We use it to describe our inner feelings. It reveals the purity of the heart, the naiveity of youth. Language. It is the fervent tie that binds spirits together towards meaningful relationships and the thoroughfare to accomplishing astounding goals. From earliest times a confusion of language caused breakdowns in communication that did not allow men to achieve their greatest potential; times haven’t changed. Language is one of our greatest blessings and without it our world would crumble and humans would languish in loneliness.

We cherish our child's first words. We wait in anticipation and record the humorous catch phrases such as, "a yittle ear confection" and "Saturday morning raccoons." What we now know about early language skills is that they are our best predictor for success in literacy, later language skills, and academic success. Sadly, one in three children begin a kindergarten curriculum unprepared to learn, with most lacking vocabulary and sentence structure that would allow them to participate fully in the educational environment. Additionally, one in three children experience significant difficulties learning to read. We know that there is a strong correlation between the skills that children have when they begin school and their later academic performance (1). Children who have early language delays often persist with later language difficulties through the academic years because as they progress to tougher subjects, the material is all language-based. The good news is that early language delays are identifiable by age two. What about the late bloomer, the child who hasn't reached a 50-word vocabulary or used two words together by age two? Current research allows us to distinguish more readily between the profile of a late bloomer and that of a child that will face significant language and literacy challenges that would not necessary resolve on their own.

A parent is a child's first and most important teacher. Parents and educators need to have access to conclusions of multiple researchers that make a significant impact on determining a child's level of language competence. It is estimated that in America approximately 8-12% of preschool children have some form of language impairment (2). The red flags appear sometimes before the first word is even uttered. Being aware of the typical patterns of development and the warning signs will help parents feel more confident in their child's growth process.

Acquiring language is a complex process. As we observe the exponential growth, we can't help but stand in awe of the astounding capabilities of the mind of the infant. Born with remarkable mental circuitry, infants depend on outside stimulation, experiences, and interactions to strengthen millions of new connections in the brain. The first two years mark an important period of brain development during which the density of connections in the brain reaches its peak. Caregivers who talk and play often with babies in the early years may have a pronounced impact on babies' later language and cognitive abilities. Babies begin by organizing what they hear; sorting it, and segmenting the streams of speech. As they hear, they start to imitate. Before speaking their first words, babies are soaking up vital concepts such as turn-taking, making eye-contact, and using their voices to achieve desired results. The amount of attention given to these first actions will reinforce their knowledge of the prerequisites for verbal communication.

By the time babies are nine to ten months old, they will begin to intentionally communicate. Being able to recognize and reinforce a baby's non-verbal communication attempts through their use of eye-contact, gestures, and vocalizations is an important step in helping them learn how to crack the language code. Researchers focus on how children are using their language skills to achieve what they want and need. They have identified a collection of pre-linguistic behaviors that predict later language development. These areas include how often babies use acts of communication, how well they communicate their needs, and how well they use gestures and sounds. They also look at their understanding of words and how the babies use objects in their play (3). When babies couple eye-contact, gestures, and/or vocalizations and direct them toward another person they are initiating communication. When the rate of these communicative acts is as frequent as one per minute, the onset of first words is imminent. Although there is a wide range of normal, most babies speak their first words some time between 9 and 18 months. Vocabulary increases gradually by several words a month until the baby reaches 50 words, typically somewhere around 18-24 months. Then some children experience a burst of vocabulary that continues exponentially adding up to eight or nine words a day. Children should be putting two words together around 18 months. By age three, a typical child will have a 900-word vocabulary and be able to create three- to four- word sentences. From this point on, grammatical rules are learned more specifically and articulation becomes clearer. It is helpful to know some of the normal phonological processes that children use when learning sounds. There is a whole host of them from substituting sounds to simplifying consonant clusters (for example, pronouncing the color blue, "bu"). Being aware of when these processes fade helps us know that a child is learning letter sounds and is able to discriminate between them, both important first steps in pre-literacy.

When you see red flags in your child's speech or language development, you should consider discussing these concerns with your pediatrician or local speech-language pathologist rather than waiting to see if the problems will resolve on their own. This advice is particularly applicable to language skills. Academically too much depends on strong early language skills to ignore the warning signs. Being involved in your child's medical history, especially noting ear infections and persistent fluid in the ears that can keep children from hearing sounds, is imperative. There is federal legislation in place for early intervention and help for preschoolers. Research has proven that early intervention is the best way to ward off persistent delays.

In the early years, babies can be given many opportunities to express themselves non-verbally through eye-contact, gestures, and vocalizations. As babies turn into toddlers, face-to-face parent time and special techniques allow children to soak up word orders and learn new vocabulary. For instance, learning to talk about the child's focus of interest is much more helpful than changing the subject to something they may be less interested in - even though you as a parent think he or she might learn more effectively from a different toy. Child-Directed play has been proven very effective. Parents must be interested in, but should not dominate the conversation. They should make comments and allow pauses for children to express their own opinions. This technique helps develop a child’s turn-taking skills. As children grow, their sentences lengthen and their vocabulary explodes. New experiences and outings help aid vocabulary growth. Discussing the day’s events in the evening will aid in building good memory skills. Language games are fun to play and are great for passing time (while waiting in line in the store, running errands in the car, or taking a trip).

