Toddler Language Development

Introduction:

Toddlerhood is the period of 1 to 3 years of age. The CDC looks at milestones for toddlers between the ages of 1 & 2, and 2 & 3. During their second year, toddlers begin to move around more and have increased awareness of themselves as well as their surroundings. They also will want to explore new places, become more independent, and imitate the behavior of adults or other children. In terms of language, in their second year, toddlers should recognize names of familiar objects and people in their environment, begin following simple directions, and form simple phrases. Toddlers between the ages of 2 and 3 continue to reach new milestones in how they speak, play, learn, behave, and move. At this age, toddlers experience emotional, learning, social, and thinking changes. In addition, they are able to sort objects by color and shape, imitate adults and other children their age, follow multi-step (2-3 step) directions, and express different emotions. During toddlerhood, there is a transition that occurs from pre-symbolic to symbolic communication. We also see an emerging phase for language, that includes the early emerging phase (18-30 months) and the late emerging phase (31-36 months).

Language Content

Language content is made up of semantics and a child's lexicon. Semantics refers to the meaning or reference behind a word, and the lexicon is the brain's inner cognitive word bank. During toddlerhood, children will make great strides in their language content.

During this time of their life, consonant-vowel combinations will develop (i.e., CV shape, one syllable; and some reduplicated words ex. CVCV like "mama" or "dada"). Their language content grows to around 300-900+ words, and they are learning an average of 7-9 words per day.

• • Number of words acquired by age:

    • 12 months: 1-3 words

    • 15 months: 10 words

    • 18 months: 50-100 words

    • 20 months: 168 words

    • 24 months: 300 words, +/- 150 words

    • 30 months: 546 words

The types of words/word combinations may include nouns, adjectives/modifiers (i.e., "Big", "More") , personal-social words (i.e., "No" "Uh-oh!"), prepositions, pronouns, "function" words (i.e., "Up", "You"), and action verbs.

Language Form

Language form refers to the structure of language (phonology, morphology, and syntax). At the beginning, toddlers will mostly use and understand nouns and verbs (dog run, car go). Their sentences will also gradually increase in length. At two years old they will start using 2-word sentences, and at 3-years old they will create sentences with 3-words or more. The first grammatical morphemes often produced by a toddler are plural -s, grammatical -ing, and possessive -s. Sentences produced may not always have correct syntax (word order), and may often confuse past and plural tense (goed for went). It is important to know that a toddler's speech sound acquisition is a slow process to mastery of phonemes (sounds). Toddler's often use phonemes in places where it does not belong, such as /h/ for and /s/.

Between the ages 1 to 2, we see the emergence of many new words, their ability to begin to name pictures in books, and toddlers will start combining two words to form phrases (i.e., No nap). In addition, they will ask questions like "What's that?", use the phonemes p, b, m, h, and w in words, and we see their first grammatical morphemes.

Between the ages 2 to 3, toddlers will often ask "Why?" in response to things they hear and observe in their environment, and begin combining three words at a time to create longer phrases like "I want it." During this period of learning, they will also begin talking about things that are not directly in sight and have a word to associate with almost everything. In addition, we see the emergence of the use of the following consonants in words: k, g, f, t, d, and n.

Language Use

While developing, toddlers will begin to incorporate different types of language and words as they listen to adults and gather more experiences during their development and life. Their use of language will change and their ability to have conversations and describe will increase. Toddlers will use connecting words such as "because" or "and", include names for groups such as "animals" or "fruits", and learn and understand family terms such as "brother" or "cousin".

Their sentences will begin to increase in complexity. For example, when being descriptive the child may include an explanation, not just a sentence: "I don't like raspberries because of their seeds." Prior in development, language would have been more simple and not included a "because" stating the reason why. This shows how their use continues evolve as they get older and are exposed to more complex language.

The child will engage in more conversational speech. For example, they may start engaging in more storytelling that they are able to begin and end. However, toddlers will need another person to engage with them to help them to stay on track during the story.

Further, they will also begin to tell others what they are thinking or ask questions that interest them to increase their learning. Their questions about topics that they are interested in may begin to become more complex at this point in their development.

Cognition

Typically in toddlerhood, kids learn to make schemas. They categorize objects and make connections between objects and their functions. For example, toddlers will learn that a cup is used for drinking and they will be able to indicate this by putting it up to their mouths. Further, toddlers will also learn that dogs, cats, and birds are types of animals, while cars and dolls are types of toys. Lastly, toddlers will learn to sort objects by color (ex. building blocks).

In addition to categorizing objects, toddlers will learn to name basic objects that they use or interact with on a daily basis. Toddlers should be able to learn through observation and develop ways of obtaining the information they don't know like asking "why" questions. For example, toddlers will imitate their parents by playing house or pretending to make meals.

The toddler will be also able to fulfill the parent's simple directions. For example, the child should be able to come when called over, i.e. "Can your jacket and bring it over here?"

Conclusions

Toddlers continue to develop their skills as they go through this emergent language development stage of their lives. They will also begin to use expressions and words to describe emotions and causality and their language comprehension will exceed their language production. Toddlerhood is a time of immense growth for language and cognitive skills for children! It is important to keep in mind that these numbers (mentioned in the above sections), while important, are not exact. Children develop their skills at different paces and often times that is OK! Consider talking to your child's doctor if you feel they are not achieving their developmental milestones.