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During my high school years, I regularly babysat my little cousins and continuously saw how language development played a role in almost every activity they participated in. One particular moment that stood out to me was when my cousin, Brent, caught on to some of the words I used when I was excited. I remember we were racing his toy cars when his spun out of control and I said “Wow that was crazy!” From that point on, he started to say  “Crazy” almost anytime the situation presented itself. He also copied a lot of the words used in Spongebob. Anything Spongebob said, Brent almost instantly picked up on and repeated it himself. Brent often used sound effects to describe words he couldn’t pronounce. For example, whenever we saw a motorcycle he would point and make the sound a motorcycle makes. I feel like this is a great example of graphophonics because he is connecting the sound effect to the object. However, I remember Brent did have a difficult time when it came to keeping an inside voice. He would often scream to get his point across and was extremely disruptive to the people around him. In groceries stores and restaurants, we would yell and scream to get my Aunt’s attention. I think this shows that his pragmatics weren’t developed at this point in his life. The babysitting I did, particularly with Brent because of how social he was, gave me a better understanding to how language development seen in early childhood is a crucial part of growing up.

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I am currently working in a two year old classroom at The Hills and Atelier. I am becoming more aware as the days go on that children learn language in many different ways and at different ages. For example there is one little girl in my class who does not know many words and that frustrates her so she mumbles gibberish and when you do not understand her she cries and throws a fit. She, though, does not try to repeat words back when you ask her to and she does not remember what words to use in what situations. The language barrier with this child is huge. Then I see a few other children in my class that speak in nearly complete sentences but with a few minor mistakes. For example one little boy came up to me yesterday and said (very proudly I might add) "I'm moving to DEATTLE!" Meaning Seattle.. His teacher and I think that he must have just copied what his mother was saying and misheard her because he does not normally confused "S" and "D". Even though this is my first experience with working with children as young as this I have definitely noticed that learning language is different for everyone. The second child is learning mainly through syntax. He forms sentences in ways that make sense and uses words in the correct order and in the correct scenarios. His pragmatic skills are also what is helping him to advance quicker than the other little girl. I think working with these students individually will help me to adjust my teaching style with each of them and help them progress in ways that best suite their individual needs.

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I understand that language development is started at a very young age, even before birth. I believe that language is developed through many different ways depending on the child and the family. It is important that early childhood readers are presented with many learning techniques and many books. I think that books are the number one item that helps a young child’s language development. Early childhood is a time when children are very curious and interested in learning new things, and language just becomes a special and bigger part of that. As a baby all sounds and gestures are related to language development. As the child enters early childhood classrooms they learn how to make sense of these sounds and put them into words and furthermore sentences.

Over the summer, I was a nanny for a three-year-old who just entered preschool this August. When I first met her she was shy and would not use her words or full and complete sentences around me. Although she was old enough to speak to me properly, she would always use simple one-sentence words and commands without elaborating on what she meant. As I spent more time with her, she was eventually telling me story after story about what she did on weekends and times when I wasn’t present. I also had the chance of watching her spelling improve immensely from the beginning to end of the summer. We would sit down for about twenty minutes a day to color. After coloring, I would have her write the name of what she had drawn. At first, she could not sound out words like flower and family. Eventually, she was writing on her own and asking me, “Is this correct?” She started to realize that the “f” sound occurred in a lot of her drawings like when she would draw her family, farm, and football for her brother. This showed her graphophonic language development with relating certain sounds to many different words and using them to help her sound harder more complex words.

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Language development starts during the nine month pregnancy. As a mother talks to her child as the baby is growing, the baby has adjusted to the sound of their mother's voice. It is very important for parents to recognize and encourage verbal and nonverbal communication. Using facial and physical gestures can promote nonverbal communication while praise, activities, day-to-day routines can help verbal communication.

My 6 year old brother has grown tremendously since the day he was born. From saying key words such as "mom, dad, sister, papa" to saying "excavate and esophagus". Learning a second language as well has brought different language perspectives in his early life. Encouragement was used a lot to help my brother learn a new language and use words that help his dramatic play scheme.As he begins learning how to read, the use of site words and words that he already knows has helped during his process. Books that have intrigued his interest is just another factor. Giving him full attention and having patience with his language development was a key role. I cannot wait to see how his school year goes and how he can grow much more as the years pass.

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Language development starts way before the birth of the child. A common misconception is that language is only verbal. Verbal communication is very important, but language extends into body language, gestures, symbols, ASL, etc. It is vital to recognize your child's non verbal cues and encourage and praise them just as much as their verbal cues. It is important to remember that children learn by watching their caregivers. By playing stimulating games, singing songs, sounding out the names of objects when you drive, and reading every night, you can help aid in the furthering of your child's language skills.

