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The Journey of Language Development
The Journey of Language Development
Slide #1 Introduction
Understanding the importance of early language experiences and learning ways to promote
infants’ and toddlers’ language development within the child care setting are critical for all child
care providers. You are the architect of infant and toddler brains. This course is entitled “The
Journey of Language Development.” It will focus on the importance of language development in
these early years and hopefully provide new tools for you as you interact with your children.
Slide #2 Language Development in the Infant and Toddler Years – A Fascinating Journey!
One of the most fascinating experiences you will have as an infant and toddler caregiver is
seeing the blossoming growth of children’s language abilities.
In this course, we will discuss how language develops in the first three years of life.
Through this course, we hope to support you in the work that you do by increasing your
understanding of one of the most effective and powerful means of impacting a child’s future:
promoting and enhancing their language development.
Slide #3 Learning Objectives
The learning objectives associated with the course are:
 To be able to identify and explain the various aspects or components of language
knowledge development
 To be able to distinguish the characteristics of language knowledge development for the
infant and toddler years
 To apply strategies to strengthen language knowledge development specific to the
different aspects
 To be able to recognize the stages of language acquisition
 To be aware of language milestones during the first 3 years
Slide #4 Course Overview
This course is organized into three segments. In the first segment, we will discuss the aspects of
language knowledge development, what those components look like in the infant and toddler
years, and what you can do to strengthen that development. In the second segment, we will
explore the universal stages of language development. Finally, we will discuss the various
milestones during the first three years.
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The Journey of Language Development
Throughout this course, the term infant generally will be used for children from birth through
18 months. The term toddlers will be used for children from 18 to 36 months. A set of handouts
is available to accompany this course. Please download and print out these handouts for use
throughout this course.
Slide #5 Part 1 – Aspects of Language Knowledge Development
In this first section, we will briefly discuss the role of nature and nurture, review the terms
receptive and expressive language, and discuss the various aspects or components that make
up language knowledge development. Please note, the terms used in this course are those
identified by language experts. Don’t be intimidated by the terminology as we will explain each
one in detail. Next to each name, you will see the related common terminology you may be
more familiar with.
Slide #6 Nature vs. Nurture
We will begin this section by addressing a common debate related to human development. It
has often been discussed whether development is influenced more by nature (genetic
influences) or nurture (environment, experiences, education). Today, there is no longer
controversy. Instead, there is the recognition that both have critical roles in a complex interplay
between nature and nurture influences.
Numerous studies have confirmed that neural connections within the brain are highly
influenced by interactions, activities, and environments. The new science of epigenetics also
suggests that experiences actually affect whether particular genes get activated or not.
With regards to nature influences on language, theorists believe that only humans are born
with a neurological structure for language called "language acquisition device (LAD)." This LAD
enables infants to learn languages and understand them because the principles are innate.
Nevertheless, the mere possession of the language acquisition device does not guarantee
acquisition of language skills. Infants and toddlers must interact with other humans to learn
language.
But what do we mean when we say language? What constitutes language knowledge
development? To begin the discussion of the aspects of language knowledge development, let’s
consider the broad categories of language: receptive and expressive language.
Slide #7 Receptive and Expressive Language
Language can be classified into receptive language and expressive language.
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The Journey of Language Development
Receptive Language: Refers to the capacity to listen, hear, and understand what is
communicated.
Expressive Language: Refers to the ability to speak and convey messages.
The development of these language competencies are closely related. We will look more closely
at the different aspects of language which develop children’s receptive and expressive language
knowledge.
Please refer to your handout, page 1. On the handout, you will see the definitions of these two
terms provided for your reference.
Slide #8 Graphic Representation
As you can see by the graphic on this page, there are five different aspects of language that
contribute to children’s expressive and receptive language knowledge. These five aspects are:
phonetic, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic. It is important to note they do not
develop in isolation from each other. Each of these aspects may be used in any language
interaction.
Please refer to your handout, page 1. Please pause this video and fill in the five language
aspects.
Slide #9 Aspects of Language Knowledge Development
Initially, children will perceive these aspects only receptively. In other words, they will
understand some of these aspects but may not be able to produce the language that
demonstrates this knowledge. However, every interaction counts, and the more they are
exposed to these various aspects, the better their understanding and development of this
knowledge becomes.
We will first briefly state what each of these aspects are and then look in detail at each
component.
Phonetic Knowledge refers to knowledge relating to speech sounds and sound-symbol
relations in language.
Semantic Knowledge refers to understanding that symbols and words have meaning. This
knowledge is also referred to more commonly as “vocabulary.”
Syntactic Knowledge refers to the ability to know how to combine words to create meaningful
expressions. It is knowledge of the system of rules unique to each language system and is often
referred to as “grammar.”
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The Journey of Language Development
Morphemic Knowledge is the knowledge of word structures. Morphemes are the smallest
units of meaning.
Finally, Pragmatic Knowledge is knowledge of how to use language differently in different
settings and situations.
