1. Introduction to Child Language Development

2. Review - What is language?
Set of rules for sharing thoughts, ideas, feelings
Can be verbal, signed, gestured, written
Receptive and expressive

3. Review: What is language?
Form - Phonology, Morphology, Syntax
Content - Semantics
Use - Pragmatics
How does language differ from speech?

4. Inter-relationship between language areas Bloom and Lahey (1978)

5. Language Development
Birth to 3 - intensive period of language development
Critical periods of development
Environment facilitates language development

6. Language Development - Birth
Language learning begins
Baby reacts to loud sounds by startling or waking.
Baby produces sounds that indicate pain or pleasure

7. Language Development- birth
First communication!
CRYING

8. Language Development - 0-3 months
Baby turns and watches your face when you speak.
Baby smiles and seems to recognize familiar voices
Baby may listen intently to unfamiliar voices
Baby responds to comforting tones
Baby starts cooing
Baby uses differentiated cries

9. 12 weeks old

10. Language Development 4-6 months
Responsive to tones of voice
Moves eyes in directions of sounds
May be interested in non-speech sounds
Babbling and vocal play
Can indicate urgency/excitement with vocalizations
Rituals and games set predictable routines and expectations
Gurgling sounds

11. Language Development By 6 months - Response to name Vocalizations with
intonation
Responses to tones of
voice--happy, angry

12. 6 month old

13. Language Development- 7-12 months - comprehension
Looks in direction of sounds
Listens when spoken to
Recognizes words for
common objects
Begins to respond to requests
Enjoys early games/rituals

14. Language development- 7-12 months - expression
Has 1-2 words
Uses speech for attention
Babbling

15. 12 month old

16. Play Development 9-12 months
Object permanence
Starts to use some basic toys appropriately

17. Play Development (Westby, 1990)
13-17 months
Discovers function of toys through trial and error
Hands toy to adult if unable to work
17-19 months
autosymbolic play
tool use
19-22 months
Symbolic play beyond self
Combines 2 toys in play

18. Receptive Language - 1-2 years
12 months - understands 50 words, 18 months-understands 200 words
Follows simple directions within common routines
Identifies simple body parts
Points to named objects or pictures
Listens to simple stories/rhymes

19. Expressive language- 1-2 years
12 months - uses up to 3 words, (more every month)
23 months - uses about 200 words!
Overextend and underextend meanings
Examples -
overgeneralization- all animals are dogs
Undergeneralization- sandals aren’t shoes
Emerging 2 word combinations
Emerging question use - “where mommy?”

20. Language development
2 year olds understand possession!!!

21. 2 year old

22. Receptive language- 2-3 years
24 months - understands words
30 months - understands up to 900 words
Can acquire 1-2 new words per day
Variety of vocabulary expands - nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, etc
Follows 1-2 step directions
Understands some concept pairs (hot/cold)

23. Expressive language 2-3 years
Vocabulary explosion - up to 570 words at 30 months
2-3 word sentences
Utterance expansion - (1-3 words)
Increased grammatical structure of sentences
Limited topic initiation

24. Language explosion!!!!

25. Play Development (Westby, 1990)
24 months
Daily experiences represented in
play
Stacking, knocking down,
pouring dumping
30 months
Starts to represent less frequently observed events
Still uses realistic props in play

26. Receptive language - 3-4 years
Understands words
Can acquire 4-6 new words per day!!!
Understands “wh” question forms - what, where and who
Follows multi-step directions within routines
Increased ability to comprehend stories, explanations and conversations

27. Expressive Language - 3-4 years
Hard to measure expressive vocabulary because it is so big!
Combines 4 + words
Relays personal experiences but may leave out relevant details
Expanded conversational topics as the world expands
Best at talking of the here and now

28. Play Development (Westby, 1990)
3-31/2 years
Sequence of events in play
May replay an experienced
event with a different ending
31/2- 4 years
Problem solving and planning emerge
3 dimensional building

29. Receptive Language- 4-5 years
Understands words
Increased conceptual knowledge including time words, complex emotion words
More precision in vocabulary
Answers simple questions about stories
Follows multi-step directions in new situations
Understands conversation about their lives - preschool, home, etc

30. Expressive language 4-5 years
Lengthy sentences with detail
Can tell a simple story with few grammar errors
May still produce errors with irregular forms (plurals, past tense)
Improved story telling but a limited filter of what is important
More confident to initiate topics

31. Language characteristics - 5 year olds
Can carry on conversations about everyday subjects
Love jokes and riddle
Able to state name, address, age and birthday
Can describe objects by function
May gain a vocabulary of new words not learned at home- not always positive
May understand time concepts but can’t tell time yet

32. Play development (Westby, 1990)
5 year olds
Imaginative and
cooperative
No longer needs concrete props
Plans and organizes toys and people

33. Language Characteristics - School age
Gaining new communication modes- reading, writing
Metalinguistics - ability to consider language in the abstract and make judgments about its correctness
Language development slows
Focus becomes semantics and pragmatics

34. Language characteristics - school age
Gradual increase in complexity of thinking and comprehension of nuances in language
Comprehension of multiple meanings and figurative language gradually emerges
Examples:
“As big as a house” set/set/set

35. Implications of language abilities for school aged children
In elementary school and beyond, language strongly influences…
Academics
Peer and social relationships
Self- esteem

36. Language across the lifespan
Language continues to develop - unless presence of a problem!
Adults expand language including adding specialized vocabulary related to experiences, jobs, hobbies, life!