EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT:
TODDLERS (chapter 7)
(12-24 mos.)
PowerPoint Outline**
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I. Development in Related Domains
II. First Words
III. Combining Words, Meaning, and Functions
IV. Development in Pragmatics
V. Phonological Processes
VI. Impact of Bilingualism
VII. Intervention for Toddlers Whose Language
is Delayed
We need to know typical language
milestones**
• For clinical purposes
• And for the PRAXIS!
Sample PRAXIS questions (not on our exam )
Another one (are we having fun yet?)
I. DEVELOPMENT IN RELATED DOMAINS
• A. Social Development
B. Motor Developments
Motor developments continued
A 2-year old can:**
• Walk on tiptoe
• Jump with both feet
• Engage in many self-help skills such as feeding
herself, opening doors, straightening a bed
C. Cognitive Developments
Cognitive developments continued
II. FIRST WORDS
• First word around 12 mos. of age;
• With production of first true
• By 24 months, expressive
vocabulary of about 200-300
words
To qualify as a true word:**
• It needs to occur with consistency in a given context
in apparent response to an identifiable stimulus
• It should be produced consistently in the presence of
the same person, object, or event
• It must bear some phonetic resemblance to a
conventional adult word; it can be an approximation
of a real adult word
In first words…**
• Front consonants /p, b, d, t, m, n/ are the
most common
• These children use simple syllable
patterns (e.g., CV, VC, CVCV)
Holophrases**
• Are early one-word utterances that convey a
holistic communicative intention
• For example, these utterances can request or
describe others’ actions (eat, ride, kiss)
• They can also ask questions (e.g., Why? What?
Who?)
Youtube
• Toddler Tries to Argue Like an Adult
• This child is 20 months old
There is rapid vocabulary growth:
If the child does not have a major language
growth spurt between 18-24 months of
age…
Therapy implication:
Remember that:
Classes of First Words:**
• Nouns are prominent; may be 60%
or more of a toddler’s lexicon
• Usually these nouns have been
frequently involved in the
• toddler’s interaction with others
• Mark McKibbin’s
nouns: (not on test)
Toddlers often use reflexive relations:**
• Reflexive relations are early words
that indicate the state of objects
These reflexive relations include:
Reflexive relations also include:**
• Existence: “this, that, what’s that?”
• Nonexistence: object not present
where it was anticipated to be (“Angel” if
dog not in doghouse)
3 types of relational words (that express relationships
among objects):
Children’s learning styles have an
impact:
Expressive learning style:**
• More peer contacts
• Attempt to produce
longer units
III. COMBINING WORDS, MEANING, AND
FUNCTIONS**
A. Introduction
Combining words is significant because it
indicates that toddlers:
Characteristics of true 2-word utterances:
B. Semantic-Syntactic Considerations**
• Semantic-syntactic rules emphasize that
meaning precedes and influences form
• The meaning most frequently expressed
by toddlers in two-word utterances
increasingly shifts to action
Semantic Relations (only the ones with an * are on the
test)**
• Agent + action*
• Action + object*
• Agent + object
Mommy kiss
Pet doggy
Cocoa bone (Cocoa is
associated with the
bone; this is not
possessive)
• Demonstrative + entity* That spoon
• Entity + locative*
Cereal bowl (the
cereal is in the bowl)
• Action + locative
Put car
• Possesser + possession* Mark toy
• Attribute + entity*
Yummy snack
IV. DEVELOPMENT IN PRAGMATICS**
• A. Introduction
Toddlers can stand, walk,
and run, the world opens
up!
Generally understand
cause-effect; behavior
influences caregivers’
actions
• Have object permanence
C. Developing Dialogue**
1. Presupposition—refers to speakers’ ability
to judge how much their listeners might
know about the subject being introduced and
to adapt their utterances accordingly.
Most conversations between toddlers and
caregivers are about the here-and-now, so
presuppositional skills are not much needed.
2. Turn-taking
• 3. Topic initiation —establishing a subject for
a conversation a speaker is about to begin.
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Hey, get this…
Guess what?
By the way…
Did you know that…
• Then, intro subject familiar to both people
• Next, add new info
For example,**
• Hey, get this. You know that PayLess Shoe
store on Greenback where we love to get
those $15.99 pairs of shoes?
• Well, they closed! Now the only one even
remotely nearby is at Arden Fair mall.
Conversations with toddlers…**
• Develop out of things that have just engaged
their attention.
• “Drive car!”
• Usually dialogue follows.
The social-cognitive basis for
communication…
This is why, in the special day
preschool classroom:**
• My absolute
#1 goal is
joint
attention
Joint attention for developing
sounds!**
V. PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES**
• Systematic procedures used by children to
make adult words pronounceable
• Children produce an approximation of an adult
model
VI.IMPACT OF BILINGUALISM**
• Higher maternal education is associated
with children having better English
vocabularies, faster English vocabulary
development, and greater knowledge of
English
Simultaneous acquisition…
VII. INTERVENTION WITH TODDLERS
WHOSE LANGUAGE IS DELAYED**
• We can use direct intervention, where the
child is seen by the speech pathologist
• We can also use indirect intervention, where
we train caregivers such as parents and
preschool teachers to stimulate children’s
language development
Several specific techniques:**
• Incidental teaching: adult carefully
observes the child, takes advantage of
spontaneous teachable moments
• E.g. , if the child points to a cat, adult can
say “Look, there is a gray cat. I wonder
why she looks so funny?”
• Ask open-ended and topic-continuing questions
rather than closed questions**
• Closed question: “Do you want milk?”
• Open-ended question: “What would you like to
drink?”
• When the child says something, respond in a topiccontinuing way
• Child: I saw Sesame Street
• Teacher: Oh, that’s nice. (NO)
• Teacher: Wow! What happened on Sesame Street?
(YES)
Use communicative temptations:
Suggestions for communicative
temptations:
Most of all…**
• Language develops optimally when children get
plenty of attention
• Attention is the greatest reinforcer of all
PowerPoint Outline**
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I. Development in Related Domains
II. First Words
III. Combining Words, Meaning, and Functions
IV. Development in Pragmatics
V. Phonological Processes
VI. Impact of Bilingualism
VII. Intervention for Toddlers Whose Language
is Delayed