Early language learning occurs naturally for most children, but for a significant percentage of children with autism spectrum disorders, the process can be much more convoluted. Most parents choose a specialized rehabilitation facility for their children to undergo intervention training in the hope that they will speak sooner rather than later. But the results are often not as good as they should be, and complaints and questions arise. Is it because the institution is not professional that the child’s speech training is not effective? In fact, it is not necessarily the case. In addition to specialized speech and language intervention at an institution, it is also essential for children to be guided and practiced in their daily lives at home, which is something most parents tend to overlook. As parents, it is important to seize every opportunity to respond to your child’s communication attempts in a timely and appropriate manner in everyday life and play, which will not only have a profound impact on their communication skills, but will also accelerate their language development. To help children’s language development, parents should first understand that talking is not the only way to communicate. A child’s gestures, eye contact, and body language all send communication messages to us. Recognizing, encouraging, and positively reinforcing these preverbal signals will facilitate the production of language. Even before children learn to point to what they want, they can still use other ways to communicate with us. When infants cry because they are hungry or uncomfortable, they may be instinctively expressing their feelings. Once parents explain their behavior and respond promptly to their cries and sounds, children begin to realize that their voices enable their needs to be met. This encourages them to start communicating their needs intentionally, through things like fingers and body language, as well as making more sounds. Over time, talking will become the most effective form of communication between them and us. But even if a child is able to speak, parents should not neglect to shape their child’s nonverbal communication skills in their lives, because nonverbal communication ingrains the effects of communication itself in the child’s mind and drives him toward more sophisticated forms of communication. One of the most notable facts about children’s language development is that it is closely related to play. Children usually begin to say their first words when they are 12 to 13 months old, and they happen to develop symbolic play at the same time. Symbolic play is for example like when a child picks up a banana and puts it to his ear and pretends he is on the phone. It is no coincidence that these two things happen at the same time, because children first have to learn to think symbolically in order to master the use of language, which is also nothing more than the use of a word to represent a thing, again symbolically. So, when parents participate in their children’s symbolic play, they are actually encouraging and helping to expand their children’s new ability to express themselves symbolically. At home, there are many opportunities to encourage children to practice their communication skills. The most common is to put something out of reach and give the child only a part or piece of the toy, allowing them to seek your help in getting the other parts they need. The purpose of this is not to spite the child, but to encourage them to initiate communication. Another fun way to facilitate communication with your child is to pretend to forget that if parents and children have established many routines in their daily lives, such as putting on clothes and hats, then parents can pretend to forget that they should put on his socks before putting on his shoes. If the child is used to putting on his socks before putting on his shoes, he will be surprised by the change in routine and will actively “tell” the parent what to do. Parents can also take a break from predictable routines, such as singing the child’s favorite children’s songs. If the child usually likes to be sung “Two Tigers,” perhaps one day the parent can pause while singing “Two tigers, two tigers, run” to encourage him to say the word “fast” in the middle. This will not only encourage him to recall and use new words, but it will also teach him to take turns talking to his parents, allowing the child to practice back-and-forth communication in a fun way. When practicing language with your child, the parent’s goal should always be to focus on how to help them move to the next level of language development. If the child is able to communicate using one or two words, parents should show him how to use three to four word sentences. But be sure to follow your child’s lead so that they are motivated to continue participating and are willing to keep trying new words and new ways of communicating. Remember that talking and communicating with people should be fun in itself.