On your handout, page 2, is a reference of these terms as a brief reminder as we go into detail
about these different aspects of language. There is also space on the handout for you to jot
down notes about these terms. Please pause the video as needed to complete handout notes.
We will now go into a little more detail for each aspect, giving some general descriptions,
followed by what that knowledge aspect will look like in the infant and toddler years. Then, we
will discuss what you, as a caregiver, can do to strengthen that knowledge.
Slide #10 Phonetic Knowledge
Phonetic knowledge involves the understanding of how words sound. Children develop their
phonetic knowledge by hearing and distinguishing different sounds and by the ways that
language is used around them.
Children are able to process sounds from birth and some research has suggested even before
they are born during prenatal development!
Young children are able to distinguish different sounds even though they may not yet be able to
produce them. For example, researchers have found that even young infants around 2 months
of age are able to notice the difference between /p/ and /b/ sounds, long before they can
produce them.
“Phonemes” is the term used for the smallest unit of sound. Phonemes are combined to form
words. In the word bite, there are 3 phonemes: the /b/ sound, the “eye” sound, and the /t/
sound.
Phonetic knowledge does not develop in isolation. A child may be able to distinguish between
similar sounding words and notice the different sounds because of the different contexts in
which the word is used. So, the child can distinguish between “can” and “car” when the words
are used in context to refer to different objects. Therefore, the sound differences between the
two words become meaningful.
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Slide #11 Phonetic Knowledge (cont’d)
In addition to hearing sounds, young children also notice the way something is said and the
differences in the way sounds are used to add meaning. This is referred to as the “prosodic”
features of language. Intonation, loudness, tempo, and rhythm are all prosodic features.
The phrase, “They’re here,” can be said in a way that is a statement or, with a change in
intonation, can be stated as a question, “They are here?” It can also be stated in ways that
show excitement, or dread, or boredom. “They’re here!”, “They’re here”, and “They’re here.”
Children learn about these prosodic features and specific sounds through interactions with
people. Infants are able to sense when the caregiver is happy, excited, calm, tense, or angry
from the intonation, loudness, tempo, or rhythm of the caregiver’s speech.
Slide #12 Phonetic Knowledge in the Infant and Toddler Years
So what does phonetic knowledge look like in the infant and toddler years? From birth, infants
are able to perceive differences in sound. Researchers have found that infants prefer the
human voice over any other sound.
By 1 month of age, children can distinguish specific phonemes. Although infants can hear a
wide range of sounds, their production of these sounds is still limited because of their
physiological development. As the child’s physical maturation occurs in the first year, they gain
more control of their speech mechanism and begin to make some of the sounds they are
hearing.
The prosodic features mentioned in the slide before, pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm of
speech, have a significant role in getting the attention of infants and supporting their hearing of
speech sounds. “Motherese,” the child directed speech that has more exaggerated intonations
and clearer articulation, provides infants the opportunity to hear more clearly specific speech
sounds.
Children’s perception and ability to produce phonemes becomes more evident in the toddler
years. Interestingly, toddlers are aware of the sounds they cannot make and may refuse or
avoid words that contain those sounds. For example, the child may reduce some of consonant
clusters such as “sp” or “bl” into one sound. So, they would say “pill” instead of “spill” or
“banket” instead of “blanket.”
Slide #13 Phonetic Knowledge: What you can do
Expose the child to many words and sounds and articulate words clearly.
Imitate the sounds the child makes.
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Use “motherese” when talking to infants and young toddlers.
Read books with variations in speech.
Have conversations with the child.
The more words and different sounds they hear, the better young children will be able to
distinguish the differences in sounds. Try to have five back and forth exchanges, even when
those exchanges do not involve words, only cooing or sounds from the child.
Always keep being responsive in mind. Do not say too many words at one time. Say a few words
and give some pauses in between. Allow the child to react and then respond to their reaction –
if they appear to be enjoying the interaction, continue. If they are not, you will want to switch
to identifying their need or interest.
Slide #14 Semantic Knowledge
Children develop semantic knowledge when meaning is attached to words or sequences of
speech sounds.
Semantic knowledge refers to words that specify concepts and, as children mature, the
semantic network or schema, which is built when the child is able to see the relationship
between concepts. For example, if the child is repeatedly hears “ball” and is shown an object
that is small, red, round, and rolls on the ground, he may notice the similarities when he sees a
white soccer ball, and calls it “ball.” A schema has started to develop about the concept of
“ball.” This schema will strengthen and become more complex as the child is exposed to
different types of balls used for different purposes.
Semantic knowledge can also be thought of as vocabulary building. A rich and varied vocabulary
is one of the most critical factors that has an impact on the child’s ability to express what they
want to say and to learn new information. One important teaching goal would be to not only
increase the number of words a child knows, but also the quality of the words, and the various
ways to use words. Children should be exposed to a wide range of words beyond nouns, such as
pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, and adjectives as well.
Slide #15 Semantic Knowledge in the Infant and Toddler Years
Although children do not begin to use words or speech units that have meaning until they are
around 1 year old, children are introduced to meaningful communication from the time they
are born. When a child cries and a caregiver reacts, the infant is beginning to communicate and
the adult is associating a specific meaning with the child’s cry, and hopefully, using words to
help soothe the child or identify needs.
