When Children Begin to Talk, What Words Do They Mix Up?

All children make grammatical errors when they are first learning how to talk. Most of these mistakes are not random, because they happen in predictable developmental stages. Some errors are actually essential to the process of learning. Others can be warning signs of a potential learning disability or speech impairment.

  1. Holophrases

    • Young children can communicate a lot of information in a single word. For instance, where an adult might say "look at that dog over there," a toddler would just say "dog". Where an older child might say "please put on a TV show," a toddler might say "show" or "TV." Single words that stand for complete sentences are called holophrases. Young children often mix up which holophrase they should use. For example, a toddler might call a dog a "kitty," if she has a cat at home but not a dog. It's not that she can't see the differences between a dog and a cat, but that her only word for a four-legged furry creature of any kind is "kitty."

    Pronouns

    • When young children begin to use simple sentences they usually leave out everything except the noun and the verb or the noun, the verb and the object. For instance, a child who previously used the holophrase "baba" for "please get a milk bottle" might progress to "want baba." A child who previously said "change" might start saying "need change." Kids sometimes get confused about which pronoun to use, so your child might say "you want baba" when he really means that he wants one.

    Generalizing

    • As children begin to understand the rules of grammar, they make errors by over-generalizing. For example, your child might notice that the number four becomes the word "fourth" in a sentence like "that's the fourth bird we've seen today" and conclude that the number two should become "twoth" in the same type of sentence. Some parents worry about this type of mistake, but it's actually an important stage in language acquisition. By observing patterns and trying to apply them, kids learn how their native language works and what its rules are.

    Warning Signs

    • Even though most grammatical errors are part of the normal process of learning how to talk, some errors can be warning signs of a learning or speech disability. A child who is having a problem learning how to talk will not meet developmental milestones when other kids do. For instance, most kids use at least a few words by age 2, so a child who does not do so by that age might have a problem. Most 2- or 3-year-olds mix up the order of words in a sentence or drop the endings from some words, but most 4-year-olds don't. A 4-year-old who still drops endings and mixes up sentences might have a speech or learning problem. Speak with your child's pediatrician if you think you see any of these warning signs.

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