REVIEWER IN COLLEGE

paola mae
 Comprehensive Language Development
Meaning
(adjective)com·pre·hen·sive - /ˌkämprəˈhensiv/

1. complete; including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something.

(noun)lan·guage - /ˈlaNGɡwij/
1. the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a
structured and conventional way.
2. a system of communication used by a particular country or community.

de·vel·op·ment - /dəˈveləpmənt/

1. the process of developing or being developed.

"she traces the development of the novel"

synonyms: evolution, growth, maturing, expansion,

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Speech and Language At Home: Language Development
by Angela De Luca Placencia

Communication and language skills are very important to a child’s overall development skills. Good
communication and language skills allow children to engage in better education and socialization
throughout their life. Communication refers to both speech, the verbal means of communication, and
language, the way in which we express our thoughts and feelings to others. It is important for parents to
understand and foster communication and language development in their children at a young age, as these
skills will be used everyday for their entire lives!

General Activities for Overall Language Development

For children, language development is most important during the first three years of their life. This is a great
time to expose children to words, books, and language as often as possible. Given how much we communicate
on a daily basis, parents can play a huge role in facilitating language development! Below are several activities
that parents can utilize at home or on the go to help develop their children’s language skills:

1. Talk to your child all day long:

Children hear countless sounds and words every day- music, television, grocery shopping,
etc. It is part of a parent’s job to teach new vocabulary words and model correct use of
language for your children. You can talk about the schedule for the day, what they are
eating, what they are wearing, or what they are doing throughout the day. Asking
questions, narrating what you are doing, and talking about things that already happened
are also ideas to keep the communication interactive for you and your child. Keeping the
 conversation related to your child in some manner will allow for more interest in language
for your child!

2. Name everything:
It is essential to encourage vocabulary development in children as vocabulary directly
relates to other developing language skills. Learning new vocabulary skills will aid in the
development of language and literacy (reading and writing) skills that are needed to
succeed in school. Be sure to use the correct vocabulary word when speaking to your
children. Instead of using vague words such as “where is it?” when asking about a toy, use
the correct word and ask questions like “where is the car?”. This will instill the idea that,
when communicating, we need to use clear and specific language. As your child begins to
master words and names, you can encourage them to expand on the words and add more
information. An example of this expansion would be adding descriptors to the word “car”
to make it the “big red car”. This will continue developing vocabulary skills as well as lay
the groundwork for higher level skills such as describing items.

3. Read, read, read:

Reading books together with your child on a regular basis is a MUST! Reading and talking
about the pictures in the books helps children develop the structure and rhythm of
language while also learning new words and sounds. While reading books, make sure to
not only read the words on the pages, but also talk about the pictures, ask questions about
the book, and make connections between the book and your life. Reading books or stories
together regularly will motivate your child to build habits that will help them succeed in
the future. Encourage your child to read outside the home at places such as the library or
in the waiting room of an doctor’s office, as well as with their siblings and friends in order
for them to learn the importance of reading!

4. Tell stories together:

Storytelling is a great activity that can be done anywhere, anytime! You and your child can
tell stories at home, about pictures, in the car, at the store, or even in preparation for an
event. It is important for you to tell your child stories, but also have your child tell you
stories about something they have made up or something they have experienced. Telling
stories will allow for children to practice the language skills they have learned in a more
unstructured way.

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Language Development

Language is the principal tool for establishing and maintaining relationships with adults and other children.
Children’s desire to communicate their thoughts, ideas, needs and feelings with others motivates them to
 develop language. Learning to understand and use words is complex. Language development begins at
birth, but many children do not receive the ongoing experiences that support this learning. Strong language
skills are essential for children’s success in school and life. Oral language, including grammar, the ability
to define words, and listening comprehension, helps provide the foundation and is an ongoing support for
literacy. Teachers are very important in helping children develop a strong foundation in language. The
opportunities children have for sociodramatic play and the level of that play affects children’s language
development. Higher levels of play allow for increased language and more complex language structures.
Teaching Strategies GOLD, Teaching Strategies. 2010

Language development objectives

1. Listens to and understands increasingly complex language

2. Uses language to express thoughts and needs

3. Uses appropriate conversational and other communication skills

Typical language development

Language skills change rapidly in infants, toddlers and children. It can be difficult to know what to expect, and in
what order. These resources and websites provide you with milestones of normal language development.

 The Speech Language Pathologists from Central Rivers AEA have compiled a comprehensive “ages and stages” list for language
development, including some activities to facilitate typical development.

 PBS: The Whole Child looks at language and communication development.

 “Get Ready to Read” offers suggestions for the most important milestones and what to do when you have concerns about your
child’s language development.

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Language development and literacy

How important is it?

Learning to talk is one of the most visible and important achievements of early childhood. New language tools mean
new opportunities for social understanding, for learning about the world, for sharing experience, pleasures and needs.
Then, in the first three years of school, children take another big step in language development as they learn to read.
Although these two domains are distinct, they are also related. Early-language skills have been linked to later successful
reading. As well, pre-literacy and literacy activities can help further children’s language competencies in both the
preschool years and later schooling.

