Children's+development

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=Nurturing Language Development = By Roxanna Marvin and Susan Hakoda //Children learn language through interactions within their environment and with the adults who care for them. Most children acquire appropriate language skills with little or no direct instruction, however, adults can nurture development by understanding the process of language acquisition and providing children with a language-rich environment. Research demonstrates that children who experience more verbal communication and responsive teacher involvement exhibit higher levels of language development.//

From the moment of birth, children are natural communicators. A cry can say "I'm hungry" or "I want to be held." Smiles and coos can indicate contentment. Communication is the process whereby information is exchanged during social interactions (the child cries and the adult picks her up). Children communicate in order to:  have their needs satisfied (make requests/demands)  label objects, events, people  get attention  make protests  greet others  ask questions/give answers  tell about their experiences (describe events, objects, actions)  interact socially (form relationships, resolve differences)

When we talk about communication, we typically think of language, both spoken and written. However, we communicate in a variety of ways: through body language, gestures, eye gaze, facial expressions, braille, the use of pictures, objects and visuals and a variety of other methods. Speech is the form of the English language that is spoken (expressive) and heard (receptive). Through interacting with the environment, learning language is a natural process. According to Chomsky, children learn language by mastering grammar, a system of complex linguistic rules and procedures (Crain, 1980). Most children master these rules by the age of six without formal instruction, however, some children do not develop these skills at the expected age.

Thoughts on Nurturing Language Development
**All children can and do communicate.** Children have an innate ability to learn the language that is used in their environment. Although adults are the chief source of language modeling for the child, interactions among peers should be encouraged. Children communicate most readily in natural environments. A comfortable, familiar environment promotes the best communication opportunities. Treat children, even at an early age, as if they were conversationalists. Many important skills are acquired long before the advent of speech (taking turns, maintaining eye contact, facial expressions). Every child's language or dialect is worthy of respect as a valid system of communication. It reflects the values and experiences of the child's family, culture and community. <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">In order to acquire language, children need to be exposed to environments rich with language. Parents and caregivers model language best during natural events in the child's day. Snack time and meal time are ideal opportunities to have discussions about the child's day or interests. During play time, caregivers have many opportunities to sit at the child's level and model language by: <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> describing the objects the child is playing with ("The dinosaur is under the sand.") <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> describing what the child is doing ("You're putting the dress on the doll.") <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> telling what the adult is doing or thinking ("I'm stacking the blocks.") <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> expanding on what the child says (The child says, "Truck." The adult says, "You have a red truck.") <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> asking open-ended questions ("What would happen if....") <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> limiting the number of direct questions ("What color is the ball?" ) <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Talk to children about events and things that are real, relevant and of interest to them. When a child speaks, listen with interest, attention and patience. Parents and caregivers are an important part of building children's communication skills.

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">The following narrative provides an overview of normal expressive communication/language development for children birth through age five. Also included are recommended adult behaviors and a few activities designed to facilitate language development. Keep in mind that all children develop language at their own pace, so these should be used as general guidelines.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Characteristics of Language/Communication - Infants 0-1:
<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">At this age, communication consists mainly of smiles, coos, babbles, and cries. Infants will imitate facial expressions, are able to understand the names of familiar people and objects, and enjoy listening to conversations. **To support development, adults in the child's environment need to:**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">Have frequent interactions with the child
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">establish eye contact
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">mimic the child's noises
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">be animated
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">use facial expressions
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">use a variety of different sounds (high and low)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">talk about things happening in the environment
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">name people and objects
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">and show the child that you #understand# his #message# by carrying through on #requests# (e.g.: #Oh, you want the ducky. Here it is! Isn't he a fine ducky?!#).

<span style="color: maroon; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Activities to enhance development:

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">//respond to the child,// play turn-taking games mimicking the sounds the child makes
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">//engage the child in turn-taking// play with a favorite toy, making the appropriate noises (e.g., airplane sounds if the toy is an airplane).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">//sing simple songs// with the child which include names of familiar people or objects or use sound words )pop!, bzz, animal sounds).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Characteristics of Language/ Communication - Toddlers 1-3:
<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Children at this age are growing very rapidly in their ability to communicate wants, needs, and thoughts. They are learning to use sentences with a vocabulary that can reach up to 200 words, including the pronouns me, you, and I.

They are able to: <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">**To support development, adults in the child's environment need to:**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">enjoy songs and fingerplays
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">listen to stories for a short while
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">remember the names of objects
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">talk about actions as they are performed
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">define the use of many household items
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">and say **no**.

