with SLI may mean that this is not achieved. Thus, in which case the first step of treatment should consist of attention to:

1. Motivation: having a child enthusiastic, happy, willing and enjoying is the first basis of any intervention, following his or her tastes, preferences and hobbies will bring the child closer to us and turn therapeutic work into pure play and enjoyment.
2. Basic communication skills : skills such as joint attention, adaptation to taking turns in an interactive activity ... If the child has deficits at this level, it is advisable to begin by reinforcing and attending to any communicative attempt, to progressively give more importance to appropriate verbal communication .
3. Attention: there are often children with SLI whose attention is almost non-existent . In those cases it is necessary to carry out prior work to improve it. At first, the objective would be to ensure that the child is in an appropriate situation for learning, controlling his or her own reactions (in this sense, it is common for the speech therapist to physically control the child so that he or she can focus on the stimuli presented). . Next, the child must be able to listen and attend to minimal instructions, acting together . Finally, the child must be taught to control when and how to stop the activity he is doing, depending on what others demand of him.
4. Imitation: the objective would be to put the child in the autonomous disposition to learn. Not only verbal imitation, but also physical imitation, fine motor imitation, gross motor imitation, and motor imitation in general will be the way to develop verbal imitation. It is necessary to put it under control, that is, to get the child to repeat verbal or non-verbal models as accurately as possible, as well as to learn to repeat them spontaneously. The general objective in this skill would be to help the child identify people, places and things by name and learn to follow simple instructions . To do this, a basic vocabulary is selected that the child understands and that is meaningful, and then the child is taught to respond to instructions that incorporate the learned vocabulary. And gradually, new words and increasingly complex commands will be added.
5. Respect its rhythm: each of these skills cannot be forced, in typical children it seems like magic but be sure that it is part of work, observation, repetition and a long, long time of conscious stimulation . This is an aspect that is essential because many times our children are immersed in a world of stimulation that does not touch them, that does not reach them, that does not affect them, so be patient and respect the time, priorities and potential of your children. because it will be the only way to reach the language successfully,

If we want a child prepared for language and for life, we will have to cultivate these 5 skills to be able to strengthen the foundations of any future learning, no matter how complex it may be!

Cristina Oroz Bajo