Children with poor listening and speaking skills are referred to as having language impairment. An estimated 8 to 12%
of preschool children and 12% of children entering school in Canada and the U.S. have some form of language
impairment. Studies also show that 25 to 90% of children with language impairment experience reading disorder, usually
defined as poor reading achievement occurring after sufficient opportunity to learn to read. Reading disorder among
school-aged children is estimated to be between 10 and 18%.
When children have difficulty understanding others and expressing themselves, it is not surprising that psychosocial and
emotional adjustment problems ensue. Children with delayed or disordered language are therefore at increased risk for
social, emotional and behavioural problems. As well, research shows that most children who have poor reading skills at
the end of Grade One will continue to experience difficulties reading later on.

What do we know?

While the nature of the mental activity that underlies language learning is widely debated, there is considerable agreement
that the course of language development is influenced by determining factors in at least five fields: social, perceptual,
cognitive processing, conceptual and linguistic. As well, although individual differences among children do exist,
language development has predictable sequences. Most children begin speaking during their second year, and by 21
months are likely to know about 100 words and are able to combine them in short phrases. By age of four to six, most
children are speaking in grammatically complete and fully intelligible sentences. Their first sentences are made of content
words and are often missing grammatical function words (e.g., articles and prepositions) and word endings (e.g., plurals
and tense markers). Although there is a predictable sequence, the rate of language development among children varies
substantially primarily due to the complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors.

The amount and kind of language stimulation at home and family stresses such as child abuse contribute to children’s
language development. As well, the quality of interaction between a caregiver and a child – such as when playing word
games or reading books – plays an important role in literacy outcomes. Children’s skills progress more quickly and
readily in instructional interactions characterized by sensitive, responsive and non-controlling adult input. Other aspects
of parental behaviours, such as frequent and regular participation to learning activities and the provision of age-
appropriate learning materials, favour the child’s literacy outcomes. In addition, parents with more resources (e.g.,
education, income) are more likely to provide positive learning experiences for their young child. Although child
characteristics (e.g, birth order) also play a key role in their own learning experiences with firstborn children having in
average a larger vocabulary than their later-born siblings.

Children with limited expressive vocabulary (less than 40-50 words) and who use no word combinations at the age of
24 months are identified as having slow expressive language development (SELD). These children are at higher risk for
language impairment persisting into late preschool to elementary school years. In addition, children with impaired
language development are at greater risk for later academic difficulties, learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, social
difficulties, and behaviour problems. The most common behavioural problem is Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); studies
also show high rates of internalizing problems such as shyness and anxiety. Children with speech impairments are more
likely to have difficulty with phonological processing, phonological learning and literacy.

Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify, compare and manipulate the smallest units of spoken words,
phonemes. During the first year, children are more sensitive to phonemes in their native language and are less sensitive
to acoustic differences not relevant to their language. At the age of 7.5 months, the increased children’s brain response
to their native language contrasts predicts later language skills. Phonemic awareness and vocabulary skills are,
respectively, the best predictors of reading and reading comprehension. Some children are sufficiently competent in
listening and talking, but have poor phonological processing abilities. At school entry, these children may be viewed as
being at risk for reading disorder. There is a markedly disproportionate representation of children who are poor and who
belong to ethnic or racial minorities among those who struggle with reading.

Finally, bilingual children’s language development and age onset for word combinations are comparable to monolingual
children.

What can be done?

Early language interventions during infancy or the preschool years can have a significant impact on child
outcomes. There are at least four general contexts in which language intervention can be provided: individual,
small group, classroom and caregiver training. Four language-teaching strategies have been demonstrated to
improve children’s language abilities. These are: prelinguistic milieu teaching, to help children make the
transition from pre-intentional to intentional communication; milieu teaching, which consists of specific
techniques embedded within a child’s ongoing activities and interactions; responsive interaction, which involves
teaching caregivers to be highly responsive to the child’s communication attempts; and direct teaching,
characterized by prompting, reinforcing and giving immediate feedback on grammar or vocabulary within highly
structured sessions. In all cases, it is important to set the stage for language learning by creating opportunities for
communication, following the child’s lead, and building and establishing social routines.

In parent-administered language interventions, parents are trained by speech-language pathologists to become

the primary intervention agents, learning how to facilitate their children’s language development in daily,
naturalistic contexts. (This differs from parent involvement, in which children receive direct attention from the
speech-language pathologist and parents play a secondary but supportive role.) Parent-administered
interventions have yielded short-term developmental progress in communication and language skills in a wide
range of preschool-aged children with delayed or disordered language. However, little is known about the long-
term effects of this cost-effective intervention model.

High-intensity training is an intervention strategy that aims to increase the attention of children diagnosed with
specific language impairment. Considering that attention deficit is associated with language impairment in young
children, and especially boys, high-intensity training involving the parents and the child should be encouraged.
Based on recent studies, this intervention has been found to improve both children’s language proficiency and
attention skills.

Social-policy initiatives should focus on early identification with a speech pathologist, comprehensive assessments
and providing highly responsive environments early on. As well, appropriate training and continuing education
should be provided to everyone who works with children and their families, such as speech-language pathologists,
early interventionists, early childhood educators and child-care providers. Yet there are still several barriers to
overcome. These include developing more sensitive screening measures to identify the various kinds of
impairments, achieving consensus on case definition, and enhancing parent recognition of children’s potential
problems and the need to seek help.