Language is one of the most complex aspects about being human, and most of us never give it a second thought. Most children are brought up in environments where others talk to and around them; they absorb all that information like sponges and suddenly they start to say their first words between the ages of 12 and 18 months...
... but occasionally they don't, and they may need some help from us to catch up.
The development of language requires pre-linguistic skills such as joint attention, communicating needs and wants by pointing at people and things, noticing and imitating body language and environmental sounds, looking at someone when called, expecting cause and consequence during play, taking motor turns in play... the list goes on. These skills fall under the labels of social communication, play skills, and executive function (i.e., attention, memory, flexibility, task initiation, etc).
By 18 months old, children typically say at least 20 words. By 24 months that number increases to 100 words, which they start combining into short phrases. For this, their vocabulary should consist of nouns, action words, and location words.
Bilingual and monolingual children have similar rates of language delay (Paradis, Genesee & Crago, 2010). From that, we know that bilingualism does not cause a language delay.
Bilingual children may use words from different languages in the same sentence; this is called code-switching and it is normal. By studying the way bilingual children combine words in sentences, we can see that they still follow important rules of the languages they speak (Paradis & Genesee, 1996). This suggests that they acquire each language separately, and alternate them in the same sentence if the rules of both languages can be respected.
When a child doesn't reach certain milestones, we should investigate why. Delays in pre-linguistic skills such as joint attention and social communication may be indicative of developmental disorders (Tager-Flusberg & Caronna, 2007). They could also be indicators of difficulties in other areas of executive function, which tells us that the child needs further support in those areas. We should act on it, support their executive functioning and social communication, and build a solid base for the development of language.
Language abilities are a predictor of academic success. Preschool language difficulties are associated with reduced school readiness (Hammer et al., 2017), hence the importance of early intervention.
An assessment by a Speech-Language Pathologist would tell you if your child is reaching their milestones and how to support them, be it through early intervention, parent coaching, or further assessment by another healthcare professional.
Do you have questions about language milestones or early intervention? Send us a message!
References and Resources:
Paradis, J., & Genesee, F. (1996). Syntactic Acquisition in Bilingual Children: Autonomous or Interdependent? Studies in Second Language Acquisition,18(1), 1-25. doi:10.1017/S0272263100014662
Comentários