Communication and social skills in infancy
It is important for a parent who closely monitors their child’s development to pay attention to the following communication and social skills that should be mastered by 18 months.
Age 9-12 months
Infants should consistently respond to their name or a diminutive used by parents. Parents should also be encouraged to address infants from an early age clearly using their name.
Infants develop their own way of communicating with polysyllabic babbling (i.e. repeated syllables that may resemble words, but do not correspond to words) around the age of one year. In fact, babbling often has the appropriate coloration depending on the social situation.
Children can point with the index finger at this age, to ask for what they want.
It is very important, in addition to this initial pointing, that children combine eye contact, both towards the target object and towards the parent. These are the ideal way of communicating, for a child to ask for something.
Age 12-18 months
The following communication and language skills should be mastered:
- Joint attention: is the ability for the child to turn his gaze and focus on the object that the parent is pointing at him.
- Sharing the object of interest: is the child’s ability to try to attract the attention of another person, towards the point of interest.
- Immediate response to the name.
- Attempt to imitate some words.
- Understanding initially simple and then complex commands.
- Use of nonverbal means of expression (gestures, facial expressions).
- Consistency of eye contact and its differentiation depending on the child’s emotions.
- Parallel play with children of similar age.
- Gradual transition from functional play, to imitation play and then to pretend play and symbolic play.
In case these skills have not been mastered by the age of 18 months, it is advisable to have an initial assessment by a Pediatrician – Developmentalist. The late acquisition of communication and social skills are early signs of autism spectrum disorders.
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