This post will finish the discussion for Cognitive Development and begin discussion of Language Development. We will zero in on the components - Phonological Awareness and Receptive Language. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
First, we look at the component - Phonological Awareness. The learning expectation is: Engages in and enjoys word play with silly sounds and real and nonsense words. The performance indicator is: Plays with words himself if he hears adult modeling rhymes and silly-sounding words. To be truthful, I have not seen many children this age conquering this particular performance indicator even with adult modeling. With adult modeling I do see this 6 months to a year later. We have so many compounding effects of our culture on our children from chemical exposures to bombardment of technology that language development gets lost in translation. This is sad beyond words. However, do not lose hope. Read to children. Play silly word games with them even if they do not play along at first. Stay after it. Until an adult models this, they will never conquer this performance indicator.
Now, we will move on to the component - Receptive Language. The learning expectation for this one is: Understands questions, simple directions, beginning concepts, and the ideas and sequence of stories. The first performance indicator is: Responds to two-part, related directions that are more complex (e.g. "Pick up your shoe and give it to me."). Unless there is a serious language or developmental delay, most children conquer this one by the age of 2 and 1/2 years. Receptive language tends to develop much sooner and broader than spoken language. However, language delay will rear its ugly head with this one as well. I have had children that do not show true comprehension of receptive language until they are almost three. Some children can do the one-step instructions or instructions in sequence. For example, you can tell them to pick up the shoe. Then you tell them separately to hand it to you. The children that can do the instructions in sequence tend to be children with attention problems and the two-step instruction creates an issue for them. However, even these children can build up to the two-step instruction with practice. It will take a conscious effort on the part of the adult to make sure to work through this process. Many parents and teachers do not realize they are not giving a two-step instruction if they have grown accustomed to the instruction in sequence process.
The next performance indicator is: Listens to simple stories and points to associated pictures. This one very much depends on how much a child has had an adult read to them. Listening is a skill that must be developed and that takes practice. I have seen children this age sit through some fairly long books because they had been read to since they were born. I have seen other four year olds not make it through a shorter book because they were not accustomed to having someone read to them. I once told a room full of parents that I as an educator can tell within five minutes how much they read to their children. The children show their level of expertise with listening as soon as you read to them. A parent can lie all they want about how much they read to a child, but the child's ability to listen will tell on them.
The next performance indicator is: Understands possessive nouns ("my," "mine," "yours"). Unlike a lot of other language performance indicators this one is nearly universal. Even children that drag in development understand "my, mine, and yours" fairly quickly. If a child does not understand this one by the age of 2 and 1/2, you will need to have them tested. A severe language delay or disability may be at hand.
The last performance indicator that we will look at this time is: Understands routines. For children that have a daily routine this one comes naturally. Routines have a way of becoming a part of a child's emotional makeup quickly. Children that are not used to routines will resist routines with every fiber of their being until you get them used to it in spite of themselves. Then they calm and settle in. Most parents swear that I have completely changed their child. The difference blows them away. Little children need routines. They thrive when their days progress in an orderly process. It does not have to be an elaborate routine, but when breakfast, lunch, nap, supper, bedtime all occur at the same time everyday, they tend to be happy little campers.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
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