This post will continue the discussion of language development finishing up the component - Receptive Language and beginning the component - Expressive Language. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Development Standards (TN-ELDS).
First, let us finish the component - Receptive Language and the learning expectation - Understands questions, simple directions, beginning concepts, and the ideas and sequence of stories. The last performance indicator for this one is: Begins to answer questions such as "What's this?" when looking at a book. To be honest, I have seen a lot of three year olds that do not do this. I have stated on multiple occasions that the questioning from children has all but disappeared. This distresses me greatly. What have we done to our children that we have all but killed a child's natural inquisitiveness? To make matters worse, today's parents do not understand that something is missing. However, grandparents that have been paying attention realize that something is amiss. Is it the electronics and smart phones? Is it processed food or some other environmental factor? I do not know. I do know that many, many children do not have adults that read to them on a regular basis, but the level of decline cannot be fully explained by lack of reading alone. Many children of previous centuries did not have availability to books but they still retained the inert inquisitiveness. This is a truly recent development. People, let these children play outside. Take the smart phones away and feed them whole natural food. It cannot hurt to make these changes and it may reset the downward spiral I have observed.
Now we will move on to the component - Expressive Language. The first learning expectation for this one is: Participates in conversation. The first performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Uses vocabulary of 50+ words; some children can reach up to 200 words. At the age of two years old, a great schism occurs in language development. Some two year olds soar off into the stratosphere while others barely communicate at all. This is the age where personalizing instruction becomes greatly important. Not all two year olds are created equal. This is also the age where a child will begin to display how he/she learns. I have an extensive library of posts on learning styles on this blog. You can use the search engine to find them if you like. They were posted in 2014. A child that does not display a working vocabulary of 50 words by two and a half may need to start receiving language intervention. It could be a sign of development delay or it could also be caused by environmental factors. Both situations call for intervention at different levels.
The next performance indicator is: Asks lots of "what" questions (e.g., "What's this - - - -?"). As I said in the first section, the questioning from children has all but disappeared at this age. I have even seen a large decline in three year olds that ask a lot of these questions. This lack of questioning presents a very large problem because this remains one of the biggest ways that children build vocabulary. If that same child does not have an adult that reads to him/her then the language delay grows even larger. If your two to two and a half year old is not asking questions, you may need to model this behavior for them. Ask them "what's this?" You may also have to tell them the name of the object but you may also jumpstart their own curiosity.
The next performance indicator is: Likes to sing songs. I am happy to finally say that this one is usually universally conquered. Even children with developmental delays learn to sing songs. Something about music connects with all children. However, one note of caution is in order. Be careful, what kind of music in which you expose the children. Many, many childcare providers have situations when children start spouting off pop lyrics that are wholly inappropriate for their age. When children listen to music, they will pick up much more than you bargain for sometimes. Be careful.
The last performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Knows and can say first name. Again, this is one that most children conquer. If a child does not know and can say their first name by two and a half years old, you will most definitely need to have that child tested for developmental problems. This one serves as one of the best indicators of whether or not your child might be on the autistic spectrum.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
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