Our guide to the typical stages of speech and language development in babies, children and young people. Show Children develop their talking and understanding of words at different rates. However, knowing what is typical can help you identify speech and language problems early. You can also find out how to help your child learn to talk and understand words. Infants and toddlers are able and ready communicators. They communicate through gestures, sounds, facial expressions, movements, and language. This next section will highlight language and communication milestones for infants and toddlers. It will be followed by a section that discusses these milestones by introducing three aspects of language and communication that caregivers can think about: receptive language, expressive language, and conversation skills. MilestonesInfants’ and toddlers’ abilities to communicate grows as they interact and communicate with others. In fact, the sounds, tones, and patterns of speech that an infant hears early on sets the stage for learning a specific language. They begin to understand words, and express themselves in their language as they learn rules of conversation. Think of how exciting it is to hear young infants making new sounds each day, hearing an infant say new words or listening to toddlers express themselves by stringing words together! The chart below highlights infant and toddler communication skills as they grow. Keep in mind that individual differences exist when it comes to the specific age at which infants and toddlers meet these milestones and that each infant and toddler is unique. A brief version of this information aimed at parents can be found in an easy-to-use checklist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As you may have already learned in the Cognitive and Physical courses, milestones provide a guide for when to expect certain skills or behaviors to emerge. Think of milestones as guidelines to help you understand and identify typical patterns of growth and development, or to help you know when and what to look for as young children mature. As an infant and toddler caregiver, you can use this information, what you learn from families and your own knowledge in the interactions, experiences and environments you create for infants and toddlers. Language and Communication Developmental Milestones in Infants & Toddlers2 Months
4 Months
6 Months
9 Months
12 Months
15 Months
18 Months
24 Months
30 Months
36 Months
Learning to communicate is a unique process and specific to each infant, toddler and family. Many aspects of a child’s environment may contribute to challenges with communication development. A family may wonder about their young child’s communication and language development and feel uncertain about what they are observing, as well as what to expect. As an infant and toddler caregiver, you have an opportunity to learn first from a family and consider offering additional developmental information, including possible warning signs. The Kids Included Together can be a valuable resource for you (https://www.kit.org), as well as the developmental milestones and act early information located on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html. The table below also highlights possible warning signs for infants' and toddlers' language and communication development: Possible Warning Signs of Language & Communication delays in Infants & ToddlersYoung Infants
Mobile Infants
Toddlers
How Infants and Toddlers CommunicateAs you study the chart above, you may notice that some milestones are associated with infants’ and toddlers’ ability to listen to and understand language (receptive communication). Other milestones are associated with infants’ and toddlers’ ability to express themselves using sounds, movements, gestures, facial expressions, and words (expressive communication), and some are associated with infants’ and toddlers’ knowledge and ability to engage in communication exchanges with peers or adults (social engagement). Let’s take a look at how these aspects of communication unfold as part of the remarkable development of young children during their first three years. Receptive communication refers to an infant’s or toddler’s ability to listen to and understand language. They begin to understand language as part of their nurturing relationships with responsive, trusting adults and are able to make sense of gestures, facial expressions, tone, and words well before they are able to verbally express themselves. Expressive communication is the ability of infants and toddlers to express themselves through sounds, gestures, facial expressions and words. A beginning point for expressive communication is the infant’s cry. Cooing is another form of early communication and can begin as early as one month. By six months, you can hear new sounds like “ma,” “ba,” and “da.” By 24 months, you may hear toddlers using two- and three-word sentences, such as “me go,” or “more drink, please.” Social engagement involves the understanding and use of communication rules such as listening, taking turns and appropriate ways to use sounds and facial expressions. Conversations involve both understanding (receptive communication) and expressing (expressive communication). Infants and toddlers learn the ways to use sounds, gestures, facial expressions and words of their family’s language(s) when adults interact, talk, read and sing with them. Supporting Communication, Language, and LiteracyEffective communication, language and literacy skills are important to young children’s self-expression, their development of social relationships, and to their learning. The foundation for these skills begins during the earliest months and years after birth. When families and caregivers engage in and sustain interactions based on an infant’s or toddler’s development and interests, they help strengthen their role as a partner in communication. In fact, research demonstrates that these skills depend greatly on language experiences during infancy and toddlerhood. Children who hear fewer words are engaged in less conversation before age 3 with their caregivers, and have dramatically smaller vocabularies than children who have richer early language experiences (Hart & Risley, 1995). Communication and language development happen best in the context of consistent, caring and responsive relationships. Your role as an infant and toddler caregiver offers opportunities to support these skills throughout the day. You can use your knowledge about communication and language development alongside your observations of the infants and toddlers in your care. Together, this information can create opportunities to engage infants and toddlers in communication according to their interest. For example, during mealtime with infants and toddlers, you can maintain eye contact, smile, repeat and add meaning to the infant’s sounds, or follow a toddler’s eyes as they look at the green vegetables on their plate and then say, “You’re looking at your green peas. What else is green?” Or, talk about who is sitting next to an infant or toddler. “Who is going to sit beside you today at lunch, Tommy? Oh, look, Cassandra is going to sit beside you.” Your role as an infant and toddler caregiver also offers an opportunity to create an environment that provides what infants and toddlers need to become good communicators early in life. A communication-rich environment is characterized by intentional and frequent use of such strategies as:
