Language Development of Children

Speech and Language

• Speech and language are forms of communication that enable us to share thoughts, ideas and emotions with the world around us. Language uses a set of rules to enable us to share our emotions, thoughts and ideas. Some of the rules are known as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, prosody and pragmatics. Speech is how we express our language by talking with one another. We can also share our language by writing, signing, or using body language or gestures.

  The first three years of life is the most concentrated period of speech and language development. In this stage, the child's brain is developing and maturing at a quick pace. Language and speech tend to develop and improve when children are exposed to an environment full of sights and sounds of others engaging in speech and language.

Communication Begins

• It doesn't take infants long to begin to communicate with the world around them. During the first few days of life, they learn that crying will bring them food, comfort and a feeling of safety. Newborns are also born recognizing the voice of their mother. It is a familiar sound from their recent time inside the womb. Newborns also begin to recognize other familiar sounds in their environment and learn not to be startled by common louder noises or more frequent sounds.

  As they develop and grow, babies begin to separate the phonemes, or the sound units of speech. This builds the foundation of their language development. Research has shown that by the age of 6 months, most children can recognize the basic sounds of their natural language.

MIlestones

• There are crucial periods for speech and language development in infants and young children. Their brains are developing and can grasp a language much easier during this time. It becomes more and more difficult to learn a language as effectively after this crucial period of time. Children need to be immersed in a language early on.

  Babies begin by making cooing sounds. These are fairly soft, almost singing sounds.

  As infants reach 6 months of age, they are usually babbling or creating more repetitive syllables such as "ma, ma" or "da, da." This babbling will then begin to sound like gibberish as the child tries to talk like the adults around him.

  As toddlers reach the end of their first year, a majority of them can say a few simple words. They continue to learn and use more words as they see the response given by others around them. It is important to try to teach your child about the world around him by showing and talking about daily activities.

  By the time a child reaches 18 months of age, he can usually say eight to ten words. By age 2, most children are putting words together in basic sentences such as "more juice." At this age they also begin to engage in pretend play. At ages 3, 4, and 5, a child's vocabulary continues to increase as he begins to understand the rules of language. Remember, all children develop differently, and your child may be saying more or less words at each stage. Talk to your doctor about any concerns you may have.

When to Seek Help

• Many parents are concerned with their child's speech patterns and habits, but they delay seeking help from a professional speech-language pathologist. This delay may be due to friends and family members telling them to wait or that there is nothing wrong. It could be because they think their child is too young for an assessment. The best thing to do if you have any cause for concern is talk to your family doctor or pediatrician first. Let your doctor decide if you should then go to a speech-language pathologist for a more detailed assessment. These specialists are trained in this area and would better be able to assess your child. They will want to talk to you about your child's communication and overall development patterns. They will assess your child with a speech and language test. A hearing test may be needed to rule out any hearing problems that might be interfering with language development.

  After the test results are evaluated, the doctor may give you a list of activities to do at home to encourage and improve speech and language development. One activity may be as simple as reading to your child each day to model appropriate language. Another may be to repeat what your child has said using correct grammar. This helps you model more accurate speech and keep you from correcting your child all the time, which could make him become self-conscious about speaking in front of others.

Future Research

• Scientists are exploring an assortment of problems related to speech and language development. Some genetic studies are taking a closer look at the likelihood that some speech and language problems could be inherited. Also, scientists are looking at possible complications recurrent ear infections have on the development of speech and language. They are also looking at different types of speech and language disorders to see which ones will improve on their own and which will require intervention or therapy.