Several of my posts have talked about the importance of a child’s awareness of her word finding difficulty. It is a tricky balance: we want her to be aware of her weakness yet not make her self-conscious about it. It’s all part of becoming a good self-advocate.
So when does a child develop the metalinguistic skills to be aware of word retrieval issues? Most researchers agree that by age 4, typically-developing children recognize signals from their listener that their message was understood or misunderstood. In my mind, that would correlate fairly closely to recognizing that the word they have chosen is not the specific one for which they were searching. What an interesting topic for additional research! I do know that there has been a great deal of variability among the many “word finders” for whom I have provided intervention. I have been successful teaching pre-schoolers to let their teachers know “I need more time,” or “Give me a clue.” On the other hand, I have also worked with middle-schoolers who have needed more time to develop the same level of self-awareness.
The important message we need to send is that we get it. We understand that they know the answer, it’s just “stuck.” Encourage an older child to explain, “It’s on the tip of my tongue.” If a child is reluctant to speak up, help her develop a nonverbal signal she can use with her listeners. An understanding teacher will be happy to accept an index finger raised to mean “give me a minute” or a thumbs-up to mean “I know it, I just need more time.”