My best friend has twin boys who are eighteen months old, as well as a 3 month old daughter. Watching them progress vocally within the past year and a half has been very exciting. We are in the process of teaching them American Sign Language right now, in addition to extending their English vocabulary. For boys, they are very advanced in their language development. They aren’t forming full sentences, but they can express when they are hungry, tired, upset, etc. The words they say most often are play, mom, dad, dog and “ticka ticka”. We have yet to find out what “ticka ticka” means. They can ask for more food in sign language by tapping their fingertips together, as well as rubbing their stomach in a circular motion for “please”. I am very excited to monitor their progress and see where they will be with their literacy and language skills in the next few months!

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My understanding of language development in early childhood starts from a child’s body language and then finally transitions into into actual language. A child will learn by watching and imitating someone or something.  Using Gestures as you talk or interact with children is the best way of developing language from my understanding. A child will also develop many language skills by remembering things they’ve heard repeatedly such as sing a longs or even phrases used on a constant basis.  Children tend to be under estimated with their language skills, but actually catch on quite fast.

I remember when I use to play and help take care of my cousin I would try to get her say my name or random phrases that I thought of. At first she would only say short words or incomplete phrases. A few months later after hearing me say much of the same phrases and my name over and over again she finally began saying my whole name and repeating words she heard from me/ the television shows she would watch.

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Language development during the early childhood years crucial for them it paves the way for how they are going speak for the rest of their lives. I know that language development takes steps babies don’t come out of the womb talking it’s a process.  I know that the first step is the baby hearing their family’s voice and listening to what is being told of them. Next for them to develop language would be for them to understand what is being told of them to do. Finally they will be able to tell you what they are thinking either verbally or through gestures. Little kids learn words in an instant which is why everyone should always talk to younger kids. The more words they know will affect how big their vocabulary is which will have an overall effect on how they will do in kindergarten.

One experience I have with a child that was learning to speak was when I was with my then 3 year old cousin. He loves watching YouTube videos and would watch the same ones over and over again. He would always try to copy the words the person way saying but there was always a delay when he said it or that he would only say the end of the word that the youtuber was trying to say. One day when he watching them he just started to repeat every word and actually sound really good all the words were clear and pronounced clearly. He was three at the time and now he is five and the words that he knows just shocks me every time I see him. I would of never guessed that YouTube would of played a big part in how many words he knows.

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My understandings of language development in early childhood is that it happens before birth, before we even realize that it is happening and the effect is has on children in the whom. It does not just happen overnight, even though for me that’s how it seems since I don’t remember much of language development from when I was that young. Language is not just about the verbal communication of sounds and words, but it is also nonverbal communication, which includes: gestures, symbols, American Sign (Jalongo,2014) which is why the cues we get from the child are just as important and mean just as much as if they were using verbal communication to tell us what was wrong.

I have not worked with toddler and preschool children in several years; so it is hard for me to see how their language skills have changed and improved for the better. However, today I was at my internship and there was a little boy who was interested in climbing on furniture around the classroom. He was told time and time again not to do it as well as it was very dangerous and he would get hurt if he fell. He understood the meaning of the word “no” but he thought it was funny and continued to do it anyways. At first I was shocked that he kept on climbing on top of things, but I soon realized i would not be shocked for long. He thought it was funny and wanted to continue to do it no matter how many times he was told to stop.

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Children pick up on language so incredibly fast, I have spent a lot of time around preschoolers and it is incredible to hear the difference between a child who has just turned three and a child who is about to turn four. I remember working with a three year old girl who at the very beginning of the year pretty much only spoke and understood Spanish, it was incredibly hard for her to communicate with the other children in the classroom and she was often frustrated, however by the end of the year she was nearly ahead of the entire class.

I also have a cousin who is now six years old, she was born pretty premature and we were not sure how it was going to affect her and other than asthma it has not really affected her at all. From the time she was really little none of ever really used baby talk around her, plus her two older brothers are significantly older than she is which I think makes a huge difference, because at six years old her vocabulary is huge.

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Language development in early childhood as I understand it is a consent development from time you are born for forever. Through this chapter of reading I have
discovered how many different levels and stages children go threw in early
childhood as soon as day one. I find that every step a child takes through learning
and developing language is a build from their pervious knowledge and from the
world around them. It amazing how much development a child goes through from
day one until speaking full sentences and beyond. The first years of life for
child they grow drastically from crying to blabbing noise and words to simple
few words to sentence and then to more and more complicated sentence.

One child that comes to mind with seeing them develop with language is my cousin’s
girl Joymarie. I have seen her grow sense she was born and develop language
along the way. One moment sticks out to me as great development, when she was
about 3 years old at a family event she used a wonderful complete sentence and
being very much a realist at that moment with her words. After ask to get
something off the counter she said, “Mother I cannot stand on that chair
because I may fall and hurt myself”. She enunciated every word so well and
clear everyone was impressed. It was wonderful to see her use such wonderful
sentence and see that her development with language had gotten to a point that
she longer used fragmented sentences to say what she want and was very clear.
She had gotten to the highest stage of development according to the book that a
young child could. This sentence she used was not how she talked all the time
and she still had developing to do at the age of only 3; however, she had her
moments that she well developed in language.

