Children learn to express themselves through language acquisition at different times, depending who their primary caregivers are and how much communication is taking place. Also, language development can be enhanced if the child has older siblings who are talking and interacting with them on a regular basis. Nevertheless, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, your child should progress through definite stages of language development.
Significance
A mother or primary caregiver and her baby begin communicating verbally and visually in the first months of the baby's life. This period of time is extremely important in the development of many skills, the most critical being the ability to verbalize. A report on "Children and Mental Health" by the Surgeon General notes that if a child does not receive this exchange of verbalization, he may experience delays in reading and writing skills later, as well as mental health issues.
Considerations
A baby's brain develops the capacity for language in the first three years of his life. There are specific guidelines a parent should look for in her child. When a baby is six months old, he should be making sounds such as "da-da," or "ba-ba." When she is 18 months, your baby should be able to say eight to 10 words. By 24 months, most toddlers can say rudimentary sentences such as "more milk."
Time Frame
By the time a child is 4 years old, she should be able to articulate and recognize colors, group objects together in a sentence, and be understood by people outside the family. Between ages 4 and 5, your child should be able to use the past tense and her vocabulary should be in the category of 300 words. By the age of 5, this number should be increased seven times; your child should know 2,000 words.
Differences in Learning
Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Haifa released a study in 2008 demonstrating how differently boys and girls learn language. Through magnetic resonance imaging of the brain activity of boys and girls while they were engaged in writing and spelling exercises, scientists found that girls had greater activation in the language area of the brain whether they were seeing or hearing words. Conversely, the auditory and visual centers of boys brains had to work much harder. This discovery could help teachers in the areas of testing. While it wouldn't make a difference in whether the girls were administered tests orally or visually, it could make a difference in how boys are tested. However, this is only one theory and it seems to be supported by advocates of single-sex schools.
Warning
Parents should be cognizant of how their child is communicating right from the start of his life. It does not help the child if you delay interventions that you could obtain through your primary pediatrician if your child is not progressing through expected language acquisition stages. If you wait too long, the necessary language skills your child needs will only be harder for him to achieve.