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The first concepts children learn are about the objects, people, or actions that they experience
and are significant in their lives. They will initially learn words such as the names of family
members, pets, toys they often play with, or specific foods. It has been found that typically
children learn nouns before verbs. Between the ages of one and two years old, children have
between 20 -170 words that they may use, but may understand many more.
As children have experiences, their minds begin to categorize those experiences into groups or
schema. So, a child may initially call all things that make an engine type sound as “vroom” as
they have made a conceptual grouping for vehicles. As the child gets older, he may start
noticing the size and shape of vehicles and be able to distinguish cars and trucks.
At first, the child must actually experience an action or an object in the immediate environment
for the child to understand or produce the specific word label. Later, the word by itself may
spark the concept in the child’s mind. For example, when the child first learns the word “plane,”
you would have to say it every time a plane goes by and show him pictures of planes, or toy
airplanes. Once the child has made the connection between that concept and the word, you
will see that when you say “plane,” the child may look up into the sky expecting to see a plane
overhead.
In the toddler years and sometimes earlier, children will invent words that are sometimes
referred to as “idiomorphs” or “protowords.” These are words children make up to give
meaning to concepts they have developed. Like the example given earlier, the child may have
made up the word “vroom” for cars as it represents the sound they hear, or like one child, who
called shoes “boggles” for some logic only he understands. The important thing is to
understand these “idiomorphs” or “protowords” are important as they are evidence of the
child’s ability to create and develop semantic knowledge.
When toddlers first begin to realize that everything in their environment has a name, they may
eagerly ask for the names of objects and people in their environment. They may repeat what
others say or ask questions.
Next are some ways you can help strengthen children’s semantic knowledge.
Slide #16 Semantic Knowledge: What you can do
Help the child associate the name (symbol) of the word with the meaning it carries by
repeatedly providing labels for the objects, people, and actions that the child directly
experiences.
Here is an example using an object. When feeding the child a cracker, say, “Here is your
cracker.” “Cracker.” “Yes, this is your cracker.”
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Here is another example using actions. When the child is clapping, say, “You are clapping.”
“Clap, clap, clap.” Or, “You are eating.” “Eating.” “Sara is eating her food.”
For people or pets, “Look, it’s mommy.” “Mommy.” “That’s mommy.”
When pointing out these things, keep eye contact with the child and ensure both you and the
child are clearly sharing what you are referring to. In other words, make sure they are seeing or
knowing what action you are labeling.
Self-talk (describing what you are doing as you are doing it) and parallel talk (describing what
the child is doing as he is doing it) are verbal mapping strategies and great ways to build
vocabulary. Verbal mapping also includes describing what is happening near the child, such as if
a bird is on the grass and walking around, you can say, “Oh look, there is a bird. It looks he’s in
the grass. Oh, now he is flying. Bye, bye bird. He’s gone.”
When the child uses “idiomorph” words, encourage those words and help them learn the actual
word by repeating the actual word. For example, the child mentioned earlier that says
“boggles” for shoes, say, “Oh, you want to put on your shoes?” The child nods, and repeats
“boggles”, say, “Okay, let’s put on your shoes.”
Keep in mind a child’s speech production may be limited, so they may not be able to verbalize
all the words they know. However, they are understanding and processing many of the words
you are using with them.
Don’t get frustrated if the child repeatedly points to or asks you to name something, perhaps
even something you just named 4 times 30 minutes earlier. They are just trying to solidify the
word with its meaning in their minds.
So remember, keep talking and pointing out objects, actions, and people in their environment,
being responsive to the child by watching the child’s cues and responding appropriately.
Slide #17 Syntactic Knowledge
In order for children to effectively use language, they must learn how to combine words into
meaningful expressions. Each language system has rules, also referred to as “grammar,” that
guide how words are combined to create meaningful phrases. This knowledge is called syntactic
knowledge. They sound similar, but keep in mind, semantics is about word meanings, and
syntactic is about putting words into sentences.
Word order is referred to as “syntax” and children learn that word order is important to convey
meaning. For example, the phrase, “Did you kiss mommy?” is a different question than “Did
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mommy kiss you?” Both phrases have the exact same words; it is the order of the words that
makes the difference in meaning.
As children’s skills in language increase, their grammar becomes more complex. Initially, a child
may have only single words to express thoughts but later, they may make two word
combinations that are their “sentences.” A child might say, “I hungry,” and later progress to “I
am hungry.”
Each language has its own set of rules or grammar. Some of these rules are learned without
conscience knowledge. For example, in English, adjectives precede the noun they modify, so we
say, “The gorgeous vase is on the table,” and not, “The vase gorgeous is on the table.” You will
see the awareness of this rule when children use two word phrases, “big ball,” or “blue car,”
occurring well before they have an understanding of adjectives and words they modify.
Children also learn that words cannot be combined in random order. They know that “vase
table the gorgeous is the on” does not make any sense.
