$Unique_ID{PAR00502}
$Font{NP}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Language Development}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{}
$Subject{Language Development Skills Audio Speech Develop Skill}
$Log{
Introduction (audio)*52380035.aud
0-3 Months (audio)*53150039.aud
3-6 Months (audio)*53550017.aud
6-9 Months (audio)*54140046.aud
9-15 Months (audio)*55010042.aud
1 1/2-2 Years (audio)*55450037.aud
2-3 Years (audio)*56230025.aud
3-4 Years (audio)*56500076.aud
5-6 Years (audio)*58070073.aud}


     The following is a brief summary of language development skills in young
children.  By accessing Related Materials, you will be able to hear children's
"normal" speech development through brief audio clips.


Introduction

     Children have a natural readiness to learn language and visually make
their greatest gains between the ages of 2 1/2 and 5 years.  It is more
difficult for them to learn language after age 5.
     Children repeat our behaviors, they imitate adults.  Our good language
models will help them more than any instructions we give them.  And more than
correcting their errors.
     Offer positive, enthusiastic reward for any language attempts and shape
them into correct language forms.


0-3 Months

     At the same time as the child is comprehending or learning to understand
language, he is producing speech sounds, expressing himself.  Even infants
begin expressing themselves.  This is where we can easily see the child is
greatly enjoying himself.  From birth to 3 months the infant coos, repeating
vowel sounds and gurgles.  By 3 to 4 months, the vocal quality normalizes and
the baby vocalizes back when talked to.


3-6 Months

     Between 3 to 6 months she uses different cries for hunger, pain, etc.
And vocalization shows different attitudes such as pleasure, and in this case,
displeasure.


6-9 Months

     By 6 months she babbles or uses constant vowel repetition.  By 7 to 8
months her babbling includes the reflectional patterns of adult speech.  By 9
months the baby imitates sound.


9-15 Months

     From 9 to 12 months of age, the babies babble monologue when alone,
called jargon.
     The jargon sounds more like adult speech by 15-16 months of age.  At
about 12 months, she says a few first words though they many not be clear; as
the 15 month old girl in the example is saying "socki" for sock as she plays
with her shoes and socks.


1 1/2-2 Years

     By 1 1/2 years, 8-10 words are used.  From 1 1/2 to 2 years of age the
child puts words together into small sentences and asks one-to-two word
questions.  He also discards jargon.
     Then comes a vocabulary boom!


2-3 Years

     By 2 years of age, the child uses about 200 words.  This increases to
300-400 words by 2 1/2 years, and 2-3 word sentences are used.

    AGE                VOCABULARY          SENTENCE LENGTH
----------------------------------------------------------
1 1/2-2 years             200                  2 words
2 1/2-3 years           300-400              2-3 words
3-3 1/2 years            1000+                 4 words


3-4 Years

     By age 3 to 3 1/2, the vocabulary jumps to 1000 words or more, and
sentences incorporate complex, grammatical rules.  Although present tense is
also used for past tense.
     It is interesting to note that as the child learns the rules of grammar,
she overgeneralizes.
     For example, she adds "ed" for all past tense endings or learns one
pronoun and uses it for both sexes, and in all sentences.
     From 3 to 4 years, sentences lengthen to about 4 words.


5-6 Years

     By 5 years of age he uses adult sentence structure most of the time.
However, typical grammar errors still occur, such as using "ed" for some
irregular past tense verbs.
     By age 6, conversation is even closer to adult speech.  However, familial
and some other relationships are confused.