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OBJECTIVES

Discuss

Discuss what happens during the receptive language period and during the expressive language period.

Analyze

Analyze what language allows children to do, and how it affects thought and cognition.

Describe

Describe how brain growth influences language development.

Compare and contrast

Compare and contrast guidelines for fostering language development and early literacy development.

Describe

Describe bilingualism and how it influences language development.

Explore

Explore important attitudes to keep in mind when working with parents and families of children with special needs.

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LANGUAGE

Systematic arrangement of arbitrary symbols that has generalized meaning. Sounds, symbols and interactions that are tied to the way we think about and understand the world.

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FACTS ABOUT LANGUAGE

Infants are born with the intent to communicate, but it doesn’t begin with language

Attachment fosters social interaction (back and forth exchanges between a caregiver and an infant) – critical component of language growth

Maturation is required in order for children to understand symbols and thus begin developing words

Piaget attested that object permanence must be developed before language development can begin.
Vygotsky stressed the sociocultural context of language development.

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THREE “I’S” OF LANGUAGE

Innate

Children must have certain cognitive skills and mental structures to develop language

Interact

Children must have social interactions and back & forth exchanges in order to begin language acquisition

Imitate

Foundation of children’s language development is based on imitation of things they are hearing in the environment around them

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2 TYPES OF LANGUAGE

Receptive

What the infant takes in and understands
Initially: respond to pitch and tone of voice, rather than the meaning of words
Later, they respond to the meaning behind the words
Advanced: they understand what is being said to them much earlier than expected, when they are spoken to meaningfully

Expressive

Expression/use of words to communicate
Infants begin to connect sounds with meaning based on an adult’s responsiveness
Fast mapping (18 months old)

Process in which a young child uses context cues to make a quick and reasonably accurate guess about the meaning of an unfamiliar word, thus acquiring language rapidly

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SUPPORTING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Children need to be part of real conversations that move forward
They do not need corrections or language lessons; language naturally develops as they progress through daily conversations with other individuals
If adults try to teach by repeating everything the child says, with corrections, it becomes a “merry go round” conversation that is meaningless for the child
As children use longer phrases to �communicate, they use language �as a tool not only for �communicating but also for thinking

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LANGUAGE = ?

Cognitive Skills

Reasoning

Ability to order experiences

Label experiences (symbolic realm)

Memories

Self-Regulation

Planning for own behavior

Move learning experiences from one situation to another

Focus and organize information

Coping with environmental demands and situations

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BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Genes and experiences (nature vs. nurture) work together for healthy brain growth

An infant may be physically capable of producing sound, but without nurturing interactions a language delay is likely

Language development is dependent on early neural connections (synapses) that occur through responsive interactions with others

Neuroplasticity: flexible and responsive brain

8 – 10 months old

Listen and respond more carefully to sound distinctions

Repeating sounds and learning language is embedded in meaningful, everyday experiences with real people

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TWO IMPORTANT FACTORS

Sensorimotor Systems are established in the first two years
Myelinization: Strengthening of the white/learning matter of the brain
Important to foster language development in the first two years because the greatest myelinization is happening and those pathways are strengthened to aid in progression of language skills

Attachments are formed in the first two years
Attachments are crucial to brain growth and functioning
Brain growth and functioning must be occurring in order to process the development of language skills
Good attachments = better language development

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PHONEMES

Smallest units of sound in a language: “pa” or “ma”

Auditory maps form

Neurons cluster around sound patterns

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DO2LEARN.COM

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FOSTERING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Engage young children in dialogue during daily caregiving and play times.
Describe what is happening as it occurs; use the labels that children need to learn.
Talk with young children and interact with them; slow down and encourage them to think about what they are saying.
Play games with sounds; tell stories and sing songs.
Provide young children with interesting experiences that can in turn provide conversation material; really listen to them.
Offer older toddlers new experiences to talk about that relate to their expanding world.
Share new and novel objects (for example, bits of science and nature) to engage children’s interest and to encourage fun dialogue about those objects.
Use questions as important language tools and encourage children to ask questions when they need more information.
Make book experiences pleasurable for children; point out pictures, rhyming sounds, and fun characters.
Read, read, read.

7 Minutes

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KEY TERMS

Literacy: Ability to listen and speak and eventually read and write
Emergent literacy: Ongoing process of becoming literate
Meaningfulness of interactions: Meaningful experiences and interactions with others that are the key to communication and literacy skills
Intentionality: Caregivers purposefully support everyday experiences that lead to developmentally appropriate skills in early literacy
Observing & exploring: Children’s ways of understanding that written language and illustrations are used to communicate meaning, by reading a picture book

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FOSTERING LITERACY

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WARNING SIGNS

Lack of interest in social contact
Lack of response to the human voice or other sounds
Avoids eye contact, holds body rigidly

Birth to 6 Months

Stops babbling at 8-9 Months
Does not show interest in interacting with objects or caregivers in familiar environments
9-10 Months doesn’t follow direction of pointing
11-12 Months Does not give, show, point at objects

6 to 18 Months

At 24 months: uses 25 or fewer words
By 36 months: has limited vocabulary, uses short sentences, makes more grammatical errors than other same aged children, has difficulty talking about the future, misunderstands questions, misunderstood by others, difficulty having a conversation

16 to 36 Months

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SMALL GROUP LITERACY ACTIVITY

Use the handout provided

Find a children’s book read aloud on YouTube that is developmentally appropriate for infants/toddlers
Answer the questions on the handout

Create a web lesson plan for the book you have chosen

Write the name of the book in the middle of your web
Choose four of the domains below and create activities you can use to accompany the book you chose:

Social/Emotional, fine motor, gross motor, language, cognitive, sensory, nature, music and movement, creativity, dramatic play

Document your activities on your web with a brief description

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CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

As always, consider individual cultural differences and language practices
Be respectful of individual goals families have for their children, depending on cultures
Example: Shirley Brice Heath

Babies are made a part of everything that is going on by being held continually, but are rarely spoken to during the first year
They pick up language via immersion and not specifically by having it directed at them
Results in problems later on with language out of context (unable to sort by attributes, etc.)
Strengths later on in creative verbal play and use of imagery