Promoting Early Language Development - Assignment Example

Full Promoting Early Language Development Speech development in toddlers is very important because at this stage, they learn how to communicate their thoughts and feelings well. An adult who supervises and helps develop a child’s speech should be well-equipped with the basic knowledge of early vocabulary and speech development. Since toddlers are still discovering words and their meanings, the help of an adult is very beneficial. Wanting to discover how adults can help toddlers in their speech development, I spent some time with a child whom we will call Joy. In this paper, I will discuss what transpired during the interaction as well as consider what features of speech are likely to promote early language development. Joy is fourteen months old and is starting to communicate with simple words. She is able to identify certain things that she is familiar with. For instance, Joy may not be able to pronounce the name of her white stuffed dog, Snow, very well but she is able to identify her. With the help of her mother, I tried to talk with Joy, first, asking her about her toys. I appreciated them as I got hold of each toy and spoke their common names. For instance, I told Joy what a beautiful dog she has as I held the dog up. Joy said “no” which I interpreted as her telling me not to mind her toy. I then apologized and put down the stuffed dog. However, she pointed at her toy and again said, “no”. Quite lost, I asked, “No? You want me to take the dog then?” It was then that Joy’s mother explained that her toy is named Snow. Therefore, I took the dog and said, “Oh, so your dog’s name is Snow”. Again, Joy pointed at the toy and said, “no” to which I replied, “Yes, the white dog’s name is Snow”. Speaking with a toddler is pretty difficult especially when an adult does not know the vocabularies s/he is familiar with. A person needs to discover a child’s vocabulary first before he can be able to communicate well with him. In the aforementioned conversation, if Joy’s mother was not present at the moment, I would have never understood what Joy was trying to tell me. A toddler has limited vocabulary so s/he is not able to speak in complete sentences yet. In addition to that, the pronunciation is not clear and often times, there are letters which are not well-pronounced. For example, instead of saying Snow, Joy was only able to say “no”. During the entire interaction, I also noticed that she said “doh” for dog, “at” for cat, “dik” and sometimes “dididik” for drink and says a lot of “mama”, “dada”, “baba” and other two-syllable words which often do not make sense to an adult. For these reasons, it is difficult to communicate with a toddler as compared to talking with an adult who is able to utter complete and comprehensible sentences. As I communicated with Joy, I tried to teach her new words through association. For instance, I told her that Snow is a dog. Then, I took another dog and showed her saying, “dog” followed by its name, Rose. I expounded on what I was trying to communicate to her by saying, “Snow is a dog. Rose is a dog. They are both dogs but this is named Snow and this is Rose”. I did this as I held the two dogs up while identifying them. In this manner, I was teaching Joy that Snow and Rose are not one but they are both dogs. The exercise also involved repetition. As I said the names Snow and Rose over and over again together with the word dog, the child is able to comprehend that there is somehow some relation between the words. Repetition will then help the child to remember the words and their associations; grasp their pronunciations and develop early vocabulary. Modeling and demonstration are a fun way of interacting with toddlers. They are able to easily pick up words and meanings without much difficulty while they enjoy the activity. For example, in teaching Joy the word dog, I always say “dog” and the names of her toys as I hold them up for her to see. I was consciously modeling to her how to pronounce the words and to name her toys correctly as well. Moreover, I also make funny barking sounds which she really enjoyed. In this manner, I am able to relay to the child that a dog is an animal that barks. Such demonstration does not simply teach her words and the concept of what a dog is and does but it also encourages her to learn more. Joy also tried to bark which was actually a good exercise for her language development. Other interesting features of speech that promote language well are loudness and pace. Loudness helps to express emotions and this is very important in communicating emotions to a child who does not have a full grasp about the concept of emotions. For instance, when I make the barking sounds, the noise is often loud and the child actually got scared at first. Although an adult would not really want to scare a child, the loudness of the sound alerted Joy that there is a difference in that sound to what she normally hears. Another example is saying “uh oh” in a soft and sad manner when her dog falls from her hands. The soft volume of the sound accompanied by the sadness of the utterance teaches the child that it is not good when a dog falls. Pace is another important aspect that needs to be considered in language development. Pace, just like loudness, helps to express emotions and urgency. For instance, instead of simply saying “uh oh” when the dog falls, I say, “No, no, no, no!” quite quickly as I try to catch the toy. In this way, I am able to relay to the child that the dog should not fall and I could urgently do something to rescue it. Lastly, I noticed that even though the child is not able to speak well, her mother talks to her in complete sentences and she seems to understand what she says. For instance, when the mother said, “Where is Snow?”; Joy simply points to her stuffed toy as opposed to her getting the other dog and handing it to her mother when the latter said, “Give me the dog named Rose”. Speaking in complete sentences is a good exposure for the child’s speech development because she hears more words and at the same time, she also gets used to the arrangement of words in a sentence. As Joy demonstrates, a toddler is able to understand not the sentences per se but perhaps based from clue words such as “give” and “where”. It was also observed that Joy’s mother often uses expansion which I strongly believe promotes early language development. For instance, when Joy said, “Doh, no”; her mother said, “Yes, this is a dog and her name is Snow”. This approach should be encouraged among adults who are speaking with toddlers because it is beneficial to their speech development. Toddlers are at a very early stage of language development so it is very important to speak to them correctly. Sometimes, toddlers could be difficult to understand because they are not able to pronounce the words fully and their vocabulary is very limited. However, adults can help them build their vocabulary, speech and concept of the words through association. For instance, an adult can make a barking sound while presenting different dogs and calling them by their proper names. Modeling and demonstration are exciting features of speech that can enhance a child’s speech development. Loudness and pace can help them understand emotions while expansion increases their vocabulary and gets them used to hearing complete sentences which they will eventually use. Read More