As a parent or guardian, helping your child to grow and develop is an important part of your role. From providing them with healthy foods to keeping them warm, it’s important not to overlook your child’s psychological and cognitive development too. In this guide from Blue Nest Montessori School, you can discover everything you need to know about speech and language development in early childhood and how you can encourage your child to grow.
The Importance of Speech and Language Development
The value of speech and language development cannot be overlooked, as it has many other advantages and benefits. In this section, you can discover how speech and language development is valuable to a young child.
Building Communication Skills
Communication skills are incredibly important to a person, regardless of what age they are. The ability to let others know when something is wrong and to ask for something when it's needed can help keep a child happy and healthy. By being able to communicate that something is wrong or is upsetting a child, a child may also be less likely to become frustrated.
Cognitive Development
Speech and language development is an important stepping stone toward the other key developments. Providing your children with language skills can help to develop their thinking skills, including the ability to give attention to tasks, to reason, and to think logically and solve problems.
Emotional Regulation
Regulating emotions can be challenging for children, which is why speech and language skills can help. Emotions can be difficult to control when you’re unable to communicate how you’re feeling, so the ability for a child to convey you’re sad or uncomfortable can help to resolve bad feelings quicker.
By using speech and language, a child can label their feelings, helping those around them to understand more easily. Similarly, understanding the labels used for emotions can help to grow empathy levels.
Social Interaction
Making friends is important for a person of any age, which includes young children. Through language development in early childhood, a child can learn how to communicate politely with others and therefore make friends. These skills can also be used for bonding with family members, as spending quality time with one another can help them to grow.
Academic Preparation
Learning to speak and communicate can help prepare a child for starting school. By being able to communicate when they cannot understand something, it’s more likely that they will get the assistance they need. Similarly, having a grasp of language can help them learn to read more easily.
Developmental Milestones and Expectations
As with any form of growth, finding out the major milestones can give you a realistic idea of how your child should be progressing. While these milestones and expectations can help to give you an idea of how your child is developing, each child will develop in their own way. If you’re concerned about your child’s development, you should get in touch with your child’s GP surgery.
9-18 Months
A child's understanding of particular words is one of the most significant things that can evidence learning. The words they are likely to understand are those relevant to them, including certain foods and the names of their parents.
A child is likely to begin stringing sounds together that resemble other words, helping them to practise before attempting to use certain words properly. Speaking may also be combined with a gesture, such as pointing, used to help communicate their needs. As their speaking develops, they may begin to use certain words more consistently about a specific person, animal or object.
12 Months Onwards
At this age, a child will be likely to understand more about their daily routine. It’s likely for them to react in anticipation of an important part of the day, whether it’s time to eat or leave the home. A child may also begin to understand certain questions you ask of them around this age.
Speaking, they will be likely to now comfortably say three words that are important to them and that they routinely use. At this stage, you can encourage your child to associate activities with certain phrases by narrating certain tasks, such as putting on shoes.
18 Months Onwards
Your child may now be able to use between 10 and 20 words, which can include places, people and activities. This will typically include ‘yes’ and ‘no’, helping them to make decisions. A child is more likely to understand some actions too, such as a request to sit down. They may also be able to start using two words together properly.
Language Acquisition Theories
How we come to use speech and language isn’t necessarily agreed on by everyone. To help you understand the ways children learn, this section covers some of the key theories about language acquisition for children.
Interactionist
Arguing that language exists for communication, the interactionist theory is a popular theory when it comes to children’s language acquisition. This is the theory that a child’s knowledge and understanding of the world is based on previous interactions they have had, from conversations to games, and that that is the sole way language can be learnt.
Behaviourist Theory
Behaviourist theory is the theory that external reactions and actions can alter behaviour. The American psychologist and behaviourist Burrhus Frederic Skinner believed that behaviour is influenced by its consequences, meaning when an action is reacted to positively, it’s likely to be repeated. So, if a child uses the right words to request something, when that thing is awarded, they will be likely to use those words again.
Innateness
This theory is based on the belief that language is somehow innate to our being. Noam Chomsky, who is known for his work in linguistics, believes that as babies are born into social environments, they will have an innate ability to learn languages.
Activities That Can Help Children Develop
To prompt your child’s development, it’s important to help them to engage in beneficial activities. Below, you can discover some activities to help your children develop their speech and language skills.
Narrating Play
When playing with your child, it can be helpful to narrate what is happening to help your child associate certain objects or movements with language. Using words to describe a scenario can help your child to understand what different words mean, and how to use them themselves.
Role-Playing
Practising scenarios can help a child learn how to use their language and speech skills to interact with one another. Role-playing can also help to make a situation less intimidating, such as doctor appointments or going to the shop.
Reading Books
One great way to help your child to engage with speech and language is to use books. Books can be visually engaging and exciting to listen to, making them highly interactive ways to learn more. Try books with engaging features, such as tactile pages to explore.
Drawing
Painting and drawing can be a great outlet for a child to express themselves. Drawing pictures of animals and other objects can be useful speech and language resources to help you identify whether your child can recognise something and use language to describe it.
Our Schools in Greater London and Beyond
If you’re looking for a school that can support your child in the development of their speech and language skills, search no further than Blue Nest Montessori School. With our early childhood daycare services in Borehamwood, Harrow and Pinner, there are plenty of reasons to choose us.
Please visit our website to learn more about us and our services at Blue Nest Montessori School. Our website also includes some helpful children’s learning resources, helping you to continue your child’s learning at home. Alternatively, for any further information or advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team.
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