Serve and return interactions are another example of opportunities for caregivers to engage with infants and toddlers while fostering brain development and communication growth. Serve and return works like a game of tennis or volleyball between child and caregiver, but instead of a ball, various forms of communication are passed back and forth between the two. The child “serves” by reaching out for interaction—with eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, babbling, or touch. A responsive caregiver will “return the serve” by speaking back, playing peekaboo, or sharing a toy or a laugh. (Serve and Return 2020) These back-and-forth exchanges increase infants’ and toddlers’ language experiences, vocabulary and opportunities for communication. Engaging in serve and return interactions are essential to the brain development of infants and toddlers and help children learn skills that are foundational for later development. Watch the following video from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University that demonstrates serve and return exchanges: https://youtu.be/KNrnZag17Ek After viewing the video, think about the activities in your day that provide opportunities for serve and return interactions. SeeSupporting Communication and LanguageVideo not availableWatch this video to learn about the role you can play in creating meaningful opportunities for communication and language with infants and toddlers DoUnderstanding developmental milestones is an important aspect of working with infants and toddlers. Learning about and understanding how infants and toddlers communicate will help you know how to support them in developing effective communication and language skills and what kinds of learning experiences to plan for in your early care and learning setting. Each infant and toddler is different. Therefore, it will be important to customize experiences and activities to meet their unique needs. Consider the following for each infant and toddler in your care:
ExploreThink about the infants or toddlers in your care. Refer to the Language and Communication Developmental Milestones listed in this lesson and complete the Thinking About Communication activity. Highlight what you notice about their development and how you respond. Then, share and discuss your responses with a trainer, coach, or administrator. Consider milestones reached by the infants and toddlers in your care and how your interactions support their continued development ApplyYou should continue to be intentional about your interactions and the experiences you offer so that infants and toddlers can build their communication skills and enjoy experimenting with sounds and words within relationships. Complete the Caregivers Communicating with Infants and Toddlers activity. Think about the strategies you are using to support communication development in infants and toddlers. Identify specific ways you apply the various strategies as well as new ways to consider using these strategies throughout the day. Then, share and discuss your responses with a trainer, coach, or administrator. Assess the strategies you use to support communication development in infants and toddlers and ways you can extend that support Required: Complete and review this document with your trainer, supervisor, or administrator GlossaryDevelopmental Delay:When children do not meet developmental milestones at the expected times. Delays can occur in any area of development Developmental Milestones:A set of skills or behaviors that most children can do within a certain age range Developmental Screening:A tool used to help identify children who are not developing as expected and who may need supports. Screening can be completed by pediatricians, teachers, and others who know both the child and child development well Expressive Communication:The ability to use words to communicate with others Receptive Communication:The ability to understand spoken words DemonstrateWhich of the following is typically a communication milestone for a 12-month-old?Responds to sound by making sound Says sentences with at least two words Uses simple gestures such as “waving bye-bye” or shaking head “no” Points to at least two body parts when asked True or False? Social engagement is the ability of infants and toddlers to express themselves through sounds, gestures, facial expressions, and words.True False A parent approaches you and is concerned about his toddler daughter’s development. What should you do?Tell him not to worry; his daughter is doing fine. Tell him you are also concerned; you believe his daughter is developmentally delayed. Suggest he compare his daughter’s development with the development of her siblings. Acknowledge the parent’s concern and recommend that he discuss the concerns with the trainer. References & Resources The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative . SERVE & RETURN. (2020, October 16).: https://www.albertafamilywellness.org/what-we-know/serve-and-return Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021). Learn the signs, act early: Developmental milestones. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/FULL-LIST-CDC_LTSAE-Checklists2021_Eng_FNL2_508.pdf Center on the Developing Child . (2020, October 16 ). Serve and Return. Harvard University. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/serve-and-return/ Greenspan, S.I. with Benderly, B.L. (1998). The Growth of the Mind. Perseus Publishing. Hart, B., & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Brookes Publishing. Nicholas, H., Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2001). Recasts as feedback to language learners. Language Learning, 51, 719-758. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. (2002). Ages and stages questionnaire (ASQ). https://agesandstages.com/ Smith, A. (1999). Quality childcare and joint attention. International Journal of Early Years Education, 7,85-98. Trawick-Smith, J. W. (2014). Early Childhood Development: A Multicultural Perspective, (6th ed.). Pearson Education Inc. What is a child's first form of communication?Early communication starts with crying. Then babies start babbling and gesturing before learning about words and conversations. You can encourage communication by talking a lot, tuning in and responding to your child, and paying attention to your child's cues.
What is early communication?Early communication skills, such as: looking, joint attention, taking turns and listening are regarded as the foundation to speech, language and communication development. During everyday activities, the way you communicate and interact with your child can help them practice these early communication skills.
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