My learning with language as an early child was always being read to by my mother
or siblings.

http://www.123rf.com/photo_12325632_illustration-of-kids-listening-to-a-bedtime-story.html

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Language development is a learning process for children.
Early childhood is the most rapid period of language development. As a child
grows and lives different experiences their language skills are developed and
shaped if they are provided the appropriate support. We can see language development transition rapidly from babbling and gesture making at a young age to
communicating in a complete sentence.

A few weeks ago, I took my god son to his soccer game. He was so thrilled and filled with joy to have me attend his soccer game. I must admit, this 5 year old boy has quite some talent. I picked him up on a Saturday morning at about 8:30am. Upon my arrival, he walked out of the house and I got off the car to help him get into the car. I immediately greeted him and said, “Hello, Good morning.” He replied, “Good morning Nina.” At that time, I didn’t realize this was a clear demonstration of pragmatics. As an adult, it is obvious it is common courtesy when someone says good morning, you reply good morning. Children learn common courtesy and appropriate things to say as they experience it in their everyday routines. I began to question him about school, since he recently started school. I asked, “Do you like school? Is your teacher nice? Do you have any new friends?” We carried on a flowing conversation during our car ride. He understood my questions and I was able to understand his brief answers. We were able to communicate effectively. He replied to each of my questions and indicated, “Yes Nina I like school. I have these friends (showed me three fingers, I assumed represented three friends) He continued to explain, “My friends are Jose and Cynthia and Luis and Axel.” He proceeded to explain that his friend had a “turdle” and he was going to take it to school so everyone in the class can see it. Upon analyzing our conversation, today, I can see the developing semantics and his understanding of the meaning of words in language. He finalized to explain, “Miss Gomez is nice Nina she “teached” us about colors and animals.” After analyzing our conversation, this also demonstrates developing syntax. Although teached is not the appropriate word for use, I can see he somehow understands the rule of past tense by adding -ed. With future experiences and routine communication and interactions with his peers and adults, his language skills will continue to strengthen and develop.

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Language development is always emerging as we go through life. I believe we learn a lot about one another during interactions. I recall a conversation that I had with a student of mine after looking at the picture below. He was a very polite young boy who enjoyed individual activities. One day he asked me to "please read" a book he handed to me making room for me to sit beside him on the couch demonstrating pragmatics of social skills by his politeness. As I began to read the words on the pages he began to point at pictures naming objects he knows like "dog" showing semantics understanding words represent objects and turning the pages to find objects he can name until he finally took the book to read to himself. He demonstrated he is emerging in language and how to use it socially with examples of actions that would be labeled polite and rude by some as he explores books individuallly and part of a group.

I truly believe observations of the child language skills should be in natural settings over a period of time because that is the only way to see a well rounded assessment of their progress. Language is an important part in education and used throughout the day aided by social interaction and environment provided. Only with practice and exposure do individuals build their commutative skills and early childhood allows children their first opportunity of developing one's voice as part of their communities.

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Language development in early childhood is an on-going process from the day (or even before) the child is born. There are quite a lot of theories that explain different views as to why and how language develops in young children. They communicate, even without using exact words, especially when they are babies. Language development grows as children grow; from the sounds of crying to garner attention for a need, to sounds that aren’t quite words, to small words and beyond.

I am the oldest of three kids. I was nine years old when my little sister was born. There was a time where all three of us got pets. I got hamsters, my brother got frogs, and my sister (mostly parents) got zebra finches. Of course the exciting part of getting pets is interacting with them and eventually naming them. My sister was probably two at the time, and decided to name her birds “Tweet-tweet and Ribbet”. Of course we all thought it was cute. But I realize now that she decided to name her birds after her understanding of their sound, and the sound of my brothers pets. She was demonstrating graphonics when she said words that sounded like the noises the animals made. She showed her use of phonemes by matching the sound of the animals with the animal (and even just the animals she has heard within the house.)

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Language development happens early on for children and sometimes even before they are born, while they are in their mother’s womb. It is a step by step, gradual process that occurs. In no way is language development something that occurs over night. Language continues to grow and develop between interactions and experiences a child has.
As I have mainly worked with and been around elementary kids aged 5-12, I don’t have much hands on experience in this early age of learning of language development for children. However, one child that comes to mind was this young girl, Monica. She is a friend of mine’s daughter who I’ve known since she was three or four years old and I actually had her in my kindergarten class the following year at my childcare/after school program. Monica was a great girl, full of energy, and loved to sing and dance and any other dramatic play but she struggled in school, especially with reading and writing. She still liked to talk in “baby talk”, which was a very hard habit for her to grow out of and break. She would always call me “Ms. Assin” instead of “Ms. Allison”.  I worked a lot with her in her pronunciation of words (really sounding them out), encouraging her to use her “big girl voice” and also with spelling and reading. Her Kindergarten teacher saw some concerns and thought she should be tested for learning disabilities and even a high-functioning autism. She got tested but they disregarded autism as a whole, and thought it would be beneficial for her to repeat kindergarten and see how she did after that year. Fortunately, she has progressed and is doing a lot better than she originally was. It was very interesting and informative to be apart of this journey with her and her parents, and to watch her language develop.