The importance of reading to children cannot be overly stressed. Babies will benefit from books beginning from the first few months; toddlers will build their vocabulary; and preschoolers will learn compound sentence structure. Even after children have learned to read, they still need to hear stories expressively read to them. Children benefit from hearing more difficult words because their vocabulary for comprehended words far exceeds their expressive vocabulary in the years to come. When the preschooler has a good feel for alphabet letters and letter sounds, pre-literacy games are fun to add to the day's events. Changing familiar stories to hysterical rhymes and illustrating them with art or singing them to familiar tunes are fun ways to learn rhyming words. Playing with compound words by separating or clapping syllables and other segmental tasks can be favorites in the car. Being observant to the sights and shapes of letters and words around you will build your preschooler's ability to identify letters quickly.

When the school-age child begins reading, the process is made much easier when a combination of whole-language and phonics is used. We know that approximately one-third of children will not learn to read well without the phonics system but that system must then be put into a meaningful context as well (4). A child's foundation for phonological awareness or the perceptual ability to make fine distinctions between sounds and manipulate them will be extremely important to achieving literacy and academic success. A child's metalinguistic ability - the ability to talk about and make conscious judgments about language - will be a useful tool in the early grades. With good metalinguistic skills the child will be able to use more abstract words and understand concepts such as why a tiny caterpillar would have such a long spelling of its name. It will especially help build reading comprehension for figures of speech. As a child advances through the school years, progressing language skills become a key prerequisite in learning to comprehend new topics that will rely heavily on a strong language foundation. Helping your children maximize their potential is simply done through a knowledge of typical development as well as helpful ways to interact with your children, propelling them towards a great academic future.

Believing in the "ounce of prevention" adage was our passion for developing Little Language Products. Parents who have the knowledge to create rich language environments that allow children to maximize their language abilities is the best way to prevent speech and language delays. Little Language Products can be used in addition to core curriculums to bring out important features about language learning. All of our products were developed by a Speech-Language Pathologist with experience in homeschooling preschoolers and with planning for community co-ops. Our music is enjoyed to age eight and features opportunities for building strong communication skills as well as excellent literacy skills. Most of the songs are full of rhyming words and opportunities to manipulate the language to build new stories or humorous endings of existing stories. In addition to the lyrics in the accompanying booklet, ideas for using the songs with your child or in a teaching environment are given on our website. Parents and teachers can enjoy themed craft ideas, games, and accompanying books to read with the songs. There are eight sets of visuals that are free and available for downloading from the website. We are pleased to announce that our Little Language Book/CD combination just won the Education Clearinghouse Award of Excellence in 2002 for the Infant/Toddler division. Our products have also received many favorable national reviews. We are passionate about providing parents with vital information that will help build strong foundations for language and later academic success. We would love to share our products with you.



Laura Dyer, MCD, CCC-SLP
www.littlelanguage.com

(FeatureSource) Don't let stress from parenting rob you of modeling dreams; you may have just landed the most important modeling career of your life. Laura Dyer, author of "Look Who's Talking! How to Enhance Your Child's Language Development Starting at Birth," (Meadowbrook Press) reminds parents of the importance of being super "language" models. She offers the following suggestions:

Understand the importance of language. Strong language skills build a solid foundation for literacy for your child. This, in turn, impacts academic success. It's never too early to begin talking, singing and reading to your baby. Studies show that children whose parents talk to them often have significantly larger vocabularies during the preschool years.

Consult a good resource to check your child's language milestones. Develop a keen awareness of your child's level of comprehension and expression. Read and talk often to your child, matching what you say to their specific level or (one-step ahead). For example, if your child is speaking at the one-word stage, model one- or two-word phrases in a natural way.

Give your child lots of opportunities to communicate. Remember that babies can communicate even before they have words. Look for their gestures, eye-gazing and vocalizations. Model the words they will eventually use.

Follow your child's lead. Let your child choose an object and talk about it with him or her. Expand your child's utterances. Take a two-word phrase and turn it into a four-word sentence. This helps your child learn new vocabulary. Let your child change the topic of conversation and go with the flow.

Refrain from overtly correcting your child's grammatical errors. Children go through phases of learning sounds and grammar. When your child says something ungrammatical, model the correct sentence without drawing attention to the error.

Avoid asking your child lots of yes-or-no questions, especially those to which you already know the answer. Kids are smart and they pay closer attention to real, open-ended questions such as, “What would you like to do today?” Give them a chance to expound on things you see and read in their own words and phrases.

Don’t over-anticipate your child's needs. When you know your child wants something, wait just a few seconds and see how he or she might communicate that with you instead of providing it automatically. Help your child avoid frustration by asking him or her to show you the needed item with a gesture. If your child needs help, provide the words by giving choices of two things and letting your child pick one.