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Have frequent interactions with the child at play/work in indoor and outdoor settings. Adults interacting with children can:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">describe objects or actions as they happen //( "You're pouring." "She's painting dots on her paper. ")//
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">expand on statements made by the child (Child says "I'm building." Adult says, "Yes, I see you building. It's a tall building.")
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">ask the child open-ended questions ("Tell me about....." "What if....").
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">allow the child time to share her thoughts, actions, ideas.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">allow the child to make mistakes in articulation and grammar.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;">show your interest in the child by establishing eye contact during interaction.

<span style="color: maroon; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Activities to enhance development:
<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">A developmentally appropriate classroom environment offers the adult many opportunities to engage in conversations with children. Children's activities in the various centers of the classroom including creating, building, pouring, writing, reading and pretending offer the teacher many "teachable moments" in which to integrate learning of concepts, vocabulary, and appropriate language for social problem solving. Remember that the outdoor environment is also a place where those "teachable moments" can present themselves. Providing commentary as children climb, slide, run, jump, swing, etc., talking about events happening around the play area, sandbox, and purposeful planning of activities to enhance the regular, permanent play structures all offer the child exposure to language and opportunities to engage in conversation. More specific activity ideas include: <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> songs which contain repetitive lines (//A Ram Sam Sam//), are call/response (//"Did You Feed My Cow?"//), allow the children to originate words (//Old MacDonald//), and especially popular, those which are about the children themselves (songs about the child's clothing, include their name, or names of their loved ones). <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica; font-size: small;"> books can be read to children which offer similar opportunities for involvement through repetitive lines (Brown Bear, Brown Bear), chanting rhythms (Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, chanting "milk in the batter, milk in the batter"), and wordless books are wonderful for language development. Adults can involve the children in story-telling, having children describe what they see in the pictures.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Characteristics of Language/Communication - Preschoolers 3-5:
<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Children at this age experience leaps of growth in language ability. Adults do serve as language models, but it is the child's own desire to construct meaning and to communicate, along with their neurological readiness, which creates this growth spurt. The child's vocabulary ranges from 2,000-4,000 words at age three to 5,000-8,000 words at age five. Their use of sentences grows from a length of three to four words to more complex and advanced sentence structures. At three, they enjoy simple songs and fingerplays and are learning the words to songs that have much repetition. By age five, they are able to remember lines of simple poems, repeat full sentences, and know the words to many songs. Children still enjoy stories at this age, and are able to retell the stories with a four or five-step sequence. <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">**To support development, adults in the child's environment need to:** //In addition to the methods listed in the "Toddler" section,// adults need to provide opportunities for children to talk, listen carefully to the child, and offer expansions of their sentences to enhance meaning. Many "errors" the child makes will be self-corrected at a later stage as the child's model is revised through better auditory perception, memory capacity, and experience. Therefore, adults need to understand which aspects of children's speech do not need correcting because they are developmental (e.g., inappropriate use of plurals or past tense words such as "mouses" for "mice" or "maked" for "made") and which aspects may need enriching through learning experiences (e.g., increasing vocabulary and use of spatial relations concept words such as "on, beside, down, over"). <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">There is consistent evidence that how teachers and caregivers interact with chidren matters to their development. "Teachers who are sensitive to children's needs and who engage, encourage, and verbally communicate with them appear to be nurturing more optimal cognitive, language, and social-emotional development" (Kontos & Wilcox-Herzog).

<span style="color: maroon; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">References
<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. Eds. (1997). <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">__Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs.__ (Rev. ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Canizares, S. (1995, October). <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">__Ages and stages: Children's paths to literacy.__ Scholastic Early Childhood Today, 10-2, 38.

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Crain, W. (1980). <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">__Chomsky's theory of language development. In Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications.__ (pp. 299-316). Englewood Cliffs, NJ., Prentice Hall.

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Genishi, C. (1988). <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">__Young children's oral language development__ Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. (ERIC Document number PS-4-1988). Also available: http://ericps.crc.uiuc.edu.

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Kontos, S. & Wilcox-Herzog, A. (1997, January).<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;"> __Teacher's Intervention with Children.__ Young Children, 52-2.

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Rosetti, L.M. (1997, February). <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">__Early Childhood Intervention: Understanding and Promoting a Child's Communications Development.__ Exceptional Parent. Available World Wide Web: http://familyeducation.com

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Smith, C.<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">__How can parents model good listening skills?.__ (1997, May 27) Access Eric. Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. Available World Wide Web: http://ericps.crc.uiuc.edu

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica;">For more information, please contact: <span style="color: #333399; font-family: Arial,helvetica;">Gary Glasenapp