EDU 280
Language
Development:
General Development
and Infancy
What are speech and language?
 Speech
and language are tools that
humans use to communicate or share
thoughts, ideas, and emotions.
 Language
is the set of rules, shared
by the individuals who are
communicating, that allows them to
exchange those thoughts, ideas, or
emotions.
What are speech and language?
 Speech
is talking, one way that a
language can be expressed.
 Language
may also be expressed
through writing, signing, or even
gestures in the case of people who
have neurological disorders and may
depend upon eye blinks or mouth
movements to communicate.
Rules of Language
While there are many languages in the world, each
includes its own set of rules for:
 phonology (phonemes or speech sounds or, in the
case of signed language, handshapes),
 morphology (word formation),
 syntax (sentence formation),
 semantics (word and sentence meaning),
 prosody (intonation and rhythm of speech), and
 pragmatics (effective use of language).
Theories of Language Development
 Learning
theory (Behaviorist)
 B.F. Skinner
 views
language acquisition as a result of
classical conditioning.
 The
child imitates what he hears and is
rewarded when he makes a sound that
sounds to others like a real word.
Theories of Language Development
 The
structural-innatist theory.
 Noam Chomsky
 It
is felt there is a human biological need to
develop rule systems for language.
 The
structural-innatists believe in a built-in
language device that helps humans
acquire language.
Theories of Language Development
Cognitive -Transactional Theory
 Piaget
 Vygotsky
 Language acquisition develops from basic social
and emotional drives.
 Language is learned as a means of relating to
people. Others provide social and psychological
supports that enable the child to be an effective
communicator.
 Vygotsky suggested that children’s meaningful
social exchanges prepare them for uniting
thought and speech into “verbal thought.”

Theories of Language Development
 Maturational-Normative
 Arnold
Theory
Gesell
 Children are primarily the product of
genetic inheritance, and environmental
influences are secondary.
 Children are seen as moving from one
predictable stage to another with
“readiness” as the precursor to of
learning.
Theories of Language Development
 The
interactionist position is that there
is an interchange between biological
and environmental factors.
Many factors affect the rate at
which a child develops language

Sometimes language development slows
down while a child is learning other skills,
such as standing or walking.

The amount and kind of language the child
hears may also affect the rate of language
development.

The rate of language development may also
be affected by how people respond to the
child.
How do speech and language
normally develop?
 The
most intensive period of speech and
language development for humans is
during the first three years of life, a period
when the brain is developing and
maturing.
 These
skills appear to develop best in a
world that is rich with sounds, sights, and
consistent exposure to the speech and
language of others.
How do speech and language
normally develop?
 "critical
periods”
 the
developing brain is best able to
absorb a language, any language,
during this period.
 The
ability to learn a language will be
more difficult, and perhaps less
efficient or effective, if these critical
periods are allowed to pass without
early exposure to a language
How do speech and language
normally develop?

The beginning signs of communication

The newborn also begins to recognize
important sounds in his or her environment.

As they grow, infants begin to sort out the
speech sounds (phonemes) or building
blocks that compose the words of their
language.

Research has shown that by six months of
age, most children recognize the basic
sounds of their native language.
How do speech and language
normally develop?
As the speech mechanism (jaw, lips, and
tongue) and voice mature, an infant is able to
make controlled sound.
 Cooing



Babbling


a quiet, pleasant, repetitive vocalization.
repetitive syllables such as "ba, ba, ba" or "da, da,
da."
Jargon

has the tone and cadence of human speech but does
not contain real words.
How do speech and language
normally develop?
 By
the end of their first year, most
children have mastered the ability to say
a few simple words.
 Children
are most likely unaware of the
meaning of their first words, but soon
learn the power of those words as
others respond to them.
Stages of Communication and
Language Development
 The
foundations of language the child
will soon master and use has its base in
the words and gestures within
interactions with parents.
 The
infant has the ability to listen and
gradually understand the sounds,
meaning and rule system inherent in
language.
Stages of Communication and
Language Development
Within the first year the infant both understands words and
phrases and begins to speak his first word.
 Crying
 Sounds
 Smiling and laughing
 Syllables
 Babbling
 Infant signaling
 Understanding
 Receptive language
 Simple words
 Double syllables
 Nouns
 Objects
 Holophrases
Crying

From birth until about 4 months of age, this
communication consists mainly of reflexive crying to
express feelings (Fitzpatrick, 2002).

Continue speaking with the baby: mirroring sounds
and early words, responding to her communication,
and answering her cries

The best strategy at this level is understanding her
cries and expressing the desired response.

Showing interest and attending to the baby’s needs
shows that the communication is working and builds
the attachment and trust between child and
caregiver.
Cooing

Repetition of vowel sounds.

Seems to be related to a child’s comfort and
satisfaction.

Sounds are relaxed, low pitched, and gurgling
vowel sounds, made in an open mouth way.
Babbling
Early random sound making at the age of
around 4 to 6 months
 Before speaking words, babies practice the
sounds, intonations and rhythms of language
(Fitzpatrick, 2002).
 Infants the world over babble sounds they have
not heard and will not use in their native
language.
 Peak is 9-12 months

Signaling

During the latter part of the first year alert
caregivers will notice hand and body positions
that suggest the child is attempting
communication.

As time progresses, more and more infant body
signaling takes place.

Signals are used over and over and a type of
sign language communication emerges.
Some common gestures of babyhood
GESTURE
POSSIBLE MEANING
allows food to run out of mouth
satisfied or not hungry
pouts
displeased
pushes nipple from mouth with tongue
satisfied or not hungry
pushes object away
does not want it
reaches out for object
wants to have it handed to him
reaches out to person
wants to be picked up
smacks lips or ejects tongue
hungry
smiles and holds out arms
wants to be picked up
sneezes excessively
wet and cold
squirms and trembles
cold
squirms, wiggles, and cries during dressing
or bathing
resents restriction on activities
turns head from nipple
satisfied or not hungry
Sign Language

All babies use their hands to communicate before
they can speak

Research shows that babies can learn to
communicate using sign language as early as ten
months old

You can begin signing with a baby at any time and
the baby is likely to show a great deal of interest in
your hand movements from a very young age.

The motor skills necessary for babies to sign back to
you mature at around 10 months of age.
Signing with your baby is
a bridge to speech.

You will want to maintain a strong connection
between the sign and the word so that once the
baby learns to speak she will have already
learned that signs and words are
interchangeable.

You will also want to give the baby the
opportunity to sign or speak a given word as she
grows older and is ready to speak
Understanding
 Most
babies get some idea of the
meaning of a few words at about 6-9
mos.
 Language
at this stage is passive for he
or she primarily receives (or is
receptive)
This infant has learned to respond to
the adult's pointing gestures.
First words
 Around
 Range
12 months
is 9-16m
 Generally
proper names or nouns—
foods, animals, people, toys
An attuned adult:





nurtures infant
curiosity.
uses words and
gestures in
communication.
builds a sign language
relationship with
infants.
tries to judge the
intensity of infants'
emotions.
offers a choice of child
actions and explorations
within safe limits.





responds to and
promotes reciprocal
communication.
pairs words with actions
and objects.
observes the direction
of infants' gazes for
clues to infants'
moment to moment
interests.
continues to be at eye
level when possible.
expects and recognizes
invented words.
An attuned adult:



encourages first word
use by repeating word
back to child and
connecting the child's
word to objects or
actions as appropriate.
guesses frequently
about a child's meaning
in communication.
works toward a child's
success at using words
to fulfill his desires,
needs, and interests.
Holophrastic Stage
 About
one year of age
 One
word sentences
 One
word can have many meanings