Help Your Child Understand Instructions At Home

The ability to follow instructions is one key way that we track a child's understanding skills in the early years. This is because being able to follow instructions shows that a child is able to understand the vocabulary used and process more language. You likely give your child instructions all the time during daily routines — and this also helps to build their confidence and often results in more fun for everyone!

Tips to help your child follow instructions

Match your child's level

For example, if your child is able to follow 1-step instructions like "give daddy the car", try adding more details such as "give daddy the green car" — or step up to 2-step instructions such as "give daddy the car then drink some water".

Use gestures

It might be helpful to use gestures such as pointing to the green car and then to the water bottle, to support your words.

Show and help them

If you are giving a new instruction that your child is not familiar with, it can help to demonstrate the instruction first — and then let your child have a go!

Praise your child

Don't forget to give your child lots of positive praise for following instructions. This helps your child feel accomplished, especially as they begin following longer or more complex instructions.

Wondering what's typical at each age? Receptive language milestones can help you track your child's growth and development — and if you have concerns, our therapists are always happy to talk things through.