Linguistic Masterminds: Children’s Early Language Trajectory

Laura Justice

The Ohio State University

Language development represents one of the most exciting and mysterious aspects of young children’s development. Children who cannot yet count to ten can produce sentence structures as

sophisticated as most adults. This webinar discusses language… what it is, what it is not, and how to make sense of the things

children are saying. Additionally, this webinar explores what to do when children are ‘late talkers’ and how to facilitate the language

growth of children with whom we might be concerned.

TOPICS TO BE EXPLORED

Language: What Is It?

Language: What It Is Not

How to Make Sense of the Things Children Say

What To Do When Children are Late to Talk

How To Facilitate All Children’s Language Growth

What Is It?

Language is a “system of conventional spoken or written symbols used by people in a shared culture to

communicate with one another.”

Pence Turnbull & Justice, Language Development From Theory to Practice, 2/e

System Conventional Spoken Written Symbols Communicate

Group of interrelated elements

that form a complex

whole

In accordance with general agreement

Expressed orally

Expressed in writing

Something that

represents something

else

To convey information

“Statue Momma”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ZwNF26snA&feature=player_detailpage#t=5s

Language: More Than Just Words

It is a multi-dimensional symbol system

FORMCONTENT

USE

Domains of Language

FORM:rules governing the structure of sentences and words (e.g., inflections)

CONTENT:rules governing the structure of meanings and concepts

PRAGMATICS:rules governing the structure of delivery and use of language

FORMCONTENT

USE

SemanticsSyntaxMorphologyPhonology

Pragmatics

Addie, 2 years:

“I’m almost here!!!”

Addie, 2 years: “I’m almost here!!!”

Form: simple sentence, contracted copular verb (am), subjective pronoun, adverbial phrase (almost here), consonants and vowels

Content: locational reference (here), adverb of manner (almost), highly contextualized (need context to understand meaning!)

Use: function/intent = inform/explain, clear recipient in range, appropriate paralinguistic cues (eye contact, proximity, etc.)

Important Features of Language

• Rule-governed• Sensitive period• Innate-learned

Rule-Governed

NOUN PHRASE

ARTICLE ADJECTIVE NOUN

How many noun phrases can a child make who knows this rule???

+ +

Rule-Governed

SIMPLE SENTENCE

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

How many sentences can a child make who knows this rule???

+ +

Rule-Governed

SIMPLE SENTENCE

him got karate

How many sentences can a child make who knows this rule???

+ +

Sensitive Period• In the first years of life, children’s brain matter

is rapidly developing• Synaptogenesis• Activity dependence• Synaptic pruning

• Interconnections are being made that

organize and stabilize language skills

• No future period will allow such remarkable gains in language to occur

Innate-Learned: Experience Dependent

INPUT

How do these develop?

From: Relationship between preschool teachers’ complex syntax use and children’s

Syntactic comprehension. From Huttonlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Cymerman, E.,

& Levine, S. (2002).

Why Language?

• Language is the “what” of effective communication …Communication is the mechanism

• Language is very malleable…. It reflects time and experience

• Children show variability in their language skills: and this variability is important for many areas of academics, including reading and content-area skills

Why Language?

Head Start Outcomes Framework (2010)

What Is It NOT?

•It is NOT how well children articulate

•It is NOT speaking ‘correctly’

•It is NOT simply the size of a child’s vocabulary

•It is NOT equated to IQ

What Is It NOT?

•It is NOT how well

children articulate

Up here is my brain!

What Is It NOT?

•It is NOT how well

children articulate

I dot a daw a diddle biwdie!

What Is It NOT?

•It is NOT

speaking ‘correctly’

Harvard Dialect Survey: been

RED: as in "sit" (64.82%)BLUE: as in "see" (3.59%)

GREEN as in "set" (28.60%)PURPLE: other (2.99%)

What Is It NOT?

•It is NOT the size of

a child’s vocabulary

Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously….(Noam Chomsky)

What Is It NOT?

