The Mom I Want to Be

 

Long before children can say words or join them into sentences, they are active language learners. Within a few short years, young children go from newborns without language to excellent communicators and lively inventers and tellers of stories.

 

 

From birth to 3 months, infants pay close attention to language. In the first year, they can distinguish all of the speech sounds that occur in natural language; then they begin to specialize in the sounds of their home language. Most infants will:

 

• Respond to speech by looking at the speaker

• Respond differently to the voice of a parent than to other voices

• React to changes in a speaker’s tone, pitch, volume, and intonation

• Respond differently to their home language and another language

• Communicate with bodily movements, by crying, babbling, and laughing

• Attempt to imitate sounds

 

 

 

At 3 to 6 months, even small babies love to have “conversations.” Most children of this age:

 

• Exchange sounds, facial expressions, or gestures with a parent or caregiver

• Listen to conversations

• Repeat some vowel and consonant sounds

 

 

 

From 6 to 9 months, children’s vocalizations increase. Most babies of this age:

 

• Begin repetitive babbling (deaf children also start to babble with their hands)

• Associate gestures with simple words and two-word phrases, like “hi” and “bye-bye”

• Use vocal and non-vocal communication to express interest and influence others

 

 

 

Between 9 and 12 months, children are getting ready to talk. Around the first birthday, language production doubles. Many babies of this age:

 

• Understand the names of familiar people and objects

• Show their understanding with responsive body language and facial expressions

• Say a few words

• Respond to a firm “no” by stopping what they are doing

 

 

From 1 to 2 years, children begin to learn many new words and begin to use simple phrases. Many children can:

 

• Understand many words, as well as simple phrases and directions (“Drink your juice”)

• Follow a series of two simple but related directions

• Respond correctly when asked “where?”

• Say a few words clearly, and a few dozen additional words so that family members can understand. The words denote important people and common objects, and a few prepositions such as “on,” “in,” or “under.” Many can say “more” and “all gone.”

• Say successive single words to describe an event

• From about 18 months, begin learning about 9 new words a day

• Use “my” or “mine” to indicate possession; begin to use “me,” “I,” and “you”

 

 

 

At 2 to 3 years, both understanding of language and speaking develop more rapidly at this stage. Most 2-year-olds can:

 

• Join familiar words into phrases

• Begin to use modifiers (adverbs and adjectives)

• Point to common objects when they are named

• Name objects based on their description

• Respond to “what?” and “where?” questions

• Enjoy listening to stories and asking for favorite stories

• Recount events that happened that day

 

 

 

At 3 to 4 years, language usage becomes more complex. Most 3-year-olds can:

 

• Make themselves understood to strangers, despite some sound errors

• Use and understand sentences

• Use more complex grammar, such as plurals and past tense

• Understand sentences involving time concepts (for example, “Grandma is coming tomorrow”) and narrate past experiences

• Understand size comparisons such as big and bigger

• Understand relationships expressed by “if… then” or “because” sentences

• Follow a series of two to four related directions

• Sing a song and repeat at least one nursery rhyme

 

 

 

4 to 5-year-olds use language not only to converse, but also to exchange information. Most can:

 

• Retell a story (but may confuse facts)

• Combine thoughts into one sentence

• Ask “when?” “how?” and “why?” questions

• Use words like “can,” “will,” “shall,” “should,” and “might”

• Combine thoughts into one sentence

• Refer to causality by using “because” and “so”

• Follow three unrelated commands appropriately

• Understand comparatives like loud, louder, loudest

• Listen to long stories (but may misinterpret the facts)

• Understand sequencing of events when clearly explained (for example, “First we plug the drain, then we run the water, and finally we take a bath”)