For Parents of Children from Birth to Six Years

Encouraging Language Skills in Young Children

BY ARLENE F. HARDER

"When I was born, I was so surprised I couldn't talk for a year and a half."

— Gracie Allen

"First you have to teach a child to talk, then you have to teach it to be quiet."

— Herbert Victor Prochnow

Some children talk in two- and three-word sentences when they are twelve months old. Others, like Albert Einstein, don't begin to talk until they are three years old. Some are easy to understand, while the pronunciation of others causes parents, and others, to wonder what a child is trying to say. All of these children may be normal and proficient in language when they are grown.

When analyzing your child's speaking language, it can help you to know what they can expect within the language-learning curve. These articles, together with those articles that show you how to put into practice the affirmations your child needs, will help you turn your child into a clear communicator.

If, after reading these articles, you are concerned your child hasn't passed an important milestone, be sure to look at Diagnosing Developmental Delays. If your child does have a problem, you should get the help you need as soon as possible.

Talking: What to expect when

This is a particularly good resource because it has reader’s comments that offer different perspectives on talking. Also, if you are concerned about your child's speech development, please read Diagnosing Developmental Delays.

It’s a Wabbit!”

Learning to say all the sounds of language can take seven years of practice

What a Chatterbox!

By age two, children learn an amazing amount of new words in what is referred to as a Word Spurt.

Look Who’s Talking

Is that babbling and cooing designed just to make us melt? Or is your baby learning language?

Singing With Young Children

The fine art of singing with young children. They don't care if you sing off-key. But it's a great way for kids to learn lots of words.

Can Preschool Children be Taught a Second Language?

As noted in Should Your Child Learn a Second Language?, we expand your understanding of the world by learning more than our mother tongue.

Spoken Language Problems

It is important to identify children whose language is not developing normally so that more specific stimulation and actual intervention can begin as early as possible. In this article from the Learning Disabilities Association of America, these spoken language problems are discussed and a great list of language milestones and activities to encourage language development is included. Check out Diagnosing Developmental Delays if you are uncertain if there is a problem.

© Copyright 2005, Arlene F. Harder, MA, MFT

Two-Year-Olds Build Vocabulary and Grammar Most Delightfully

BY ARLENE F. HARDER, MA, MFT

A few days ago, my friend Iris related a story of a conversation her two-year-old son, Peter, had with his father, Jordan, when Peter was getting a bath. Something happened and Peter said, “Stupid.” His father asked, “Are you calling me stupid?” “No,” said the boy, “I call you Daddy. I said you ARE stupid.”

It's not a word the family encourages, so I believe there was some discussion about using it, though not too much was made of it because then it might develop more attraction that was warranted by a one-time use.

Anyway, since then, Peter has started to call his mother, who is expecting a baby girl in a few months, Daddy. She thinks it’s part of “that Oedipal thing.” He calls himself Mommy. And he revels in the “coupleness” he has with her. Apparently, according to Peter, between them they have a girl baby, which is a stuffed bear.

But then he realized he had a technical problem with this Jordan guy. What to call him? Apparently “stupid” was a one-day deal. Well, after a couple days of brewing on the back burner, Peter came up with “Tiger Daddy.” Jordan rather likes it. The biggest cat around, he says. As for Iris, she’s rather confused at being called Daddy. So Jordan calls her “Daddy, the parent formerly known as Mommy.”

Iris reports that in other ways Peter’s speech is developing well, though she is amused by some of his immature usage. He still says “her” for “she,” as in “Her went up the stairs!” And he knows that a “d” is used in past tense, as in “I washed the dishes.” So when he said “I knowed that,” she corrected him gently by saying, “So you knew that.” He understood that she was correcting him and changed the vowel. “Yeah, I knewed that,” thus keeping the “d” because he knows that's for past tense.

And he is now using the phrase “I feed the kitty.” Before he had said, “I food the kitty.” Anyway, Iris say that no matter what he calls it, the cat gets plenty of food, full measure, packed down, and running over.

Send me your child’s experiments with the English language. I will be glad to share them if I have space.

© Copyright, 2005, Arlene F. Harder, MA, MFT