This post will continue the discussion of language development in 3 to 4 year olds in the area of learning - Communication. I am still covering the component - Expressive Language. I will start by finishing the performance indicators for the learning expectation: Participates in conversations and then move on to the learning expectation: Uses conventions of speech while expressing ideas. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
First, I will finish up the performance indicators for the learning expectation: Participates in conversations. The last performance indicator for that one is: Continues to ask many "who," "what," "why," and "where" questions. This week I actually started a child that restored my faith in parents to some degree. She is 3 and 1/2 years old, and she actually is 3 and 1/2 years old developmentally instead of being closer to 2 and 1/2 to 3 years old developmentally. She is the first in a while, but I have also had a very long string of boys. Boys will typically lag behind girls developmentally anyway. A good deal of the boys I have had and some of the girls have not really started asking the "w" questions until well after their fourth birthday. I truly believe the lack of "w" questions and the underdeveloped imaginations of today's children go hand in hand. One truly feeds off of the other and when one is lacking the other will be lacking as well. To bolster the amount of "w" questions, I believe you need to stimulate the imagination. How do you stimulate the imagination? Read to the children and give them plenty of uninterrupted free play time where you back off.
Next, we will move on to the learning expectation: Uses conventions of speech while expressing ideas. The first performance indicator for this one is: May combine sentences in conversation. This one very much depends on how well-developed the child's language skills are. When a child reaches a certain level of competency with language, this one will naturally develop. The key to helping along a child's ability to communicate is to make them use their words. If you are allowing a three year old to point and grunt when that child has the capacity to use their words, you are not helping. I know it can be frustrating with some children whose parents allow a lot of pointing and grunting, but in your setting never let that be an option for a 3 year old unless you know for certain that child has serious developmental issues. For moderate to mild developmental issues, pointing and grunting is still not acceptable at 3 years old.
The second performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Expresses both physical and emotional feelings. This one is also heavily tied to how much you make the child use his/her words. A great deal of 3 year old children express feelings of all kinds through fits and screaming and not words. I have even had 4 year olds that mostly used fits and screaming to express emotions. Even positive emotions come out as squeals and rambunctious behavior rather than words. We as a society need to work on understanding our own emotions and being able to express those in appropriate ways. Many young millenial parents do not possess a great deal of competency in this area. They know a lot about drama and how to scream at each other, but not so much about handling emotions in an adult manner. How can we expect their children to have a great deal of emotional intelligence if the parents do not posses a great deal of emotional intelligence? This is one of the major underlying reasons we are seeing hissy fits throughout childhood now instead of just in the toddler years. Your mantra needs to be until we turn this around, "Use your words, please." Teach children about emotions and how to express emotions appropriately.
The third performance indicator is: Uses more plural words but may over-generalize (foots for feet). As long as children pull up their language skills to a somewhat reasonable level, this particular performance indicator usually comes along on its own. Most children hear this enough in conversation to conquer it naturally. If a child has not conquered this one by age 4, developmental screening may be in order. A language delay that involves this one could be considered a fairly serious delay.
The fourth performance indicator is: Understands past tense, adds "ed" to verbs. Again this is one that normally develops naturally unless there is a significant language delay. Although this one may develop later than the plurals. If you see that a child is not understanding past tense by 3 and 1/2, you might want to start working on this one. If a child is understanding past tense but does not use it in conversation, simply correcting their words for a short while should alleviate this. When a child develops random issues with language that do not make logical sense, that might be a sign of high-functioning autism. For example, a child that uses past tense but does not use plurals might throw up a red flag. Autism in early childhood manifests itself in very random ways. Sometimes their issues change from day to day, and there is no rhyme or reason why all of a sudden that has become an issue other than you presented the information in a slightly varying form. Slight variations throw high-functioning autistic children. Remember, never try to diagnose something like autism. Leave that to the experts. However, be aware of the red flags because early intervention does make a huge difference in the life of that child.
The last performance indicator we will look at in the post is: Uses contractions regularly. In American language contractions are so prevalent that this one might actually develop before plurals. "I can't" tends to be one of the first phrases an American toddler learns. If an American born child is not using contractions by 4 years old, that would fall into the category of a random idiosyncrasy that should throw up red flags. It is definitely time to take a good hard look for other random idiosyncrasies that might call for developmental screening.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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