As syntax or grammar varies from language to language, children who are multi language
learners may have to learn different syntactic rules for the different languages.
Slide #18 Syntactic Knowledge in the Infant and Toddler Years
Children’s syntactic knowledge is not as evident in the infant years because children do not use
much expressive verbal language until later infancy and early toddler years. Even in those early
years, children primarily use idiomorphs and single words, so it is difficult to see evidence of
any learning of grammar rules.
However, researchers have found that young children are able to process phrases and word
order to determine meaning in speech. So, although their expressive language does not
demonstrate their grammar knowledge, their receptive language skill does.
Even when children are using idiomorphs or one word speech, there are some implied grammar
rules that indicate the type of sentence through intonations and gestures. They may show
through their intonation a question, “Mine?”, or a statement, “Mine,” or a command, “Mine!”
During the toddler years, children begin moving towards 2 or 3-word speech, referred to as
“telegraphic” speech. These are usually simple sentences or sentence fragments like, “Mommy
purse,” or “Daddy come.” This telegraphic speech represents both syntactic (or grammar)
knowledge and semantic (or meaning) knowledge. The grammar part comes from the order
they place the word in, and they put the word in a particular order based on their
understanding of the meaning.
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Researchers have found that there are certain grammar-meaning patterns that can be found in
toddlers’ speech. In the next slide, you will see a breakdown of these patterns.
Slide #19 Syntactic Knowledge in the Infant and Toddler Years (cont’d)
Grammar / Meaning Pattern
Example
Person + action
mommy sit
Action + object
eat cookie
Person + object
mommy purse
Action + location
go home
Object + location
doll bed
Possessor + possession
daddy book
Object + attribute
doll sad
Demonstrative + object
this candy
During the toddler years, you will also notice that children begin to use pronouns but the ones
for “I” and “you” are particularly hard for toddlers. It is also difficult for an adult to explain,
which is why you will see adults often saying things like, “That’s mommy’s pen,” instead of “my
pen.” Slowly children will be able to use the pronouns appropriately but you should be aware
that it might be confusing for toddlers in acquiring these pronouns.
Now take a few minutes and look at your handout, page 3. The grammar meaning patterns are
on your handout. Think about some of the combinations you have heard children say, and write
some examples that you have heard. This brief exercise will help you notice some of the
grammar patterns prevalent in young children’s speech. Please pause the video as needed to
complete the handout.
Slide #20 Syntactic Knowledge: What you can do
Infants and toddlers develop their knowledge of syntax/grammar by listening to speech.
Talk to children using simple sentences but also occasional complex sentences.
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Use adjectives and pronouns in your sentences as well.
Use a variety of sentences and discuss actions, describe objects, and describe people.
Don’t tell a child he or she is wrong with any sentence structure they use. Simply gently
respond by modeling the correct way to state it. In other words, rephrase the statement for
them but don’t say, “No, that’s not how to say it.”
Next we will talk about a closely related knowledge, which is morphemic knowledge.
Slide #21 Morphemic Knowledge
Syntactic knowledge refers to knowing how meaning can be changed or made by the order of
how words are structured in a sentence. Morphemic knowledge refers to knowing that the
small units of sound carry meaning and how changes within a word can change its meaning.
It is the understanding of word structure. Morphemic knowledge is closely related to semantic
knowledge, as well as syntactic knowledge. Children learn that some words can have different
grammatical functions or meanings based on the prefix and word endings. For example, the
word sad is an adjective, sadness is a noun, and sadly is an adverb. By changing just the ending
sounds, you have different meanings and different grammatical ways to use the words.
The smallest unit of meaning in language is called a morpheme.
Morphemes can be “free morphemes” or “bound morphemes.” Free morphemes are words
that on their own have meaning. Bound morphemes must be tied to free morphemes.
In the example given previously, sad is a free morpheme because by itself it carries meaning.
“Ness” and “ly” are bound morphemes because they have to be attached to another word to
have meaning.
Let’s look at another example. The word “walk” is a morpheme; when we add the bound
morpheme “ed,” we have the word “walked” which indicates past tense.
Young children acquire morphemic knowledge by listening to words used around them and
identifying certain patterns of how these morphemes are used. Sometimes this leads to
overgeneralizations when children use the rule assuming it applies to all words. So, a common
error in English is when a child will add “ed” to a word like “sing” and say, “He singed that song”
to represent the past tense, because it worked for “walk.”
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Slide #22 Morphemic Knowledge in the Infant and Toddler Years
In the infant years as children listen to language around them, they begin to notice morphemes
and their meaning-changing aspects. They are only able to process this receptively as they are
not able to express words, but they are beginning to perceive sound distinctions associated
with morphemes. They may notice “You can have a cracker,” versus “You can some crackers.”
As you can see, morphemic knowledge and phonetic knowledge are closely related at this
stage. Infants must be exposed to the various sounds to be able to distinguish the different
morphemes and notice that small units of sound can change meaning.