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I feel that most people associate language development with preschool or kindergarten aged children. Learning the alphabet, how to read, and how to write begins at the Kindergarten level and is typically what comes to mind when considering the most developmentally crucial time period in a child's life, as far as language skills. However, the text states that the most important time period of language development for a child is actually in their first six months of life (Jalongo, 60). Through reading the text, I have been proven that language is a constant learning and developing process from the moment you are born, and involves so much more than speaking, reading, and writing. Language is our identity and our source of communication and socialization. How we receive, interpret, and relay language really defines us.

I think it especially important to learn about language and its functions as someone who plans on working with young children in the future for my career, to really know what should be expected at certain stages. For example as the text outlines we should only expect cries out of an infant as their language (i.e when they need something such as food, they cry to communicate that they need to be fed), and in three-year-olds we should not expect complete sophisticated sentences. This skill of language rules and complete sentences should not be expected of them until they are between 4-6 years old (Jalongo 75). This reminds of my time working at a childcare center in the classroom of the little 3-year-olds. We had to use the term "Walking Feet!" if they started running around the classroom instead of yelling out at them something along the lines of "do not run, because running is dangerous and you might get hurt if you fall!" For this age, that is far too long of a sentence that will take too long to connect, rather than something they can quickly associate things they do know such walk and feet. When I worked with a Kindergarten classroom on the other hand, they are able to be talked to as little young adults. The picture I selected is of one of the cards a student made me on my last day working with them. It shows the growth and capabilities of a five year old, and their stage in the language development process. This student started off her Kindergarten year writing scribbles, and in one semester is able to write complete sentences and speak full, connecting thoughts. The things children can accomplish absolutely amaze me!

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My understanding of language development is that it is a fascinating process that begins earlier than we think – in the womb – and never truly has an end as we can continue to increase and develop skills in this area. I think the most fascinating part of the process in developing language is when we go from babbling as a baby to transitioning into words and meanings. Children can learn and develop so much in just a few short years, which is amazing to witness.

My niece is two-years-old and I am fortunate to be able to watch her learn and develop skills in all areas. Her language development has begun to really increase and I have seen lots or progression and milestones being met. She is able to correctly use “please” and “thank you”, when appropriate, showing her pragmatic dimension. She can also start to showcase her semantics by understanding the meaning of words; for example, when I visit, she will say “hi” and when I leave, she sees me grab my keys and my purse and will automatically say “bye”. She is still developing in this area as she refers to all four legged animals as “puppies” and is still learning the difference in different types of animals. She can also point out facial and body features such as her nose, eyes, hair, head, feet, etc.

Personally, I am a visual learner and always found it helpful to have pictures and words available to help me complete a task or understand an activity. Reading has also always been a fun aspect of learning for me and there are many ways to use that to my advantage as a future educator.

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Threw my own personal experience I’ve notice that all development including language starts small (or simple) and grows from there. I believe that it is important to build a foundation of vocab that students will understand and build off of each one. For example, toddlers will learn their numbers, colors and animals. That would be there solid foundation. Next they can combine those to make full sentences like; there are 3 yellow cats. I believe that students learn this foundation from constant talking and visual confirmation from a teacher or adult. Also, allowing the student time to talk and/or repeat what you’re saying not only helps them reiterate what the object is but gives them and opportunity to practice saying the word. Lastly, I think it’s very important to simplify words and phrases. An example that I learned for special needs but also works with toddlers is using “walk please”, not “don’t run”. This really simplifies things for the students. When student’s hear “don’t run” first they have to break down the word don’t. Don’t means do not. After, they break that down they have to think about what they shouldn’t do. I shouldn’t be running. Next, the student has to figure out what the opposite of run is. Once they figure all this out is when they finally will start walking. This is a very long and complicated process to go through instead of just simply asking the student to walk.

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Over the last few years I have learned quite a bit about how children develop language. It is very interesting to learn that children start developing their language while still in the womb, all future parents should learn this so they can really engage the belly and do as much as you can before the baby is born. The way that I understand language is that it develops over time and very quickly within the first year. When you are learning about development you learn about the milestones that children are supposed to meet within a specific age range. I definitely witnessed these with my younger cousin Savannah. She is about 12 years younger then me, and she was the first baby/toddler that I spent ample time with and the first person I ever witnessed really evolve. One of the milestones that are met around the age of 2 is knowing body parts. I remember one of her favorite things to do when she was young was the head, shoulder, knees, and toes song and we would always do it about 50 times whenever I came over. Of course at the time I did not think about how she was developing her knowledge and language and communication skills but when I look back on it now. She was really developing well and she was and still is such an intelligent child. Songs were a big part of her language development because my aunt was really into music and singing and she also graduated with a degree in French in college so she also sang songs in French. I think learning words and phrases in other languages can really benefit your development.