• It is NOT equated to IQ

Language Intelligence

The Special Case of Specific Language

Impairment

General Trajectory

Birth: hard-wired for language; no receptive or expressive use; vocal play and reflexive sounds

3 months: coo and goo; engage in back-n-forth routines; orient to others

6 months: Understands approximately 2 words; babbling (mamama dadada)

8-10 months: Becomes an intentional communicator (gesture, persistence, eye contact)!

12 months: understands 10 words, produces first word

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/chart.htm

18 months: understands 150 words; expressive vocabulary of 50 words; produces simple sentences (two-word combinations); understands simple sentences

24 months: understands 300+ words; expressive vocabulary of 100 words; produces some three-word combinations, including negative sentences!

36 months: ask questions using different forms; uses four-word combinations frequently; understands many wh-questions; makes simple inferences; understands some ‘hard’ words

60 months: language system more or less complete – looks adult-like in terms of grammar, although lexicon and social competence will continue to refine (e.g., ability to enter conversations).

General Trajectory

Late Talkers

Late Talkers• Children who are meeting most/all other milestones

typically (walking, eating, playing)… except talking!

• Identified between 2 and 3 years of age due to expressive concerns:

• small vocabulary (< 50 words used)• not yet combining words to create two-word

sentences

• Language understanding is typical (but be sure validly assessed!)

Late Talkers: Words Spoken

Rescorla et al (2000)

Late Talkers

• Affects more than 1 in 10 children (Zubrick et al., 2010)

• Tends to run in families• Tends to affect more boys than girls• Tends to affect more preterms• Tends to occur with increases in externalizing and internalizing

behavioral concerns

• Although many children will outgrow these problems, some children will not – which argues against the wait and see approach

Language Screening

• Ages and Stages Questionnaire – 3

• Language Development Survey

• MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories

Indirect or Direct

Treatment Options (often

by Speech-Language

Pathologist/SLP)

Facilitating Language Growth for ALL Children

Children “feast” on the language scraps in the world around them…they learn what

they hear

learn what they hear… and what they OVERHEAR

As children feast, what really matters?

ADULT INPUTTO CHILD

CHILD’SLANGUAGE

SKILL

QUALITY OF

INPUT

ADULT INPUTTO CHILD

CHILD’SLANGUAGE

SKILL

QUALITY OF

INPUT

FREQUENCY OF EXPOSURES

INFORMATIVENESS OF EXPOSURES

2-year-old learning the word VENT

Exposure 1 – establishes a

shallow representation

of meaning and

phonological form

Exposure 2 –solidifies

phonological form (vent –not

went) and refines meaning

Exposure 3 –Increasing

mapping and differentiation

in lexicon

overgeneralization

Frequency of Exposures:

Use of known words to “cement” a base• Meets one’s basic communication needs

Use of unknown words to “extend” the base• Provides precision and clarity

Frequencies of Exposures:

Children’s exposure to specific forms and functions occurs repeatedly

Children’s exposures build cumulatively over time to become more precise

INFORMATIVENESS OF EXPOSURES

Adult language features diverse content, form, and use

Content: many words, ideas, and concepts

Form: many different syntactic structures and word inflections

Uses: many different purposes

Changing Developmental Trajectories

Zone of Proximal Development

What the child already knows

Knowledge that is beyond the grasp of the child

Learning Potential

Adult Input

Zone of Proximal Development

What the child already knows

Knowledge that is beyond the grasp of the child

HUGE STEER

Adult InputCOW

Zone of Proximal Development

What the child already knows

Knowledge that is beyond the grasp of the child

That is a big dog, you are right!

Adult InputThat’s a dog.

Well-Tuned?

Child Language Ability

Stimulates LanguageDoes Not Stimulate Language

Providing information about objects, information,

or events not present

Attitudes, points of view, mental states, motives

Similarities and differences betweenpeople, objects, and events

Causes of events(prediction)

Meanings of words

Connections between text and world

van Kleeck et al (2006)

THANKS FOR GIVING CHILDREN THE GIFT OF LANGUAGE!