The development of morphemic knowledge, however, becomes more evident in the toddler
years. In the toddler years, children are beginning to use combinations of words which can
indicate their understanding of morphemic knowledge. Toddlers will begin to use verbs in the
present tense or present progressive, such as “I go” or “I going.”
Toddlers will begin to use prepositions, such as “in” and “on;” the child might say, “in cup.”
Also in the toddler years, children begin using the plural forms of nouns, such as “more cars.”
A list of some of the order of acquisition for grammatical morphemes is on the next slide.
Slide #23 Morphemic Knowledge in the Infant and Toddler Years (cont’d)
Experts have found that children will typically use these grammatical morphemes in this order:
1. present progressive
2. prepositions
3. plural
4. irregular past
5. Possessive
6. Verb “to be” as main verb
7. Articles
8. Regular past tense
(ing) “playing”
in and on
(s) “cats,” “dolls”
“came,” “broke,” “fell”
(‘s) Mommy’s, Jaiden’s
“I am here”
(a, an, the) “the truck,” “ I want a cookie”
(ed) “he jumped”
This list is also on your handout, page 4, for your reference. This will assist you in becoming
familiar with the order that these grammatical morphemes typically appear in children’s
speech.
As discussed earlier, some toddlers will begin to show an overgeneralization of some of the
words they have learned. For example, the child will say “she goed” for the tense. This is to be
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expected as they experiment and learn the ways they must change sounds for grammar and
meaning purposes.
Slide #24 Morphemic Knowledge: What you can do
Beginning even with infants, be clear when you speak with them and articulate each word.
Use short sentences that describe objects, actions, people that you and the child are looking at.
“Look at the birds.” “There are three birds.” “That’s Ms. Monica’s purse.” “The duck is yellow.”
Use prepositions in context. Let them see the difference in positions. “The car is on the book,”
“the car is under the book.”
Now we will look at the final component in language knowledge development which is
pragmatic knowledge.
Slide #25 Pragmatic Knowledge
Pragmatic knowledge refers to the awareness of how to use language differently in various
settings and situations, and understanding the overall intent of the communication, and how to
use language to convey that intent.
It is the understanding of the social-cultural rules that enable effective and appropriate
communications with others. For example, when at a restaurant, you would not call out to a
waiter by saying, “Come here.” You may politely raise your hand or give a nod or look to
indicate you want them to come to the table. Out on the playground, it would be appropriate
to call out to a child to “come here.” The understanding that though the action you want is
similar in these two instances, for someone to come to you, the method for communicating
that intent is done differently depending on the situation is pragmatic knowledge.
Children with poor pragmatic skills may misinterpret other’s communications or have difficulty
in appropriately verbally or non-verbally responding to situations.
Slide #26 Pragmatic Knowledge (cont’d)
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, pragmatics involves three
major communication skills. Using language for different purposes, changing language
according to the needs of a listener or situation, and following rules.
Please refer to your handout, page 4, as a reference for these skills

Using language for different purposes
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o
o
o
o


Greeting – knowing when to say hello and goodbye
Informing – telling what you are going to do – “go potty,” “I put jacket on”
Demanding – telling what you want – “I want to go outside”
Requesting – using a polite manner to ask for something - “Can I have that
please?”
Changing language according to the needs of a listener or situation
o Talking differently to a baby than an adult. Interestingly, researchers found even
babies know to simplify their language when talking to a baby.
o Speaking differently indoors versus outdoors.
o Using the language of a given peer group.
Following rules for conversation and storytelling
o Taking turns in a conversation – knowing you wait for someone to finish what
they are saying or wait for a pause to say something.
o Staying on topic –knowing this from when you ask questions during story time definitely not something young speakers know in those early toddler years!
o Rephrasing when misunderstood
o Using verbal and nonverbal signals – knowing that if someone seems irritated
you should probably not talk with him or her at that moment
o Understanding how close to stand next to someone when speaking to them
Note: these rules may vary across different cultures and within cultures, so it is
important to be aware of some of these cultural differences for the children in
your care.
Slide #27 Pragmatic Knowledge in the Infant and Toddler Years
In the infant years, children begin to use facial expressions and gestures to show
communicative intent. They learn to reject things by turning their head. They may show they
want to communicate by responding to caregivers with cooing, smiling, or vocalizations.
As they get older, they may hold out objects to show the intention of having the adult notice
the object. Later, they may hold out their hand or point to things to show the intention of
having something given to them, and then start adding vocalizations.
As the child moves into toddlerhood, he will begin to pick up, copy, and develop social signals
and behaviors. The child will learn ways to say no, turn taking in conversations, understand
greetings, and engage in play activities. Please see the previous slide and your handout for a
reminder of the various types of communications children will need to see modeled and
explained in order for them to learn these.
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Slide #28 Pragmatic Knowledge: What you can do
As with all communication with young children, nonverbal and verbal communication are
successful when the adult and child are engaged in eye contact and shared reference.
When a child is using gestures, it is important to notice the gesture, identify the meaning of the
gesture and use language responses to indicate to them that their intention was conveyed. If
the child points to a toy car, say, “Do you want to play with this car?” and give them the car.
