Pointing:
why "look!" matters

Three kinds of pointing

1. Asking — "I want that" (the earliest kind).
2. Sharing — "look!" — pointing so that you look at the same thing and enjoy it together.
3. Answering — "where is the dog?" and the child points to it.

Why the sharing point matters

The "look!" point shows that a child can direct your attention to the same thing and share the pleasure of it. That shared attention is the ground that words grow in: a word is only useful if you and I are looking at the same thing. This is why the sharing point is so closely tied to the growth of language and communication — and why its absence is worth noticing.

Reference points

The 18-month health check in Japan looks at pointing. If a child shows almost no pointing by around 18 months, that is a reason to talk to someone — especially together with difficulty meeting your gaze, or concerns about understanding. For a child growing up with two languages, pointing is a useful sign precisely because it is not about any particular language.

What to do at home

• Model it — point at things yourself, with a word and a pleased face. Pointing is not taught; it is caught from imitation.
• Respond to where your child is looking — name it, point at it, share it, even before they point.
• Create reasons to communicate — a favourite thing just out of reach, a choice between two things — so that getting it requires telling you, in any way at all.

When to seek an assessment

Little or no pointing around 18 months, difficulty with eye contact or following your gaze, or worry about understanding — together, these are a good reason for an assessment. Start with your ward's public health centre or child development support centre, or come and see us; our speech-language therapists look at exactly this. No diagnosis is needed to visit.