Early Child Language Development

According to Wholefamily.com, language development involves the process of understanding, organizing and using words to communicate. The National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders asserts that children rapidly develop the foundations for language and speech during the first three years of their lives.

Significance

• Proper speech development allows children to participate in the world around them. Children need to be able to understand others and they need to be understood by others. Delays in speech development may warrant speech and/or language therapy by a trained therapist.

Types

• Speech development in early childhood include four main areas of development which include articulation, voice, receptive language and expressive language. Articulation refers to how clearly a child produces sounds used in speech. Voice refers to how a child's speech sounds. A child's voice may be too soft, too loud, too fast or too slow
  Receptive language involves understanding what others say. Children develop receptive language well before expressive language. Expressive language involves using verbal and nonverbal language such as gestures to express thoughts.

Early Time Frame

• By the age of one-year, most children should recognize their name and understand the meanings of significant words such as mommy and daddy and at least three other words. Also, children at this age should used gestures such as pointing. By the age of two, most children should be able understand the names of several items such as toys, food items, clothing items and animals. They should also be able to follow easy one-step requests. In addition, they should speak at least 15 different words and they should verbalize two-word phrases. By age 3, children should recognize five different body parts, answer yes and no questions, understand concepts such as little and big, speak at least 200 different words, understand everything said to them in the home environment, understand and use some pronouns and verbalize sentences with at least three words.

Pre-school Time Frame

• Children aged from 3 to 4 should know their first and last names, follow two-step directions, answer questions about themselves, tell what objects are used for, use four-word sentences, ask who and why questions and sequence two events. Children aged 4 to 5 should follow three-step directions, retell familiar stories, use compound sentences, identify five different emotions, solve simple riddles and analogies, answer basic questions and "what if" questions. Also, they should be able to articulate the following sounds: m, b, n, t, p, d, k, g, w, h, s and all vowel sounds.

Considerations

• Sometimes physical problems exist that interfere with speech development. Oral motor development refers to a child's ability to use the mouth properly for speech development. Typically, oral motor delays result in language delays. Speech and language therapy can address oral-motor delays with oral-motor exercises.