Question
What language skills develop in infants and toddlers?
Answer
Receptive Language
Language develops first with receptive language, which begins at birth as children listen to and understand what they hear rather than speak. If you give directions to an 18-month-old or two-year-old such as will you go and get the red truck? They'll get the red truck and come back because they've understood. They understand because they have receptive language. You might say smile for the picture and they know how to smile and have made that connection. Children learn receptive language early and quickly because adults are speaking with them, and they listen to these sounds. They look at your facial expressions as you say words and are watching your mouth. That's all part of that learning about receptive language. These sounds become the foundation for expressive language.
Expressive Language
Expressive language is the use of any form of communication to express our needs. It begins with early vocalization and moves on later to simple words followed by 1-3 word sentences. Crying is a form of expressing themselves and is a newborn's first means of communication. Cooing, babbling, and developing sounds such as ba ba, da da, and ma ma are other early vocalizations. Imitation and reciprocity with parents and caregivers are also part of expressive language. With newborns as well as through the first year we want to be sure and speak slowly and intentionally so that they can watch our mouth, watch our lips, and clearly hear the sounds that we're making.
Gestures
Gestures are another part of communication. Before babies can speak, they point. Symbolic gestures emerge around the same time as babies say their first words and function much like words. Examples include shaking their head yes or no. Learning gestures helps babies learn to talk and early gestures are a good predictor of later vocabulary size.
Parentese or Motherese
Often called baby talk, parentese or motherese is a type of speech where an adult talks to a child in an exaggerated and repetitive way. It's often high and low pitch where you modulate your voice up and down. That helps children make connections in their brains about tone or tonality. Regardless of the language children are hearing, if they don't hear the high and low tones and how your voice resonates back and forth, the brain prunes those off. Motherese is a natural way for children to hear those sounds and learn language and is seen universally around the world.
Birth to One Year
From birth to one year of life infants' receptive language grows. Infants react to being spoken to from birth. They watch and respond to facial expressions and smile and recognize familiar faces. Smile, giggle, laugh, and imitate what the children are saying. In the first year, they will begin to imitate some speech sounds and will say vowels (ee, I, ah, oo, u). One of the first things that little ones usually say is mama or dada and it becomes meaningful rather than just random sounds by the end of the first year. As children learn the sounds, it's important to help them learn to put sounds together. Near the end of the first year, they usually have one to three words in their expressive vocabulary.
One to Two Years
Language development from one to two years includes knowing body parts when asked. One way to help children achieve this is to sing songs such as "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" to help them hear the words and make the connection with their bodies. They can also point to pictures in books when asked. It's helpful to have picture books that teach words, especially those connected to objects children see regularly, such as a car, truck, dog, cat, or bird.
Help children vocalize their demands. A lot of people ask me if they should correct children. I think when children are first learning to express themselves through language we want to encourage that. My suggestion is not to correct them, but to restate what they have said in another way. Modeling with your language is another way for children to hear the correct way to say things. Some people talk really fast and I encourage them to slow down a little so children can process what they hear easier.
During this time, children are also beginning to say "no" meaningfully, adding more words to their vocabulary, and using simple words and descriptions, such as big, little, and pretty. Their language is becoming more complex and sophisticated as they near the end of the second year. Children can also typically follow simple directions and show an effort to help.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Exploring Physical and Language Development of Infants and Toddlers, presented by Jean Barbre, EdD.
