The Importance of Supporting Language Development in the First Three Years

EEC Regulation 7.06 (1) Curriculum

(a) The licensee must provide a well-balanced curriculum. of specific, planned learning experiences that support the social, emotional, physical, intellectual and language development of all children. The curriculum must:

1. be developmentally and linguistically appropriate;

(b) the plan must provide for: opportunities for children of all ages to interact with peers and adults to develop competence in verbal and nonverbal communication by responding to questions; communicating needs, thoughts, and experiences; and describing things and events;

7. educators reading books daily with children of all ages in an engaging manner in group or individualized settings.

The Rationale for the Regulations

“Babies come into the world primed to communicate with adults, who are primed to communicate with them. Their survival and well-being depend on their ability to connect with their caregivers. From babyhood into childhood and beyond, language plays an increasingly important role. Language is central to thinking, social exchange, and sense of self. We use words to reason and plan, exchange information and opinions, and make our wishes known. Language lets us express feelings, wheedle and negotiate, and remind ourselves how to behave. We use words to learn – to ask questions, hypothesize, organize information, and draw conclusions. We also play with words .… In 3 or 4 short years, most of us learn enough language to use words with specificity and zest in all of these ways. Many of us do it in more than one language. ” (Bardige, 2009)

The more words babies and toddlers hear in back-and-forth, engaging conversation, the faster their vocabularies and language skills develop. Children who develop strong communication skills and robust vocabularies as toddlers are likely to become preschoolers who are adept at pretending, telling stories, and asking questions. These strengths contribute to optimal learning from both peers and adults – and to rapidly increasing vocabulary, conceptual understanding, and general knowledge. Children’s vocabularies at age 3 predict reading and math scores at age 9; vocabulary at kindergarten entry is highly correlated with 10th grade reading comprehension.

Books provide interesting things for adults to talk about with very young children. They contain new and interesting words and phrases that are beautiful to hear and fun to say. Infants tune in to the sounds and rhythms of literary language. They enjoy seeing pictures of other babies, familiar objects, and daily routines, and can begin to learn the words for them. Young toddlers like to get into the reading act— – pointing to and naming pictures, imitating sounds and actions, and manipulating pages as they “help” tell the story. For older toddlers, books introduce rich vocabulary, exotic sentence structures, and intriguing concepts. Most important, they can serve as springboards for wide-ranging conversations with adults.

Television and videos are NOT developmentally appropriate for infants and toddlers. In fact, extensive use of such media without accompanying conversation with an adult (common in U.S. homes) can slow down language development. Infants and toddlers learn language through back-and-forth, responsive interaction.

Meeting and Exceeding the Regulations

In order to prevent a life-long achievement gap, educators need to provide a language rich environment for every child, beginning their first day of care, at whatever age. “The quality of talk in child care makes a difference in the speed at which children attain linguistic milestones and in the richness of their vocabulary.” (Bardige, 2009)

Some recommendations are:

Babies:

1. Engage in frequent back-and-forth baby talk conversations.

2. Play babble games.

i. Imitate the baby’s babbling

ii. Record the baby’s babbling and play it back to her

iii. Sing silly songs and gentle lullabies in your home language

iv. Let the baby watch your mouth as you make distinct sounds

3. Use your voice to soothe or arouse the baby..

4. Let a baby listen to lots of different sounds (music, rustling leaves, vacuum cleaner, washing machine)..

5. Talk a lot. Talk about what you are doing, what the baby is doing, what happened yesterday, what will happen today..

6. Blow soap bubbles – use words to encourage the baby to watch, reach for, and pop the bubbles..

7. Show the baby how to look through a cardboard tube. Talk through the tube..

8. Sit by the window and provide words for all the things you see..

9. Have the baby look for hidden toys..

Toddlers

1. “Follow the “CAR” strategy: Follow the child’s lead – Offer a Comment, Ask a question, or Respond by turning her verbal or non-verbal communication into a full sentence..

2. Questions can be a powerful tool for expanding language:

a. Quizzing: Asking for known right answers. “What color is this block?”

b. Open-ended questioning: Asking for opinions, descriptions, predictions, choices, and other unknown information that the child can supply. “What are you building?”

c. Reflective qQuestioning: Asking questions related to a child’s activity that provide insight into his thoughts, expand his play, or prompt further exploration. “I see you are building a tall tower. How will you help it to balance?” or “Where will the people go into your house?”

3. Use songs, rhymes, and games to explore words and concepts:

a. Learn body parts – “Hokey Pokey” and “Where is Thumbkin?”

b. Learn animals and sounds – “Old McDonald”

c. Learn about vehicles – “Wheels on the Bus”

4. Make toddler’s questions into learning opportunities. Provide an answer or help the toddler to figure out the answer on their own.

5. Encourage pretend play and provide new vocabulary for the various play scenes.

6. Make the toddler a photo album with family members, special places, pictures of events. Help the toddler to talk about the pictures and what he remembers.

7. Give toddlers jobs to do. Expand their vocabulary by narrating what they do to complete the chore. Offer new words and opportunities for the toddler to explain what he is doing.

8. Expand toddler’s speech to smooth sentences. Don’t just repeat what the child said, add some more information.

9. If you don’t understand what a toddler says, ask her to repeat it. If you still can’t figure it out, – ask her to show you. Don’t miss the opportunity to expand the toddler’s knowledge.

10. Ask questions that offer choices, support problem solving, solicit ideas, and extend pretend play

This information was taken from the article, Bardige B and Bardige K, Talk to Me, Baby! Supporting Language Development in the First Three Years

“Talk to Me. Baby!” by Betty and M. Kori BardigeResources

Bardige, B. Talk to Me, Baby! How You Can Support Young Children's Language Development. Brooks Publishing, 2009

Bardige B and Bardige K,” Talk to Me, Baby! Supporting Language Development in the First Three Years” Zero to Three, 29(1), page 4. 2008 http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/ZTT29-1_sep_08.pdf?docID=7242

Birckmayer, J., A. Kennedy, & A. Stonehouse. 2010. “Sharing spoken language: Sounds, conversations, and told stories.” Young Children 65 (1): 34-39.

Christ, T. “Research in Review. Bridging the Vocabulary Gap: What the Research Tells Us about Vocabulary Instruction in Early Childhood. “ Young Children, 65(4) 84-91. Go to www.naeyc.org.

Prieto, H.V. “One language, two languages, three languages . . . more?” Young Children 64 (1): 52-53. www.journal.naecy/btj/200901

For information on a wide variety of topics: www.zerotothree.com, www.talaris.org/research/language-communication, www.touchpoints.org,. www.developingchild.harvard.edu , www.Iamyourchild.org, www.pitc.org, www.childcareresearch.org.

Joy – resources are being worked on