We will now switch gears from Language Development to Cognitive Development zeroing in on the area of learning - Early Literacy. We will cover both of the learning expectations for the component - Verbal Expression and Communication. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
We will start with the learning expectation: Engages verbally with stories in books and movies. The first performance indicator is: Makes relevant comments and asks logical questions about the story; begins to predict what will happen next. I know I speak for many early childhood teachers when I say that at 3 years old we do well to get them to sit for an entire story. Asking them to verbally engage with the story might be asking a little much from many 3 year olds. Truthfully for most children that start at my program as 3 year olds, I will not get this behavior until they are 4 years old. Sometimes it does not show until closer to 4 and 1/2 years old if they started after they were 3 and 1/2 years old. It is a sad commentary on our culture that many children are so book deprived that it takes nearly a year in a literacy rich environment to catch them up to speed. Those children that I have had since they were toddlers will display this behavior at 3 years old because they grew up in a literacy rich environment. Most parents do not understand how much they deprive their children by not reading to them. It makes that big a difference.
The second performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Tells own story, with a sequence, using one or more pictures. Unless a 3 year old is in an environment where this is practiced, this skill will not emerge on its own. The same is true of a 4 year old. This has to be introduced by a teacher and demonstrated. Only the top 20% of children MIGHT develop this skill on their own. In my facility we do creative writing lessons on a regular basis. My 3 year olds can come up with elaborate stories because they have watched the older children and have had lots of practice. Sequencing is one of those skills, a left-brain skill, that requires direct instruction unless the child is very heavily left-brain dominate. Many children these days struggle with a sequencing activity unless they have had lots of practice at it.
Now we will move on to the second learning expectation: Uses more advanced sentence structure and varied vocabulary in verbal expression. The first performance indicator is: Speaks in longer sentences, using more adjectives and adverbs, and some clauses beginning with when, if, after; asks to have unknown words explained. Again, I am not really seeing this behavior until right at or after 4 years old. Children from literacy-rich environments conquer this around 3 and 1/2, but unfortunately that does not include a great deal of children these days. Children in literacy-rich programs but literacy-poor homes still drag behind those children that spend all of their waking hours in literacy-rich environments. What do I mean by literacy-rich? The child is read to at least once per day usually more. The child is able to engage in conversation with adults and not just children his/her own age. A child is a literacy-rich environment hears lots of words in a day - around 1000. Whereas, children in literacy-poor environments hear an average of 200 words per day. This makes a huge difference in development. This is why children with educated parents tend to do better than children with uneducated parents. The educated parents tend to use a much wider variety of vocabulary around the children.
The last performance indicator for that learning expectation is: Asks for names of unknown objects, colors, etc. I have actually seen a decrease in this inquisitiveness in kids recently. A decade ago, 3 and 4 year old children were known for driving adults crazy with questions. Now, they still drive adults crazy but most of it is hissy fits and whining. The questions have diminished greatly. I have my theories on why this is occurring, but I have yet to see any studies on this yet. However, I know more and more studies have been done on how social media is causing people to become more isolated. It only makes sense that the same is happening to children. I know from experience that parents arrive to pick up their children talking on their cell phone and never stop while they sign out, pick up their kid, and leave. The child never really gets acknowledged at all except to be crammed in a carseat and strapped in. The parent then drives away still talking on the cell phone. People, when a child's emotional needs for attachment are not being met, then all other areas of development will suffer. The questions have disappeared and been replaced with hissy fits and whining because the children need attention. Parents, please put down the phones and start paying attention to your children.
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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