UNDERSTANDING%20LANGUAGE%20DEVELOPMENT

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UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

• Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc.
• P.O. Box 663, 314 Circle Dr.
• Fort Totten, ND 58335 www.spiritlakeconsulting
  .com

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Levels of Language Development

INNER
RECEPTIVE
EXPRESSIVE - Oral
EXPRESSIVE - Written
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Building language

• Language development occurs in steps
• Inner language is the first step. A child may not
  know the word for Grandma but she recognizes
  Grandma when she sees her, understands that
  Grandma is the person who has the comfortable lap
  and who always picks her up the second she walks
  into a room.

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Building language

• Continued
• Receptive language is the second step.
• The child does not use the word, Grandma but
  she understands it. When someone says, Give that
  block to Grandma she will go hand it to the
  correct person.
• Although in children without disabilities,
  receptive language occurs before expressive
  language, this is often not the case for
  children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Often,
  children with FAS use language they do not
  understand.

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Building language

• Continued
• Expressive language is the third step.
• Usually, children learn oral (spoken) language
  first and then learn to express themselves in
  writing. This is one reason it is crucially
  important for caregivers to develop the childs
  vocabulary. The fewer words a child understand,
  the poorer she will be at writing (expressive)
  and reading (receptive).
• Children with emotional or hearing impairments,
  may find it easier to express themselves in
  writing rather than orally.

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Assessing Language
Clearly, you want to identify any language
problems as early as possible to provide
intervention. But how can you when the child does
not even begin speaking until the third step? How
can you identify language problems in a child who
cannot talk? Fortunately for us, McCardle
Mele-McCarthy gave some very good suggestions.
For example, Assessing inner language - observe
the child. If she sorts blocks by color, then she
has an inner knowledge of color. If the blue
blocks are all in one pile, the yellow in
another, and the red in a third, then she has an
understand of red, yellow and blue even if
she doesnt know the words yet.
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More on Assessing Language
Often, Native American children are not as
talkative as their non-Indian peers. This is not
necessarily a sign of special needs. How do you
distinguish a cultural difference from a
disability? RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE Ask the child to
hand you a blue block. If he hands you the right
color, he understood your words, even if he
didnt answer you. This simple kind of assessment
can be used daily to identify if the child
understands such concepts as under, over,
numbers from one to ten, etc. Hint Try not to
be so obvious that the child will be able to
respond without understanding the language. For
example, if you say, Put the cookies on the
table and you do this every day, she may do it
without understanding your words. If you say,
Put the cookies under the table, being sure to
emphasize under, she must understand what you
said to respond correctly. Also, children find
unexpected things like putting the cookies under
the table to be funny. Disabled or not, small
children like to laugh.
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Teaching Language
Now what? If you determine that the child does
not understand such words as under, red,
three - what do you do? Read the pages on the
Early Childhood site on language development.
Remember the dozen tips on teaching language?
Deliberately teach the child the words you have
seen she doesnt know. Label objects. Use
repetition. I see you are wearing your red
shirt today. I like red. It is such a pretty
color.
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Cultural Difference versus Disability
Expressive language - does the child have
difficulty copying letters from a blackboard or
from on a sheet of paper? This may represent a
problem with processing written language, it may
mean the child had fine motor problems or it may
mean the child has not had a lot of opportunities
to draw, color or practice writing. Which is it?
How do you know? As a teacher, you can provide
the child a lot of opportunities for printing,
drawing and coloring. Do these activities with
the child! Adult attention is very motivating for
most young children. If, after substantial
practice, the child still has difficulty copying
letters, this is a concern. NOTE For children
with autism and similar disorders, adult
attention may NOT be a motivating factor.
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Language Development Summary

• Language Develops in Steps
• It is not very difficult to assess children at
  each step
• It is important to avoid mistaking cultural
  differences for disability
• Early childhood staff are very important in
  helping children develop language
• Successful language development in early stages
  increases the chances of children becoming
  successful readers and writers in elementary
  school and beyond