Final Self Reflection - Essay Example

? Self Reflection: Childhood Language Development due Childhood Language Development The process of acquiring a language is a very crucial developmental process in the life of human beings. Babies will always almost automatically develop some aspect of communication either naturally through instincts such as smiling or through the influence of both physical and biological environment. The process through which children develop communication, especially language can be innate but in most cases it’s interactive with the environment and usually in a gradual manner. Language as it is is a symbolism of thought that entails a recognized code based on certain acceptable rules through which the people communicate their needs and wants to each other. Therefore language can take any form provided the people communicating are able to decode whatever it presents be it a state of silence, symbol, gesture, body movement, or more specifically, speech and writing. Babies or infants will always acquire a language depending on the contribution of their immediate environment. Therefore, the parents or caregivers always determine how fast a language develops within a baby and which language the baby actually develops during the first five years of development when language is a major aspect of childhood development. The person close to the baby should be keen on the language especially the sounds produced by the baby while monitoring progress which should be steady. In the case of Tim, it is only natural that parents will always be excited about the development progress of the child although some delays will always be negative indicators. Human and Animal Communication on Child Language Development Human beings, in the course of their daily activities, especially interaction with other animals, will always realize superiority in the communication mechanism or language. As it stands, only human beings are the animals with the ability to communicate by speech as opposed to just only signs and other sounds. It is possible that other animals have and develop a communication mechanism based on their interaction with their environment which makes it possible for human beings to develop an understanding between him and other animals. Through repeated actions in a learning process, there is a witnessed understanding between man and close animals like dogs and cats though not through the use of precise speech. Certain actions like ringing a bell and carrying the pets feeding dish are interpreted with accurate meaning by the pets while man is able to determine the feeling or opinion of the pet of satisfaction or dissatisfaction through certain actions. From experiments, it has become possible to train animals especially dolphins and whales to understand the language of man and make similar sounds to correspond to speech. Dolphins have successfully been able to make sounds which bear a relationship to a given syntax after conditioning and staying together with man. The sounds have become distinctive for the syntax between the repeating words to be identified. The process of learning the language in dolphins will provide clarification on why children can make mistakes with their wordings. This occurs if during the first encounter the message and sound was wrongly perceived or decoded and will lead to a repeat of wrong response in future. This is also the case with children who will produce a wrong sound or word, depending on how it was initially perceived. Animals also acquire communication as entertainment through birds singing and other repeated entertaining sounds. Children will equally, in their relaxed environment, produce the babbling and cooing sounds systematically to entertain themselves. Therefore, in analyzing and understanding a baby’s language development and more specifically for the 8 month old Tim, the parents should be able find out whether the baby has been making attempts to produce certain words which the parents speak, though with no precision. It is also important to notice how frequently and in which circumstances, Tim produces a given sound or word. At the month of 8, Tim should be able to mimic certain words from the mother which the mother should strive to repeat to make clear so as to eliminate the initial mistakes that Tim might have perceived as related to the word. Roles of Parents and Others in a Child's Language Development As the toddler develops across various stages from birth, the environment and other related factors determine the language that the baby develops. The sounds and noises in the physical environment of the baby will be what the baby perceives and so can be able to relate to when producing sound. The child will be able to produces sounds or words associated with the noises. In the absence of most of the noises, then the baby will develop the languages from the people close to them like the parents. In the early stages of birth, Tim is expected to be learning about his environment through sensorimotor reflexes. The baby learns to appreciate the independence of other factors and aspects of his life. To improve the communication and language development of Tim, the parents should be able to explore the avenue of the senses by for example making varied facial and tonal expressions. A stern look, a frown and soothing voices are well perceived and decoded appropriately by the baby and will help Tim in communication development. The other significant person in the development of language Tim is the caregiver who should be able to assist with the production of basic sounds. The child depending so much in the sensory motor is capable of reading the lips and making meaning out of that. Therefore, the words most frequently spoken by the caregiver will be repeated by the baby Tim, though with little precision (Otto, 2006). With regular practice and attempts to make the baby repeat the words, Tim will gradually be able to babble some words most common to him. It is expected that by twelve months and not eight, the baby should have at least two words in his vocabulary although the words may not be pronounced with the accuracy and precision. Mum is one such word due to the close interpersonal relationship with the mother. Otherwise, in other circumstances, this may be replaced by other words common to Tim’s environment. Theories on Child Language Development The child’s developments takes place in stages and is defined according to the various theories which are advanced define what happens during each stage of development. The child develops his aspect of play and social aspect as well as language and speech (Otto, 2006). Though very distinct and unrelated, speech is the initial indication as to whether the child is in the right path towards developing a language. The case of Tim seems to be of great concern to the parents due to the delays witnessed in responding to instructions as well as producing the first words or sounds. Piaget’s theory which postulates that children learn greatly through playing could possible explain why Tim’s language or speech learning process is slow. Through playing with words or sound and other items such as toys, children produce sounds related to the circumstances of play. It is therefore important that the parents identify ways of encouraging Tim to play. Sensorimotor as explained by Piaget can be utilized through the favorite toys or most close people in the life of the baby Tim to enhance speech for example by producing certain words when playing with the baby. The behavioral theory by Watson also is important in understanding Tim’s behavior thus far. The behavior and reluctance to develop speech could be as a result of the other factors in the environment that do not provide him with an opportunity to receive information in what is known as receptive language as well as in expressing the sounds and words he can be able to produce in the form of expressive language. At this stage, age of eight months, some children would have started producing babbling sounds as well as cooing sound with close resemblance to some relevant words as regards what they hear or read from the lips of people around them. The Milestones Associated With Toddlerhood The path towards developing speech and actually a coherent language that is understood in the environment of a toddler begins as early as when the baby is about four days old. At seven days, the baby should be able to distinguish the mother’s voice from the voice of the others due to the close proximity and presence of the mother. By two weeks, the baby is capable of distinguishing his or her father’s voice from that of any other man. These are the voices that actually dominate the infant’s immediate environment. Through normal development, by three months, the toddler is expected to make, though not very clear, vowel sounds (Otto, 2006). When the baby attains six months, there is an addition of consonant sounds making it possible to be able to pronounce words such as the common ‘dada’ and ‘mama’ words with no significance or relation to any specific person. The words will only be attached to the right individuals after the twelfth month mark. And will be able to respond to basic commands like take and give more conveniently. The vocabulary of the child then develops gradually to approximately ten real words by the time the toddler is fifteen months. Gestures emerge in the in the toddlers speech by eighteen months when the baby is capable of incorporating verbs into his/her vocabulary. In Tim’s case, if at eight months he has not been able to produce sounds with vowels and consonants, then this is delay in the development process. It is expected that by this time, though not very significant, Tim could have developed at least two words. The delay should be diagnosed to find out whether there exists a medical complication. If that is not the case, then it is important that Tim’s parents understand that development takes place differently in every individual child and should not use norms and other children to gauge the development of Tim. The individual difference from child to child may be attributed to various defects and infection which include slow expressive language development which result from dyslexia. Cases of autism and Down syndrome could also be responsible for the delayed language development. Reference Otto, B. (2006). Language development in early childhood (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall. Read More