Language Development. (Grace Duarte)


What is Language Development in Early Childhood?


Language development in children is the process in which the gain and ability to understand and communicate through speech occurs. However, it can also be defined as the process of developing the ability to speak, which begins by listening to and understanding the pitch of the mother's voice. To achieve fluency in the language, it is crucial that they understand the basic language patterns, expand and increase their vocabulary to reach the goal of fluency.

This implies that before learning to read and write, toddlers first develop an understanding of spoken language. Children who do not acquire oral language skills frequently find it difficult to start on reading and writing later in life.



Milestone Related to Speech and Language.

The ability to listen is essential to be able to develop adequate speech and language development. The first signs of communication occur when infants cry for comfort, food, sleep or companionship. Below we will see a chart with the development of communication throughout the months of an infant.



Theoretical Background of Language Development


Jean Piaget's placed a great importance on the education of children. His theory of language development proposes that children learn a language much faster when they use assimilation and accommodation. Accommodation is a process of changing one's schema, in order to easily adapt to the new environment. On the other hand, assimilation is the process of changing the environment to place information in an already existing scheme.

According to Jean Piaget's, infants first create a structure in their mind (which we call schemas), and from those structures, language develops.



Promoting Healthy Language Development

Communication and language development is crucial, because speaking is an indicator of fine motor skill development and a reflection of cognitive development.
Here we can see some ideas to encourage communication and language development at different months:

Birth: Talk to you children constantly, with a calm and soft voice.

3 Months old: Sing and converse with your kid. A child learns how to recognize words and actions via repetition. At this age, he or she will start babbling, and you should respond to those sounds.

6 Months old: Start reading books to them, and describing things such as your surroundings. 

12 Months old: Speech will start to develop with simple words, keep naming peoples, places and things you see regularly to boost understanding.

24 Months old: At 2, a toddler is able to state short sentences and to answer some simple questions. Ask him or her to pint different objects or persons.

36 Months old: Ask your children to retell stories and encourage questions.





Sources

Childhood milestones. Pulsenotes. (n.d.). https://app.pulsenotes.com/specialities/paediatrics/notes/developmental-milestones

Help me grow mn. FWays to Encourage Communication and Language Development | Help Me Grow MN. (n.d.). https://helpmegrowmn.org/HMG/HelpfulRes/Articles/WaysEncourageComm/index.html

Language development: A teachers guide. RSS. (n.d.). https://www.structural-learning.com/post/language-development

Theories of language development - language - MCAT content. Jack Westin. (2020, July 23). https://jackwestin.com/resources/mcat-content/language/theories-of-language-development

Unlocking the stages of language development in early childhood. Physio Inq. (n.d.). https://www.physioinq.com.au/blog/unlocking-the-stages-of-language-development-in-early-childhood

YouTube. (2019, August 19). What is early literacy and why is it important?. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqO3wcsw8EM

YouTube. (2021, December 29). Piaget’s theory of Language Development (Kelly). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge3hrGGz0WA



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