Language Development

Language! 

A combination of diverse sounds and grammatical rules to form our way of communicating: language.  Language development can be intimidating when beginning to work with children but there are certain trends that professionals and parents can use as a guideline to appropriate developmental levels. 

Some of the typical language skills trends by age group: 

• Birth – 2 years old (Infancy): Infants tend to enjoy paying attention to people speaking around them and will begin babbling by 6-months old. At eight months they begin to understand basic words and should say their first word around 12 months old. 
• 2-6 years old (Early Childhood): Vocabulary blooms during early childhood. At the age of 2-3 children are learning at least 30-50 new words a month and later children begin to learn sometimes as much as 20 words a day. 
• 6-10 years old (Middle Childhood): Creativity and engaging in conversations marks middle childhood. Children by age 8 have concrete skills in pronunciation and have progressed in listening and cause-and-effect relationships 
• 10-14 years old (Early Adolescence): In early adolescence skills to understand beyond literal meanings and acquire a vocabulary including 50,000 words by the sixth degree. 
• 14-18 years old (Late Adolescence): Figurative language and the finer points of language are acquired by late adolescence. Vocabulary will grow to over 80,000 words by the end of High School. Late Adolescence also marks when the academic specific vocabulary is understood. 

Some ways to help engage with children while they are developing their language skills are:

• Have conversations and encourage vocalization. 
• Read storybooks 
• Ask questions
• Get Creative: make their own stories 

These developmental milestones are just guidelines and every child learns and develops at their own pace. If there seems to be a delay or concern of language development then speaking with a certified/medical professional is best. 

Popular language models: 

• Behaviorism (Verbal Behavior)
• Nativism
• Cognitive Process Theories 
• Sociocultural Theories 
• Functionalism 

Resources: McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2020). Child development and education. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.