Ask questions or make suggestions to help them know what to say, “We are going now, say
bye, bye.”
Respond to children’s intended message without correcting them, simply rephrase in the
correct way. If the child says, “That not go there,” respond with, “You are right. That’s not
where the block goes.”
Demonstrate/model how you can use polite language, saying things such as, “Look, Chandler
gave us a spoon. Thank you, Chandler.”
Role play different situations. Using puppets is a great way to act out scenarios. “Dinky wants to
have some more food. What should he say?”
Slide #29 Let’s Review
In the next section, we will look at children’s stages of language acquisition. Before we go on,
let’s review:
There are essentially 5 aspects or components to language knowledge development. These five
are:
Phonetic Knowledge
Semantic Knowledge
Syntactic Knowledge
Morphemic Knowledge
and Pragmatic Knowledge
These aspects are not learned in isolation but are part of the child’s development of language
capabilities. By being aware of these aspects you can identify them in children’s communication
and consider ways to strengthen their language development.
Take a few moments now to pause and complete the matching activity on your handout on
page 5 to help you review each of these aspects.
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The Journey of Language Development
Slide #30 Part 2 - Stages of Language Acquisition
In this second part of the course we will briefly describe the 5 stages of early language
acquisition.
Slide #31 Stages of Language Acquisition
Children acquire and express language in several stages. Interestingly, it has been found that
these stages are universal and children in every culture go through some of the same stages in
early language development.
The stages for language acquisition are:
 Crying
 Babbling
 One Word/holophrastic
 Two—word
 Telegraphic
Slide #32 The Crying Stage
Crying is the first stage in acquiring language. It is considered the child’s first act of
communication. Children cry because they are hungry, sleepy, or in pain. When they cry, they
provoke a response and that response indicates an understanding of this “communication.” By
two months of age, children additionally use other sounds such as coos and gurgles which illicit
reactions from responsive adults and older children.
Watch the video in this slide to see how a child in this stage may coo or gurgle. Pause the video
and record your thoughts on page 5 about how this child is communicating his thoughts and
feelings both verbally and non-verbally? How is the caregiver reading and responding to the
child’s cues?
(Video 2 Learning Matters, Isaiah -2 months)
Slide #33 The Babbling Stage
The second stage of language is the babbling stage. In this stage, children make repetitive
consonant and consonant vowel sounds.
Babbling is important for the child as it allows them to practice making sounds, grouping
sounds together and varying them with intonations. Infants are demonstrating early expressive
phonetic language knowledge. It is as this point when infants can distinguish sounds of any
language and can reproduce them.
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The Journey of Language Development
They are beginning their first conversations at this stage. These conversations are wordless but
they are exchanging in back and forth communications with sounds and intonations. The adults
in these conversations use melodic intonations not typically present in ordinary adult
conversation, using simple words and imitations of the child’s babbling. This is referred to as
“motherese,” a term we discussed earlier.
Any caregiver who has engaged in this type of interaction with a young infant knows how
entertaining and pleasant these conversations can be.
Let’s watch a brief video of one of these “conversations.”
(Video 10 Learning Matters, Ashland -6 months)
As you watch the video, note on your handout on page 5 how Ashland conveys her interest in
the toy and how Ashland’s caregiver uses language to support her exploration. Please pause
video as needed.
Slide #34 The One-Word or Holophrastic Stage
The third stage is the one-word stage or the holophrastic stage.
Typically, the earliest words used by the child may be part of a behavioral ritual, such as saying
“hi,”or “bye,” and the naming of important people, objects, and actions in the child’s life, “Baba
for bottle” or “mama” or “da.” Later, they will use words to guide events, such as “again” or
“more.”
The use of words demonstrates the child’s understanding of symbolic knowledge. They know
the word being used stands for something else. It represents the action, person, or object being
described. Receptively, they may have understood this previously, but in this stage they are
able to expressively display this understanding by using one word to describe their thoughts.
Slide #35 The Two-Word Stage
Next comes the two-word stage.
In any native language, most normally developing children will begin to use two word phrases
around the age of 1.5 years. They use two-word phrases to name and ask for objects, as well as
to find objects. They can better describe objects and define personal belongings by putting two
words together such as, “daddy shoe.”
They will also ask questions and use different intonations to express meaning along with the
two words. They are beginning to put words in an order that follows correct grammar rules. A
child may say, “It fall” to describe blocks falling, not “fall it.”
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The Journey of Language Development
Slide # 36 The Telegraphic Stage
Finally, the last formal stage in early language acquisition is referred to as the telegraphic stage.
In this stage, the child uses multiple words and forms simple sentences. The sentences may
initially lack plurals, articles, or tenses but they do maintain typical word order of person,
action, and object, “Joey throw ball.” Later, children do begin to use some of the grammar and
morphemic components as discussed earlier.
By age four or five, the child is using language in complete sentences and more
conversationally, similar to adult language.
