Children learn to use language because this is an innate ability. They also learn because they have the ability to learn and imitate the people of their environment. This second aspect that contributes in developing language skills is extremely important because children tend to use the vocabulary they hear in their environment and they tend to express themselves in the same manner as the people who surround them. This means that children who live in a linguistically deprived environment will grow up having a limited expressive and receptive linguistic ability.
Educational success is directly correlated with the child’s linguistic ability. Every subject has its own lexicon and children are required to comprehend it and also have the ability to use it appropriately.
Let’s first take a look at how children develop linguistically and later we will take a look on different ways of enhancing their linguistic development from ages 0-12 years of age.
Based on Owens 1992
Children begin to say their first words at the age of 12 months. This happens for many reasons. One of the reasons is because around that age they are able to stand up and even walk which enables them to sustain phonation and produce speech. In addition, around that age, children have the ability to perform symbolic play. Language is a symbolic form so for children to use an arbitrary form to represent an object is definitely a symbolic task.
Now what can we do as parents:
a) We buy the first book for our child as early as possible. There are many nice fabric books for infants. We choose books that have contradicting colors such as black and white. We also choose a revolving toy for our baby´s bed that also has contradicting colors.
b) Everybody in the house interacts with the child using simple language but their sentences are grammatically, phonetically and syntactically correct. We speak about the here and now. What usually happens we tend to simplify our language in so many ways that we are not good enough language models for the toddlers that look up to us. What usually happens at this age range is that most parents tend to simplify their language when they speak to their youngsters. They use shorter sentences and simpler words. There is nothing wrong with this because it actually helps the children to comprehend what it is being said to them. What needs to be avoided though, and we ought to be very careful with it, is the use of simplified words in terms of their phonology, or complete alterations of words. For example, it is not appropriate to say “boo-boo” when the baby got hurt.
c) We try to give meaning to whatever the child is articulating, even babbling. A simple “da” we can translate it to “daddy”, therefore we give the baby the message that his/her verbalizations are meaningful and they convey a message.
d) Once the child produces single words, we try to push him/her to the two-word stage. What we do is that we take that one word that it is being produced by the child and we add to it one or two simple words. For example if the child says “ball” we then say “yes it’s a ball”, “a red ball” or “the ball is up” or “throw the ball” or “roll the ball”.
e) A good technique to use is to comment on most of our actions by using little songs or rhymes. For example we can use songs such as “This is the way we…..” It could be “we wash our hands”, “drying our hands” “taking a bath” etc.
f) We try to spend as much quality time with our child as possible. This means whatever activity we do we sit across from the child so he/she can look at us and focus on us and on what we are saying. We show the child how to use the toys in the right way. We want the child to stop mouthing the toys and instead to start using them appropriately.
g) We try to push the child to the symbolic stage of play. At the age of 17 months the children begin to exhibit pretend play. They can find a toy that has been hidden, therefore we can play “hide and seek”, they can use an object in order to get something else, climb on a chair to get something that is on the kitchen counter, but most importantly they use objects not only functionally but also in pretend. At this age they need life-size realistic toys, such as cups, spoons, forks, milk bottles, dolls to play with.
a) We give our child all kinds of toys. Both boys and girls should be given the opportunity to play with dolls, cars, doll houses, garages, kitchens etc. At this stage, there is a great development in the children’s pretend play. Children can know use little replicas and not life-size realistic toys. They can produce a series of events in their play. For example if our child is cooking, then we suggest that we also set the table and have all the dolls sit down, enjoy their meal and then wash the dishes. We try to push the child to a more advanced stage of symbolic play with a series of events.
b) We use little songs or rhymes to comment on each and every action we take with our child. This is an excellent way to increase both receptive and expressive vocabulary. For example if he/she is washing his/her hands we can sing “This is the way I wash my hands, I wash my hands, I wash my hands, all day long”. In addition, there are excellent songs that teach body parts, colors etc. If we are to allow the child to watch television, then the only dvds he/she can watch might be the ones that have movement songs that teach him/her concepts such as colors, shapes, body parts etc.