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My understanding of language development in early childhood starts before we are born. Children are able to recognize their mother’s voice while in the womb. They are able to absorb knowledge very fast. Young children hear words and they are able to recognize the sounds and definitions of the words and eventually are able to form sentences in the first couple of years.

I have many little cousins who I have watched over growing up. Since they were born I have seen them be attached to my voice and the noises I make to entertain them. Being around my little cousins made me realize how fast they pick up every little thing I say. I can tell that they are developing and understanding components of language by hearing some words that others say and then using them later on. They have even surprised me with some words that I’ve never heard them say before. They will sometimes copy my words. They grow up so fast and learn so much it is amazing.

I am using

a picture of one of my little cousins at the park screaming into the playground

speaker to talk to me. I think he was four in this picture.

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I've been a nanny for a family for the past year, when I started working for them the baby was 10 months old. So I've seen her develop her language skills and everyday I see new things from her. She is 21 months old now and so far she has managed to learn the difference between yes or no. Her favorite has to be "no" she says it all the time and means it. Whenever she falls or can't get up on a chair, she's always saying "help please!" she has developed very well in the pragmatics. Also she says "thank you" a lot, she knows when someone is doing something for her and she is thankful. At her age right now she likes to observe her surroundings and when we are watching television and a commercial will come out talking about Barbie, she goes into her room brings out her barbie and says "doll" and points at the tv. While I'm watching her I always give her directions on what to do and knows what is wrong. She doesn't always pay attention for what I have to say but she knows what I'm saying. At least I know she is understanding. While she interacts with other children, she tries "talking" to them. Has a difficulty getting her point across but manages have them understand her.

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I have worked at a preschool the past two years and have encountered so many different experiences when it comes to children and their language skills. I remember two very different situations where one child's language was heavily lacking while the other one was very profound. There was a girl who was four years old and had a learning disability that limited her speech. She was a very sporadic speaker who would only say something when she needed something or noticed something, she was very observant. She had a hard time communicating when someone would ask her a question. She then went through speech therapy and after about half a year she showed tremendous progress. Not only could she express how she was feeling when we asked her certain question, we got more than just a "yes" or a "no". This increase in her language really changed how she interacted with the other kids. Now the other child that is very advanced in his language was the same age as the other girl Haley, but he could read a map and tell you every country's name. He would point to each country that had its name on it and pronunciate it perfectly. There were countries that I didn't know how to pronounce but he did. He has looked at how the word is spelt and sounds out each letter if he comes across a country he is unfamiliar with. After he has said the word quite a few times and see hows it is spelt he won't forget the name or where its located ever again. Obviously the child is gifted but the way his language has developed so quickly is so interesting to see compared to Haley. The young boy will always chose to read the map book when they have reading time which he also does at home. This routine of reading the same thing has helped him not only expand his vocabulary but the way he speaks is very clear.

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It really is an outstanding phenomenon that we begin to develop our language skills from before we are even born, as we learn to recognize and distinguish the voice of our mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. It is incredible to think about how quickly children are able to develop and understand language, effectively communicating with those who surround them. I think that because I've worked with young children for such a long period of time, beginning when I was 13 years old, I had a better understanding of language development in those early childhood years. Their abilities definitely demonstrated their cognitive growth, and those who excelled were likely to excel in language and literacy in their future.

Since my brother is so much more younger than my sister and me, we have definitely had quite an impact on his language development. While my sister mostly spoke to him in Korean, I always spoke to him in English. Unfortunately, I think that confused him because, for quite some time, he didn't communicate often and would have a difficult time linking words together. At first, because my parents and sister were speaking Korean to him, he would only respond to his Korean name or phrases, but as just a couple of months passed, he became more responsive to English. He would stutter and speak sentences that mixed Korean and English - "Konglish"! This went on for a while until in one moment, he started to realize that it was an ineffective way to communicate, especially to his peers and teachers outside our home. When he would catch himself doing it, even at the young age of four, he stopped in the middle of his sentence, thought to himself quietly, and change his sentence so it would be complete in one language, English or Korean, not a mix of both. He would still mumble and his pragmatics in Korean were much poorer than in English, simply because he was socializing more with English-speaking teachers and peers for a majority of his day. Now, just a little over a decade later, he can barely mutter two sentences in Korean, and couldn't read a five-worded sentence in Korean to save his own life! Presently, his syntax and graphophonics are extremely poor, and have only speak Korean to him! It's interesting how that worked out, isn't it?

Image: [The Bilingual Paradox] Retrieved August 31, 2015 from https://readingstart.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/picture1.jpg

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I used to believe that language development occurred as soon as a child traveled off to pre-school or kindergarten. Now, my understanding of language development in early childhood begins when a child is first born. Children are like a sponges; they absorb just about anything and everything they hear. Even before a child turns one, they hear their mother talking, singing, humming, etc. A child does not have to know how to speak in order to begin the first stages of language development. They recognize sounds, understand words, and then recognize the meanings that go with those words. Language development is an important stage in a child's life- it follows them forever.

