Child Language Development: Toddler to School Age Milestones and Processes

Toddlerhood (ages 1-3)

Transition from preverbal to verbal; begin symbolic communication; motor skills like walking and exploring help language growth.

First words

Symbolic and arbitrary; refer to important people/objects; each word has a lexical entry (sound, meaning, part of speech).

Protowords

Phonetically consistent forms toddlers use before real words (e.g., "ah" for water).

Gestures

Used for joint attention and communication before many words.

Referential gestures

Consistent gestures representing a concept (e.g., waving = "bye-bye").

Gesture + word combinations

Appear before the two-word stage; show transition to sentences.

Mirror neurons

Brain cells that connect gesture and language understanding.

Phoneme attainment

Learning to produce speech sounds; "customary age" = 50% produce correctly, "age of mastery" = nearly all do.

Phonological processes

Simplifications in toddler speech (e.g., "tat" for cat).

Morphology

Learning grammatical morphemes like plurals, -ing, and possessives; mastered by around age 4.

Overgeneralization

Applying grammar rules too broadly (e.g., "goed" for "went").

Syntax

Combining words into short sentences like "baby cry" or "more milk."

Telegraphic speech

Short phrases missing smaller words (e.g., "fishy swim").

Brown's Stages of Syntax

1: MLU 1.0-2.0 (12-26 mo), 2: 2.0-2.5 (27-30 mo), 3: 2.5-3.0 (31-34 mo), 4: 3.0-3.5 (35-40 mo), 5: 3.5-4.0 (41+ mo).

Receptive language

Understanding words and sentences.

Expressive language

Speaking or producing words.

Vocabulary spurt

Rapid word learning between 18-24 months; around 7-9 new words per day.

Overextension

Using one word for many items (e.g., all animals = "dog").

Underextension

Using a word too narrowly (e.g., only calling one book "book").

Word mapping

Linking a new word to its meaning or referent.

Fast mapping

Learning a word after only 1-2 exposures.

Quinean Conundrum

The challenge of figuring out what a new word refers to.

Social cues in word learning

Toddlers rely on adults' gaze, context, and tone to learn meanings.

Preschool period (ages 3-5)

Rapid growth in form, content, and use; begin mastering complex sentences and narratives.

Decontextualized language

Talking about things not present (past/future events, pretend play).

Theory of Mind (ToM)

Understanding others have thoughts and feelings different from your own; develops around 4 years old.

Emergent literacy

Skills that lead to reading and writing (print awareness, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge).

Print awareness

Knowing that print has meaning and follows specific rules (left to right, top to bottom).

Alphabet knowledge

Knowing letters and their sounds.

Phonological awareness

Recognizing and manipulating sounds in spoken words (rhyming, blending, segmenting).

Syllable awareness

Hearing and counting syllables in words.

Rhyming

Recognizing when words have the same ending sounds.

Form in preschool

Increased use of grammatical morphemes, more complex sentence structures, use of compound and complex sentences.

Morphophonemic changes

Sound changes that occur when morphemes combine (e.g., "dogs" vs. "cats").

Derivational morphemes

Prefixes/suffixes that change word meaning or class (e.g., happy → happiness).

Sentence types in preschool

Declarative, negative, interrogative, compound, and complex.

Content in preschool

Vocabulary expansion through shared storybook reading and pretend play.

Relational terms

Words that describe relationships (e.g., before/after, bigger/smaller, above/below).

Deictic terms

Words whose meaning changes based on perspective (e.g., here/there, this/that).

Use in preschool

Improved conversational skills; better topic maintenance, turn taking, and narratives.

Narratives

Personal stories or fictional accounts with a clear structure (beginning, middle, end).

Narrative structure

Includes introduction, initiating event, problem, resolution, and conclusion.

Conversational skills

Ability to initiate, maintain, and close topics appropriately.

Preschoolers and conversation

Begin using more polite forms and understanding indirect requests.

School

age (ages 5 and up) - Focus shifts to using language to learn; develop metalinguistic awareness.

Metalinguistic awareness

Ability to think about and analyze language (e.g., understanding jokes, puns).

Reading to learn

Using reading as a source of new knowledge after learning to read.

Morphological development (school

age) - Learn complex prefixes/suffixes that modify meaning (e.g., un-, -ness, -ly).

Complex syntax

Use of passive voice, clauses, and conjunctions to combine ideas.

Lexical development

Learn new words from reading, context clues, and direct instruction.

Figurative language

Nonliteral language like idioms, metaphors, similes, sarcasm, and humor.

Conversational abilities (school

age) - Adjusting language for listener, staying on topic, adding detail, repairing breakdowns.

Narrative development (school

age) - More organized stories with multiple episodes and clear structure.

Persuasive language

Using language to influence others; develops during late elementary years.

Adolescent language (middle and high school)

Mastery of abstract thinking, humor, sarcasm, and multiple meanings of words.

Figurative and abstract language

Understanding metaphors, irony, and proverbs.

Expository discourse

Explaining, describing, or informing; used in academic settings.

Persuasive discourse

Used to argue a point or convince others.

Social language use

Adjusting tone, register, and style for different social situations.

Adult language

Generally stable but continues to expand with experience; may change due to aging or neurological factors.

Language decline in aging

Word-finding difficulties (tip-of-the-tongue), slower processing, but stable vocabulary.

Cognitive factors in language decline

Slowed processing speed and working memory changes.

Compensatory strategies

Older adults use context, experience, and gestures to support communication.