Are You Talking to Me?: The Development of Language Skills in Young Children 92 nd Street Y WonderPlay Conference November 2012 Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D

Are You Talking to Me?: The Development of Language Skills in Young Children

92nd Street YWonderPlay Conference

November 2012

Lydia H. Soifer, [email protected] www.soifercenter.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.soifercenter.com/

(c) 2012 The Soifer Center and Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.

Slide 2November 2012

What do you mean when you say…?

• Speech

• Language

• Communication



Oral Language is the Foundation of Literacy



Speak

Write

Listen

Read

Components of Language

Form

Use Content

The Components of Language

• FORM– Sound system– Word structure– Grammar

• CONTENT – Meaning component– Vocabulary and beyond

• USE– Reasons to use language (purposes)– How to use language (intentions)



How Talking and Listening Become Reading and Writing

• Form– Sound System - the essence of decoding– Word Structure - rules for word formation

• Spelling and pronunciation– Grammar - rules for understanding and creating sentences

• Reading comprehension and writing• Content

– Meaning component of language• World knowledge, vocabulary, word knowledge and use

• Use– Purposes and intentions of language

• Reading with intent; purposes for reading/writing; monitoring comprehension



It All Happens So Fast!!18 to 24 months



• Understands 300 words• Uses 50 recognizable words• Speaks more than gestures• Wants to hear stories over & over• Uses rising intonation to ask a question• Shakes head to answer questions• Follows 2 related commands• Begins to use verbs e.g., “do”, “go”• Starts to ask, “What’s that?”

• Talks about what is happening in the moment

• Combines two words e.g., “more juice” and “go car”

• Tells name when asked• Points to 6 or more body parts when

asked• Turns pages of a book• Imitates housework• Joins in songs and familiar rhymes

Two to three years



• Understands over 500 words• Uses 500 words• Is intelligible 50-75% of the time• Engages in eye contact during a

conversation• Holds a conversation for two turns• Uses words to express frustration• Listens to a story for 10-20 minutes• Answers simple “who”, “where”, “what”

questions• Understands and uses simple

prepositions (in, on, out)

• Begins to ask “yes/no” questions• Uses negative phrases, “no want”• Talks to self while playing• Begins to use past tense, “kissed”• Forms plurals by adding –s• Refers to self by name and with the

pronoun, “me”• Uses many 2-3 word utterances• Names pictures; points to pictures

when named• Matches a few colors• Knows “big” and “little”• Holds up fingers to tell age

Three to Four Years



• Understands over 1,000 words• Uses eye contact consistently in

conversation• Asks many questions, including,

“What do” and “Who”• Understands simple time concepts,

morning, lunch time, night, tomorrow• Understands spatial words, in front of,

behind• Begins to use –s for the 3rd person

present tense• Uses can’t and won’t

• Uses and• Uses 3-4 word sentences• Uses more than one sentence type• Can tell a story• Can speak about events in the recent

past• Uses language to comment, question

and respond• Stays with an activity 10-15 minutes• Is 75% intelligible to a stranger

Four to Five Years



• Understands over 2000 words• Uses 1500-2000 words• Speaks clearly most of the time• Describes pictures in complete

sentences• Makes up stories• Uses all simple pronouns correctly• Speaks in 4-5 word sentences and some

longer utterances• Uses past, present, and future tenses• Uses irregular verbs (ate, slept, drank)• Asks, “why”

• Knows common opposites• Can speak of some imaginary conditions,

(I wish…)• Uses some complex sentences• Plays dramatically• Talks a lot• Listens and attends to stories,

conversations and movies• Pronounces most sounds correctly• Discusses remote events• Defines objects by use• Understands “same” and “different”• Stays with an activity for 15 minutes• Uses many sentence types

Verbal Techniques to Facilitate Thinking and Problem Solving with Language

(Paul, 1995)

• Questions to help children formulate ideas• Summarizing• Cloze statements• Requesting elaboration• Preparatory sets • Contingent queries • Comprehension questions• Turn-taking cues• Either – or choices



Gingerbread ManCreating Communication Challenges in the Context of a Thematic Activity

• Questions to help children formulated ideas

– “I think the Gingerbread Man was mean to run away from the old

woman. How do you think she felt?”

• Summarizing

– “Who can tell us all the animals who chased the Gingerbread Man?



Gingerbread Man (continued)

Creating Communication Challenges in the Context of a Thematic Activity

• Cloze statements

– “When the old woman made the Gingerbread Man, she used

________.”

• Requesting elaboration especially with conjunctions

– Child: The Gingerbread Man ran.

– Teacher: Yes, he ran as fast as….”

– Child: The cow chased him.

– Teacher: The cow chased him because…”





• Preparatory sets to let the child know what needs to be

communicated

– “You need to ask her for the glue to finish your mask.”

• Contingent queries used to prompt the child to provide a

missing piece of information.

– Child: “Want crayon.”

– Teacher: “Which crayon do you need?”





• Comprehension questions can be used to elicit

successively higher levels of information starting with

simple perceptual judgments to more complex inferential

comprehension.

– “Which animal was the biggest?”

– “Why did the fox say he’d give the Gingerbread Man a ride?”





• Turn-taking cues that put the conversational ball back in

the child’s court

– “Oh?” (or an expectant pause at the end of an adult utterance)

• Either-or choices used to provide the child with alternative

comments to be used in a situation

– “Do you want more crackers? You can say, ‘Yes, please’ or ‘No,

thank you’ “



Early Signs of Learning DisordersThree to Five Year Olds

• Poor understanding of classroom instructions• Limitations in language expression• Problems comprehending language• Problems learning new words• Problems mastering speech sounds• Poor retention of information when listening or being

read to aloud• Poor or inconsistent mastery of number or letter symbols



Early Signs of Learning DisordersThree to Five Year Olds (continued)

• Limitations in social interactions• Limitations in play• Poor graphomotor skills• Memory problems• Difficulty with time, space, and number concepts• Difficulty learning sequential information• Problems with visual discrimination and/or visual-spatial

weaknesses



Early Signs of Learning DisordersThree to Five Year Olds (continued)

• Difficulty learning color and shape names• Trouble remembering classmates names• Word finding problems• Problems learning nursery rhymes• Persistent articulation/speech problems• Difficulty learning sound patterns and/or sound-symbol

associations• Short attention span for language related activities





Are You Talking to Me?: The Development of Language Skills in Young Children

92nd Street YWonderPlay Conference

November 2012

Lydia H. Soifer, [email protected] www.soifercenter.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.soifercenter.com/

Documents

Are You Talking to Me?: The Development of Language Skills in Young Children 92 nd Street Y WonderPlay Conference November 2012 Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D