I am a nanny of two beautiful, intelligent girls. Savannah, age three, is a ball of energy. She never stops talking, running around, and having fun. Sienna, age 2, is the smartest little girl I have ever known. Sienna was born with two crossed eyes, along with slight muscle dystrophy in her feet. She was, and still is, a healthy baby girl. Just four months ago, she was diagnosed with Autism. I was not surprised when I heard the news, although I was skeptical about how a doctor could know this information about a child at such a young age. What if her "autistic actions" were just actions of a newly 2 year old? But.. I am obviously not a doctor. I have watched Sienna grow from birth until present, and she has progressed so much within the past two months. I have sat in on therapy sessions between Sienna and her mother and watching Sienna smile for the first time since birth brings a smile to my face! We have taught her to stack blocks and count them as she stacks them.. "1, 2, 3, 4.." We have also taught her to say "go" after we say, "ready, set.." which is a huge progression for her. Savannah, her older sister, has been such a tremendous help with teaching Sienna different words. Savannah and I will read with Sienna and point to pictures in books. Sometimes, Sienna will repeat after us! She is the smartest little girl I have ever met, and we are going nowhere but up from here!

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My understanding of language development in early childhood is that it happens in different stages. Like a child will recognize words, recognize the meaning of words, recognize the gestures to go with words, recognize the tone that goes with words, then recognize how to say words, how to form sentences, how to read words, read books, etc. It all happens in different stages, they recognize things individually and then eventually they can form it all together.

I have watched the sweetest little three year old for the past year and a half so I have been lucky enough to see some of the early stages of his language to how he is now and it is such an incredible thing. It's amazing how much kids learn in a short amount of time. They truly are like little sponges taking in every word that they hear and learning the meaning so that they can apply it. It was like one day he was using his sign language and his fragmented words to tell me something, then the next day we were having a full on conversation! He's a very expressive kid so he learned gestures and tone very quickly and was able to apply that very early on in his language development (which was beyond adorable, of course). I've also been watching my younger cousin since he was about 15 months and he is now 23 months and the growth has been unbelievable!

I'm using a soaked up spongebob as my image for two reasons. One, who doesn't love spongebob? And two, this big sponge is a great representation of a child's brain. Just soaking in and retaining everything before they pop and let it all back out into the world with their words!

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Language Development starts before the baby is born. I believe when the infant is in the fetus it can sense the mother’s voice. Books say the mom should read or sing to the baby when she is pregnant. Language development is not a process that happens overnight. Children learn by mostly imitation. It is also a part of development and culture. As children grow, their language development grows as well. A good way to help our children develop language is to talk with your child by providing a good example. You can engage them in your conversations or ask open ended questions. An interaction I had with a toddler that I could identify them having a language development is with my friend's little brother who was 3 at the time. He was having difficult time saying the “r” in my name. He would call me “Mia” for the longest time. One day, he came into the room and said “Maria!!!” It was the cutest thing.

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My understandings of language development is that it can start at birth or even before birth. Language development doesn't happen over night nor does it happen only at home. Each interaction your child has either be with yourself, a friend, family member or a next door neighbor is a great time for them to grow with their language. When we are with our children we should always be actively engaged in a conversation with them, making eye contact, avoiding baby talk, enriching their vocabulary, asking question and always being available to take time to read or tell stories.

I used to babysit a brother and sister. The sister was five and the brother was three. Hunter the little boy was in a very enriched family. They would use a broad spectrum of vocabulary and explain things to him as if he was ten years old. They didn't believe in baby talk, or using smaller vocabulary with him. Hunter could read you a book as if he was in the second grade, he would talk to you like an adult. If he had a problem he wouldn't cry but explain what he did or didn't like what you were doing.

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From my understanding language development is something that takes place very early on in a childs life. Though they cannot verbally respond for quite some time they are still most definetly listening. I have worked with small children who may not be able to say "book" yet, though if I say the word, "book", they will be able to point to one and recognize what it is. Infants are aquiring language everyday that they will use as soon as they learn how to speak. This is why it is soimportant to communicate with your child as soon as they are born. As children grow and develop language they begin to gain an understanding for different demensions of language such as the social interaction system, what words mean, the gramatical system and how to sound words out.

I teach religious school every Sunday to 2nd graders. It is always an adventure with this group of kids. Yesterday we had a discussion about praying, and what it means for everyone when they pray. I wanted to make a point that this experience is different for everyone so I had everyone go around and tell us how they feel or what it is like for them when they pray. I got some great answers like "I feel calm" Or "I like talking to God". Then I came to one little boy who looked very puzzled. I tried to guide him along by repeating my question and giving him some suggestions for possible answers. All of A suddent he looked up at me with beaming eyes and exclaims, "Miss Michelle, I thought you meant prey a different way, like to prey on an animal!" The class all burst out in laughter - I think they thought how he said it was funnier than what he actually said. So I took a moment to clarify the differences between the two and then he gave me a proper answer.

