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Are You Helping Your Child Enough

With Language?

Recently, car seat manufacturers announced they were changing their installation instructions because they were written at too high a reading level for over half of their customers in the United States. How high was that reading level? The instructions were written on the fifth-grade level.

How can you assure your child will be a successful reader and be able to function at the best of his abilities? First, you must be aware of human development and how children learn.

From of birth to six, children are in a sensitive or critical period of language development, and acquiring language is built into the human being at this age. 90% of our spoken language is in place by the age of six. If a child does not speak by age six, it is almost impossible for her to acquire spoken, written or sign language beyond a two-year-old's comprehension level.

Just as a child learns to walk on his own between nine to eighteen months, language does not have to be taught during this sensitive period of language acquisition. In normal development, a child will say his first word around twelve months and by 30 months will be talking in sentences. Children learn to walk and talk without any instruction. When you are aware of your child's intrinsic developmental abilities, you can be of invaluable assistance in his development.

How can you assist your child in language acquisition? For the child from birth to age three, be sure you give her a quiet environment with clear and meaningful communication. A television blaring from every room is a huge obstacle in a child's language development. Clearly spoken language with lots of repetition is important. Make sure your baby can see your face and mouth when you are speaking. Speak "to" your child, not "at" her. Make her language environment rich by reading stories aloud, singing and including her in everyday home activities such as age-appropriate chores, crafts and games.

Around two and a half years, language is fully formed in the child. At age three, a child should be able to clearly speak in full sentences with correct basic syntax (meaning words are spoken in meaningful order), and each sound in a word is clear and intelligible. Unfortunately, for many children this is not the case. Ear infections, a long illness, separation from parents or physical and environmental challenges can cause language delays. Luckily, the sensitive period for language acquisition continues for another three years. It is critical at age three to analyze your child's spoken language for areas that are weak and not fully formed. Once you recognize areas for language development, you can begin to enrich your child's learning environment in purposeful ways.

If you see any speech difficulties, you need to be sure your child has no physical problems taking in information, such as vision problems, hearing problems and problems with muscle tone in the mouth and tongue. Your pediatrician should be able to help you determine if there are any problems that need attention. After making sure there are no physical problems, or after correcting those problems with glasses, hearing aids, special exercises or whatever your pediatrician recommends, you can begin to enrich you child's language environment and target specific skills.

If your child cannot make certain sounds, sing songs two or three times a day using that sound. For example, If your child cannot say the "f" sound, sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" using only the word "fish," "gift" or "off." Make it fun and silly, and in a few days you will begin to see an improvement in your child's "f" sounds. If your child needs work with multiple sounds, concentrate on one at a time, adding one new sound per week while reviewing the previous ones.

To enrich the language environment, be sure everyone (siblings, grandparents, caregivers) speaks to your child correctly. Some of the mispronounced words your children use are cute and funny, but don't incorporate them into your own speech. A four-year-old student of mine had difficulty with the "d" and "s" sounds and would say "pi-no-thor" for dinosaur. His siblings and parents mimicked his speech, so he came to believe that "pi-no-thor" was the correct pronunciation. Remember to always use correct speech and no "baby-talk." If it's not cute on a 30-year-old, don't let it be cute on a three-year-old.

To help with sentence structure, restate your child's sentence in a clear and kind way. For "doggie eat," restate, "Yes, the dog is eating his food." Be sure to give the child correct and kind input. There is no need to force the child to repeat word or sentences correctly. If he or she sees and hears it correctly, he or she will soon be speaking it correctly. Enrich the environment, and let your child's inherent ability to create language do its job.

To strengthen language development from birth to age three:

• Make sure background noises such as television, radio or video games are minimized
• Speak clearly and correctly
• Make sure your child can see your face and mouth
• Repeat most things you say
• Read aloud to your child every day
• Sing to and with your child

To strengthen development between ages three to six, take a few minutes and analyze your child's speech:

• Does he or she enunciate all the sounds when he or she is speaking? If not, which ones are difficult for him or her?
• Does he or she speak in full sentences? For example, does your child say, "The dog is eating his food." instead of "doggie eat food" or "doggie food"?

If the answers to these two questions are no, contact your pediatrician to have your child's eyes and ears examined, and then begin enriching your child's language environment with skill-specific activities.

Kids Talk is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Ms. Schmidt is founder of a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland. She has over 20 years of experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also creator of a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

For additional information about the KIDS TALK column, please contact us at info@shininglightreading.com or 503.550.3143.

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