The Development Of Language In Children

Our language helps us to communicate, but the development of language in children is a long and complex process. Today we will take a closer look at this process that begins early in childhood.

Language is a set of norms that we share with other people and that enable the expression of ideas in a logical way. This definition comes from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).

Already when a child is born, he or she begins to communicate. When children reach their first birthday, many can already say their first words.

The development of language in children

From birth to 6 months of age

Before they develop language, children learn to pay attention to and distinguish between sounds. During the first months of life, we can therefore see how children gradually begin:

• Turn your head towards sound.
• Respond to changes in tone.
• Listen to music attentively.

When children reach the age of 6 months, most people can recognize the basic sounds in their mother tongue. In addition, babies start babbling, laughing and repeating tall sounds.

From 6 to 12 months of age

When children can identify and produce sound in a consistent way, their communication becomes more detailed and meaningful. Therefore, we can observe the following in children between 6 and 12 months of age:

• Listens when others talk to them.
• Understand frequently used and common words in their native language.
• Responds to oral inquiries.
• Dangling long and short groups of sounds.
• Dinghies to attract the attention of others.
• Communicates through gestures.
• Imitates certain sounds from speech.
• Uses language to ask for things or express feelings, protests, support, etc.
• A child’s first words.

From 1 to 2 years of age

When children reach their first birthday, their phonological processes improve. Therefore, they begin to make more precise sounds and say more and more words.

In addition, children gradually develop the ability to vary their speech depending on the context. They also learn to have conversations. Between one and two years, they develop the following communication skills:

• Understand simple questions.
• Enjoys fairy tales, rhymes, rhymes and songs.
• An ever-expanding repertoire of words in their vocabulary.

• Asks questions and constructs simple phrases.
• Uses language to receive and transmit information.

From 2 to 3 years of age

At the age of two to three, children continue to improve their language. They learn to put together their first complex sentences, negations, questions, coordinates and subordinates.

At this stage of development, we can observe these actions related to communication:

• Uses words for almost everything.
• Deepens their stories.
• Uses correct tempus, pronouns and verb forms.
• Family members and friends can understand their speech.
• Name of object.
• Distinguishes between different proper names and other common names.

The importance of the family for language development

The parents are the child’s first teachers. Therefore, the family plays a huge role in children’s language development. Communication is better acquired if a child’s immediate family uses a lot of pictures, sounds and for conversations.

In this sense, it is important for parents to stimulate their children’s language development, which facilitates learning and cognitive development. To do so, they should:

• Use abstract, rich and accurate language.
• Start conversations about topics that have nothing to do with the immediate home.
• Give children the opportunity to participate and use language for various functions related to expressing basic needs.

In this way, they learn how to use language in most situations that require them to relate to their environment, such as when they start preschool.