c) “Simon says..” is an excellent way to enhance the child’s acoustic abilities and also to improve both receptive and expressive vocabulary.
d) During everyday routines we can teach early on concepts. For example we can cut a slice of bread in different shapes when making a sandwich, we can buy different kinds of pasta (letters, numbers or different kinds of shapes). When taking a bath is an excellent opportunity to teach body parts and when cooking and setting the table children at this age can be our little helpers who can follow directions and also follow a sequence of events.
e) Another excellent idea to teach children the sequence in events is to take photos and then sit with the child and put them in the right order and make your own little stories. For example every morning he/she gets up, gets dressed, washes up, eats breakfast and goes to school. That’s his/her special story that happens almost every day and it is the easiest one to say.
f) Children should visit the bank, the butchery, the supermarket, the post office and any other place we go. Once we go to any of the places mentioned, we explain to the child where we are and we are going to do and if possible the child can help us with doing some of the shopping that needs to be done.
g) Every night we should read a book to our child. Besides the bed time story though, the child should have books with categories, such as the farm animals, the forest animals, the colors, the shapes, community helpers etc. I believe that it is better if we buy books that have heroes that the child can identify him/herself. Once we finish reading the book, instead of asking questions, we can go through the book pages and make false comments about the story. Our child would not only react and respond correctly, but he/she would find this funny or silly.
h) After the age of 3 years, the child can start playing simple board games with us. At this age level we use toys that only use colors and later on we use the ones that incorporate numbers as well. We can also make little memory games, simply by printing photos two times each. We increase the number of cards we use as the child becomes better in remembering the hidden cards. In the same way we can also design simple bingo games with photos of animals, numbers etc.
i) There are also a number of web pages that we can visit with our children that have many educational activities. After the age of 4 years children can manipulate the mouse. Here are some web pages that you can visit with your children:
During this period in our child’s life, we can have “adult-like” conversations. We continue to spend quality time with our children but children of this age group are more independent and can take lots of responsibilities in the house keeping.
Children should be able to help in the house and be responsible for both house chores as well as their home work. Don’t sit next to them when they are doing their homework unless it is the very first few days of school. They need to become independent and have a schedule. It is a great idea to have a simplified calendar on which we can put little signs for special days, upcoming events or responsibilities. Visual cues are very helpful especially during the first couple school years.
It is a great idea to visit parks, museums, churches or archaic monuments with children especially if those monuments are correlated with what they are learning at school.
It is very essential to know of what is going on in our child’s life at school. Both parents should be visiting the teacher so that our child knows that we are fully aware of what is going on at school and that school is a very important part of their life. In addition, we know what they are working on and we try to incorporate any new vocabulary they are using as well as engage our child in conversations about things they are learning.
A great way to learn new vocabulary is to have little collections such as collections of miniatures of different kinds of ships, cars etc.
Another great idea is to subscribe a family magazine or visit their web pages and print out arts and crafts to do either together or by him/herself. They learn the names of the materials and the sequence of events. At the end they can describe how they worked to make their creation.
Save them for rainy days. Board games are an excellent way to learn when having fun. There are excellent games such as “Guess who”, “Articulate” etc. Electronic games should be avoided. Many researchers suggest that electronic games make children anti social and even violent.
During this age level children tend to love television because they have nothing else to do or because all of their friends are watching specific shows and they talk about them during breaks at school. Television should not be an important part of their lives and if possible children should watch educational shows. We can make a contract with them and allow them to watch one show per day once they have completed all their chores and responsibilities.
There are again some excellent web pages for this age level that are really educational. We need to be extremely careful as to what web pages our children are visiting. The internet can be a great source of information for their group projects and for whatever else they need to get information for. Some web pages you can visit with your children are:
Remember always use positive reinforcement!
Maria Paphiti