I chose fridge letters for my picture because as a kid I always enjoyed playing with them. Though I thought as the time I was playing I was really also learning. I would sit on the kitchen floor while my mom cooked and she would give me words to spell!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Refrigerator_magnet_1.jpg

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My understanding of language development in early childhood is that is happened in different parts. Although from birth they are always acquiring language, as they progress and grow, they begin to develop more specific parts, such as meaning and understanding, social context of language, different rules, and then eventually they'll begin to develop the sounds of different words. I thought it was really interesting in the text to see examples of these when it came to early childhood because you don't really think of identifying with them specifically.

An interaction that I have had with a toddler that I could identify them developing language is with my cousin who was 3 at the time. I have watched him play with his cars before and when he plays with his cars, he makes it like it real life. He uses sounds that he's recognized before and phrases when it comes to the store line of his cars. I've even seen him play with dinosaurs and he'll used phrases and sounds such as "grrrrrrrr" similar to what a dog makes, and it the cars he'll use "vhrrrrrrrroooom". One thing that I specifically noticed that made me realize he is working on his development is, sometimes he'll use the correct letters and sometimes he won't. The letters are like "Brooklyn", but sometimes instead he'll used one with a similar sound and letter, "Vrooklyn". I find it extremely interesting to see the development that children have over time, especially when it comes to the specifically of language. I never knew that graphophonics played such huge role.

http://www.yellow-door.net/come-alive-phonics/letters-and-sounds-reading-rods

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I always thought that language was something we acquired as we entered elementary school. Now I understand the more a child is exposed to language then the better outcome of that developing child would have. After reading chapter 3 of the Jalongo text, I now recognize that there are many components that come along with language. One key point that really stood out to me was the best way to help and unveil language to a developing child is through play.

I have many related experiences with toddlers and preschoolers. An interaction that comes to mind is when I play games requiring turn taking with my niece (3 years old) and nephew (5 years old). One way I could tell they were developing an understanding of pragmatics was because both my niece and nephew could not wait their turn. They would holler and bicker at one another on whose turn it was. Luckily, I was there to help them understand the meaning of turn taking. Likewise, what it means to be patient. I’m sure at first it didn’t make much sense to them, but as we progressed through the game I would kindly remind them about it. Later on during play time, it got easier. Today, my nephew has a much better concept of what it means to take turns. Unlike my niece who understands, but struggles waiting for her turn.

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My grandson Hart is now two years and nine months old. Tonight in a complete sentence he said, "grandma Chris what are you doing?"This is one of the complete sentence that he has formulated. He usually utters all kinds of sayings, and words. Some are more recognizable than others. The more time I spend with Hart the more I understand what he is saying. Another interesting point is that Hart understands just about any conversation I have with him. When he holds a conversation with me I usually have to ask him to repeat himself, more than once. At another encounter with him he was asking me something that I just could not understand. What he did then was, he took me by the hand and led me to the bathroom, to show me the new kitten. I was amazed at how he knew that he could communicate with me in a different mode. Many conversations have started and have ended with him having to clear things up for me. His of expression, utterance and show and tell always have strong meaning. He is so serious about his use of linguistics. My grandson has taught me two means of communication; para linguistics, which is non-verbal communication and linguistics which is verbal.

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I had to dig really deep to think about my children's language skills. One of my favorites, and one that my children both still do to this day, lay in the frame of pragmatics. From a very early age they both would stare right into our eyes when we were speaking to them. As they got older they continued this trend to the point that they would physically place their hands on our faces. Forcing us to look at them when they wanted to say something. My children are very big into eye contact which leads me to believe that they want us to really hear what they have to say, and not just go in one ear and out the other. Let me just say that going to the movies with them has been extremely challenging, since they have to have you look at them in order to speak with you!

My son on the other hand referred to himself in third person for a little over a year. "Connor wants food, Connor go bed." This form of syntax belies the rules of grammar which do take some time to master. Often children mix up verbs, and pronouns, this is my sons example.

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I have a niece named Britnee, like all little kids Britnee was a little parrot so we all had to be careful what we said around her. Well she heard someone said the word “stupid” and for the next couple of days she would call her mom, dad, brother, basically anyone and anything stupid. My brother and sister in law finally had to tell their daughter that stupid was a bad word and that we are not allowed to say that word any more. If she said the word she would have to go to time out, put her nose to the wall and her hands behind her back. One day my brother and his family were at my parents’ house, we were all sitting around the table playing a Uno. I had to draw 6 cards because everyone kept stacking draw two’s on top of each other. Not thinking I said, “this is stupid.” Britnee looked at me and she said, “Aunt Bree that is a bad word. You need to go to time out right now.” I laughed and in my head and thought I’m not going to time out. But then I thought about it and said if we want to teach Britnee not to use that word then I have to follow the rules as well. So I went to time out. I put my nose on the wall and my hands behind my back for one minute. When I came out of time out I looked at Britnee and said I was sorry for saying that bad word. She told me, “it’s ok Aunt Bree but next time if you say it again then you’ll have to be in time out even longer.”

