ABSTRACT

Many people have asked if children understand what adults are saying all the time. Good parenting involves early talking with the baby and toddler to build phonics, a sense of creating a naming vocabulary, playing with the child and using rules of play. Reasoning develops through this language pathway and understanding of social expectations can be internalized through play. However, it goes deeper than that, but the recognition of the building blocks goes some way to explaining why many children use challenging behaviours to express themselves. It is not unrealistic to assume language difficulties if we accept that most children with emotional and behavioural difficulties often present learning deficits in reading, spelling and writing. However, in education it is important to be aware of the inabilities and abilities of children to pick up useful language that they can assimilate and use to control their own behaviours and to help them to understand the required learning behaviour necessary in the classroom. More than awareness, a teacher must use language that the children can use consistently and understand to help in the management of behaviour in the classroom.