What is Comprehension and why is it important?

For young children, comprehension is related to their ability to understand spoken language.

The way we know young children are comprehending is by being able to listen, follow directions, and answer questions.

Verbal routines will help your child understand what words mean, which will develop into listening to verbal language, following directions, and being able to respond to questions appropriately.

Comprehension with infants and babies can include a child looking toward or reaching for an item you label. For example, “look at the big dog!” or “get the ball.”

Comprehension for toddlers will develop a bit more. For example, when asked “get the ball,” they will actually get it. Or when asked “Do you see the dog?” they might say, “big dog!”

Later, the child will be able to follow multi-step directions and more complex questions appropriately. How exciting!