To this day Britnee still catches people who say the word stupid. It’s quite funny to watch and hear. Britnee is very polite and tries all the time to say please and thank you. Her parents have taught her very well. She just started 1st grade and her teacher compliments her all the time on how polite she is to everyone in the class. This would be an example of pragmatics. Hopefully it sticks with her for the rest of her life!

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I am a paraprofessional specialist and work with preschoolers with cognitive and physical disabilities. Some students are in wheelchairs and others are beginner walkers. There are a total of 6 students am and pm classes. Our students are not speaking just yet, but they are learning. My coworkers and I continue to work with each of our students with speech, singing, assistive devices, and other means of communication.

During circle time, each student picks what they want to hear whether it be reading a book, singing a song, or playing an instrument. If the teacher decides to read a book, she has a student to pick what they want to hear. We have a four year old boy John in the am class, a very energetic runner. At circle time, he decides to pick this book with identifying and singing certain items’ names and sounding the first letter of each. For
example, (monkey, monkey, mmm). He would bounce to the names on each of the items, and makes the first letter sounds as we go along. We continued singing other
items: rabbit, dollie, pumpkin, hammer, lion, tiger, baby, and flower. He did the first letter sounds of all of these items. I can tell that John is developing graphophonics. He is making sounds and trying to speak. I think next year he will begin saying a few words.

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For the last five years I have been a nanny to the Cantoni’s and it has been a fun, exciting few years. Watching two girls can be a handful at times because one is three years older then the other and I constantly here “ I am the oldest, I decided what we play with”. Every summer that I watch them and I help them with language development, fine arts, and math. Their mother provides us at the beginning of summer a book for each of their grade levels and we do a couple of pages a day. At the beginning of one of the summers the youngest Elly was having a hard time understanding what an adjective and adverb were.  We played different games and watched School House Rock to help her better understand them and within a week she was spitting out adverbs and adjectives with everything she said. It was very silly to watch her try to answer, “ What would you like for lunch?” with an adverb or adjective.  As goes for the older one-Emma- she would help Elly with write stories and do mad libs together. At one point I challenged them to come up with a story from different rooms and where not allowed to speak to each other until the story was done. I had Emma a write a sentence to start off the story and then have Elly write the next one and so on and so forth. At the end,  I would have them act out the story as I read it out loud to them, they enjoyed this a lot and learned to work together using

language. By the end of the summer, I saw that Elly had increased her knowledge of language because of the developmental games we played and the way she surprised me with challenging herself to only using certain parts of speech.

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I babysit my two year old niece and nephew on a weekly basis and I have babysat them since they were three months old and it has been amazing to get to see their language develop on so many different levels. I knew that they understood me around six months old because they would kind of babble and make weird noises back at me or giggle when I made  funny noise or faces. As they continued to grow their language began to become more well developed. My niece currently has an extremely large vocabulary for a two year old because she tries to say anything that you say to her. I now realize she is developing semantics if I am watching a movie with her and point out characters or objects, and the next time they come up she points and states what they are, for example in toy story she points out Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato head and other random objects that she is familiar with in the movie. She also does this with objects like bikes, cars, the sky, birds and other animals. I can tell my nephew has began to develop pragmatics because he has learned to say "please" and "thank you" in the correct situations, when he asks for something he says please then responds with thank you when he is given what he wants. They both seem to be developing in graphophonics because although they know how to say "no" and can both understand directions, they choose to not listen sometimes, or they will say no in the wrong context. For example if I ask them if they would like some milk, and I know they do, but they say no, than five minutes later ask for it, that shows me they are just saying "no" to say it, not really to answer a question. I never really thought about the components of language they have been accomplishing and developing in since they were born!

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A young boy recently ran up to my daughter, obviously excited to tell her something that he had done in my class. He said, “…and we used lego!” Immediately, he lost the excited look. He looked slightly surprised at the word that had just come out of his mouth. He scowled slightly, thinking. Finally, he ran over to the counter and pointed at the bag of clay. “We used this!”

The word he had been trying to think of was “play-doh”, but what came to his mind was “lego”. Interestingly, this is not the first time I’ve heard a child mix up those two words. This seems like a good example of a child working on developing semantics. The two words both have the same number of syllables, have similar vowel sounds, and represent items that are used to construct objects. It’s not surprising that young children might mistake one word for the other.

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Katie Morris - Padlet Response #2 Instructions

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Katie Morris - Padlet Response #2 Instructions

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What are your understandings of language development in early childhood?  Explain an interaction with a toddler or preschooler you have seen or experienced (or make one up if you have to) how could you tell that child was developing an understanding some of the components of language (pragmatics, semantics, syntax, graphophonics).  Include an image that represents some aspect of your learning.