Remember, a child's vocabulary typically grows at least ten-fold between the ages of 18 months and three years. If your child shows warning signs of language delay, consult a speech-language pathologist. The impact of good early language skills is too important to take a “wait-and-see” approach.
Laura Dyer is the author of “Look Who’s Talking!” (Meadowbrook Press). She received her B.S. in communication disorders from Florida State University and her M.C.D. in speech-language pathology from Auburn University. She worked with children and adults as a speech-language therapist for nine years before beginning her own family. She lives near Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and two young sons.

Singing to Your Baby Helps Develop Language Skills

(Featuresource) So you can't carry a tune in a bucket? It doesn't matter; your baby will listen to you more than the woman with the angel-like voice on the lullaby CD. “Music and language have many things in common and work well together to enhance children's development,” says Laura Dyer, author of Look Who's Talking!” (Meadowbrook Press).

You don't have to be musically inclined to enjoy music with your baby; your baby will prefer your voice. If you want to promote a love of music in your childrens' lives, expose them to lots of different kinds of music and show how much it can be enjoyed.

Play music in the background for your baby. This provides an early musical experience for an infant's developing brain. You can sing to your baby and enjoy the quiet music together. You can also leave classical music on for your baby to fall asleep. Some classical music has rhythm similar to the human heartbeat, which is relaxing. Keep the music soft so that it won't over-stimulate your baby.

Movement and music can be used to promote language skills. As your child grows, there are very simple action rhymes that can be done as your child lies on the floor or sits in your lap. Words to songs can help your child learn basic language concepts such as opposites, colors, and vocabulary words (body parts, animals). The words can be changed and personalized to include your child's name. Preschool children can learn how to rhyme easily in a song and can have tons of fun changing regular nursery rhymes to make up stories of their own with funny endings.

Music can play a role in the development of pre-literacy skills. If songs are chosen for the purpose of rhyming and interchanging sounds, they can promote sound awareness, an important pre-literacy building block. For example, if the line of the song says, "Vroom, vroom bumpety bop bop fair," Children could be encouraged to change any of those sounds to make a different rhyming word, or a whole chorus line that emphasizes a different letter sound like, "Zoom, zoom, zumpety zop zop zair."

Laura Dyer has produced a nationally recognized and awarded CD of Little Language Songs each specifically designed to enhance speech and language in some way. The songs are appropriate for children birth to eight, and Laura encourages parents to sing along with their children and talk about the characters and stories in the songs. For more information visit www.littlelanguage.com.
Laura Dyer is the Author of "Look Who's Talking" (Meadowbrook Press)

Do You Watch Saturday Morning "Raccoons"?

(FeatureSource) We cherish our children's first words. We record their unique phrases when they have "a yittle ear confection." But just how serious is language? Laura Dyer, author of "Look Who's Talking!" (Meadowbrook Press), says early language skills are extremely important. "Early language skills are our best predictor for success in literacy, later language skills and academic success."

The Speech Timeline

Before speaking their first words, babies are soaking up important concepts like how to take turns in conversation, make eye-contact and use their voices to achieve desired results.

By the time babies are nine to 10 months old, they will begin to intentionally communicate. “Parents and caregivers need to be in tune to baby's language,” says Dyer. “When your baby shows you an ‘act of communication’ as frequently as one per minute, it means he's on the verge of using his first words.”

Although there is a wide range of normal, most babies speak their first words some time between nine and 18 months. By age three, a typical child will have a 900-word vocabulary and be able to create three- to four-word sentences.

Tips for Parents

There are many things that parents can do to encourage good early language skills in each stage of development. During the first year, parents can encourage babies to use their voices and help them comprehend words by pointing to objects while saying the names. As children grow older, parents can help them build good vocabularies by engaging them in conversation, by playing language games and by reading lots of books. Dyer’s book, "Look Who's Talking!" helps the parent know what the best techniques are for each stage.

“Children who have strong early language skills have a good foundation for literacy,” Dyer says. When children are learning to read, it's easier to recognize and sound out words that they are at least somewhat familiar with. Parents play an important role in helping their children get ready to read. Experts now recommend parents become more educated on pre-literacy building blocks such as language.

When you see red flags in your child's speech or language development, you should consider discussing these concerns with your pediatrician or local speech-language pathologist rather than waiting to see if the problems will resolve on their own. It's imperative to note ear infections and persistent fluid in the ears that can keep children from hearing sounds. Too much depends on early-language skills to ignore the warning signs.

Early language, literacy and academic success go hand in hand. Build your knowledge base in these areas, understand what your role is, and be proactive. Federal laws are in place to provide early intervention to any child showing significant developmental delays. Research has proven that early intervention is the best way to ward off persistent delays. For more information on early intervention programs in your state, visit www.nichcy.org or pick up “Look Who’s Talking!” ($12.00; Meadowbrook Press).