Slide #37 Let’s Review
In the next section, we will look at various receptive and expressive language milestones.
Before we continue, let’s review what we have covered thus far by watching 2 videos. Watch to
identify the stage the child is currently demonstrating.
(Video 24, Learning Matters, Chase – 25 months)
(Video 22, Learning Matters, Lindsey 23 months)
Please refer to your handout, page 6, where you will see a brief description of the stages. While
watching, write down notes of what the child said and then identify which stage the child is in
based on what you heard.
Slide #38 Milestones of Receptive and Expressive Language Development
In this next section, we will review some receptive and expressive language milestones from
birth through 36 months of age.
Please note the rate of language development can vary from child to child. Some will develop
skills more quickly than others; others may be slow even if there are no identified related
problems.
These milestones are general guidelines. Please do not use these suggested guidelines for any
diagnostic purposes. They are meant to give you a basic understanding of what can be expected
in language development at various ages within the infant and toddler years.
Within each age range, we will break down the milestones in terms of:
 Receptive language, the capacity to listen, hear, and understand what is communicated
and

Expressive language, which is the ability to speak and convey messages.
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The Journey of Language Development
Please refer to your handout, pages 6 -10. You will see each of the various milestones to use as
a reference as you go through the next section. Please note this list of milestones is not
comprehensive and identifies only some of the milestones.
Slide #39 Birth - 12 months
We begin with birth through 12 months age, which we have subdivided since there are
significant changes within this first year.
Slide #40 Receptive Language: Birth – 6 months
At birth to 3 months of age, the child may not understand what is being communicated to them
(you should still be talking to them) but they may respond to what they are hearing and seeing
by smiling, making noises, cooing, or quieting. The child will also respond to loud sounds and
other sounds by turning their heads. The child may recognize his caregiver’s voice and respond
with a smile. By 3 months, children are often looking directly at the speaker’s face and focusing
on the speaker’s mouth.
During 4 - 6 months of age, children listen more acutely to sounds, can begin to identify the
sound source, respond to their own name, and distinguish between a familiar voice and a
stranger’s voice. They can also recognize angry and friendly tones.
Slide #41 Receptive Language: 7 – 12 months
The child will begin to understand some interactions. He will begin to notice cause and effect
and repeat or mimic actions. The child may recognize a couple of words by localizing objects
when named. Children may also begin recognizing the names of familiar people. At this age,
children will enjoy music and singing. They may appear to be listening to conversations. They
will have increasing abilities of distinguishing speech from other sounds and are less distracted
by other sounds.
9 - 12 months: Understanding and Interacting
By this age, the child is becoming more interactive in his communications. The understanding of
common words is increasing and he is beginning to understand phrases given in contexts. The
child is also able to follow simple commands that are usually accompanied with visual and voice
cues, such as, “please give it to me” or “put that here.”
Now let’s look at the expressive language skills for this same time frame.
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The Journey of Language Development
Slide #42 Expressive Language: Birth – 6 months
Birth -3 months: Intentional communication
In these first months, the child’s intentional communication will be primarily to indicate needs
and wants, usually hunger or frustration. He will express this by crying. By two months, the
child will “coo” in response to the caregiver’s voice.
4 - 6 months: Responding
The child will now respond to interactions with more vocalizations to indicate pleasure. Her
responses will likely result in a positive response from the caregiver, which will in turn, result in
the child responding more. The child may vocalize in response to singing. Crying is used to
indicate different needs and the child may reject things by turning her head.
Slide #43 Expressive Language: 6 – 12 months
6 - 10 months: Babbling
At this age, the child begins babbling and it becomes more complex over time. Initially, the
babbling will consist of a few different consonants and vowel syllables (like “baba,” “ma,” “co,”
etc.). The child will respond to communications with babbling and try to imitate other speech
sounds. Understanding communication as a two-way process and enjoying initiating the
communication occurs at this time. Children may try to get the attention of others and they
enjoy shared communication experiences, such as looking at pictures.
10 – 12 months: Jargon
The child is now using long chains of babbled sounds, jargon that starts to sound more like
speech; however, the words are still mostly unrecognizable words. The jargon will contain
different types of intonation and pitch. He may begin to greet an adult with a vocalization and
use some gesture with language, such as waving or shaking head for “no.”
Slide #44 12 - 18 months
Now we will look at milestones for the 12- 18 months range. We begin once again with
receptive language milestones.
Slide #45 Receptive Language: 12 – 18 months
The child’s receptive language is ahead of his expressive language, in other words, the child can
now understand more words than he can produce. He may be learning a new word each week.
By 18 months, he may understand up to 50 words. The child may recognize objects and know
what they are used for. By this age, the child will be able to match identical objects and look for
objects removed from sight. The child will be able to follow simple directions, such as “come
here.” More cause and effect relationships are identified, such as knowing that pressing a toy
button will produce a certain sound. The child will know the names of his body parts and be
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The Journey of Language Development
able to point to them on request – something many mothers love to show off. Familiar phrases
will also be more recognized, particularly if accompanied with gestures. The child will notice,
copy, and develop social signals and behaviors, and he will be able to understand greetings.
Slide #46 Expressive Language: 12 – 18 months
The child is now demonstrating expressive language through a combination of gestures, words
and sounds. He may be verbalizing 1 – 2 meaningful words and babble while looking at books.
By 18 months, he may be using 10 -20 meaningful words mixed with jargon. He will request
things, be able to use social signals such as saying “no” with shaking his head, and will use touch
to direct others. He will demonstrate displeasure through gestures and vocalizations. The child
may imitate words, though he may not know the meaning. He is beginning to get more
proficient at communicating emotions, wants, needs, and greetings, through words, sounds and
gestures. He is beginning to learn social skills, such as turn taking and developing intonations.
Slide #47 18 - 24 months
The next age group is 18 to 24 months.
Slide #48 Receptive Language: 18 – 24 months
Once again, the child’s receptive language exceeds his expressive language by even greater
amounts. The child may understand approximately 300 words, as well as a few two-word
combinations, such as “big boy.” The child may understand “wh” questions and can point to
body parts, clothes, objects, toys, and food. The child can discriminate different songs.
Personal pronouns such as my, mine, and you are beginning to be understood. Children at this
age are also starting to understand categories and beginning to fit things into groups, such as
animals, food, and clothes. The child can point to objects in pictures, play simple games, and
imitate some adult behavior. He can understand simple directions, such as “sit down.” He will
show a preference for familiar people and more caution with strangers.
Slide #49 Expressive Language 18 – 24 months
At this age, the child will be able to use around 10 -20 words, including some simple 2 word
combinations. The child is beginning to understand that everything has a name. He may try to
request items using the name of the object. He may refer to himself by name, make some
animal sounds, and say “no.” He is using words more often than gestures. He will begin to put
two syllables together but it will usually be the same syllable duplicated, like “wawa” for water.
He will be more aware of other’s actions and begin to imitate other children. He will try to tell
others of his experience by using jargon mixed with real words. He may chatter away in jargon
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The Journey of Language Development
when looking at a book and sing in jargon as well. He will seek out others to show them things
and interact.
Slide #50 24 - 30 months
We now will look at language development for 24 – 30 months of age.
Slide #51 Receptive Language: 24 -30 months
The child’s understanding of language is growing at a rapid rate. At this age, he can follow two
step directions. He is able to understand about 500 – 900 words (still considerably more than
what he can use expressively). He understands sentences that have simple prepositions, such as
in/on/under, words about different measurements like big and little, and number concepts of
one and two. He also can differentiate between pronouns such as he, she, they, and we.
He is more readily responding to requests from adults.
Slide #52 Expressive Language: 24 -30 months
The child is talking more freely now and by the age of 30 months has an expressive vocabulary
of approximately 200 words. He is starting to use many more 2-word combinations, as well as
beginning to use verbs, personal pronounces, and the ever so joyful possessive pronoun
“mine.” He uses his name to refer to himself. He can answer “who/what” questions and is more
skilled with turn taking and conversation. He initiates pretend play more often and engages in
parallel play with other children. His speech is 75% understandable to family and friends, and
his use of jargon is slowly disappearing.
Slide #53 30 – 36 months
Our final section will be milestones for 30 – 36 months.
Slide #54 Receptive Language: 30 – 36 months
The child can now comprehend 3 word commands and more complex language. He can identify
objects by their use. For example, he can answer questions such as “what do we drink out of?”
and he would show or say, “Cup.” He is able to understand concepts such as “one” and “one
more,” matches colors and shapes, sorts, and attempts simple counting. He is able to
understand instructions with pronouns, such as, “Show me your toy.” He is able to distinguish
and use plurals and answer who, what, where, and why questions.
Slide #55 Expressive Language: 30 – 36 months
At this age, the child can expressively use about 450 words. She can combine nouns, verbs, and
adjectives and can produce 3 word sentences. She asks simple questions, uses plurals, and puts
–ing endings on verbs. She is beginning to use conjunctions such as “and” and “because.” She is
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The Journey of Language Development
comfortable using prepositions and personal pronouns. She can recite nursery rhymes, name
colors, and can giver her first and last name.
This was the last age group. Please keep in mind these were all just guidelines and should not
be used for diagnostic purposes.
Slide #56 Importance of Responsive Interactions
So, those are some of the typical milestones for receptive and expressive language. Before
concluding this course, we want to re-emphasize the importance of responsive interactions. In
this course, we explained the various aspects, stages, and milestones in language development
and some effective interaction strategies you can use to support children in their language
journey. We want to caution that all of these strategies and suggestions still be used in a
responsive manner. In other words, pay attention to the child’s cues. Try to not overwhelm the
child, but communicate in a manner that is pleasant and engaging to the child. Always keep
your interactions positive, warm, and respectful. If the child indicates that he does not want
communication, is tired, sleepy, hungry, or maybe just wanting some quiet time, respond
appropriately. It is important to have numerous verbal interactions with the child, but in a way
that is effective and responsive.
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