Language Development Food for Thought

Apply two cognitive skills developed in the sensorimotor stage to language development:

1. Object permanence: words/symbols represent objects/actions/people that exist even when not immediately visible (symbolic thinking)

2. Means to ends: involves a child’s ability to plan a sequence of actions using either verbal or nonverbal communication

How do Piaget and Vygotsky differ in their approaches?

• Piaget has four discrete stages, Vygotsky has continuous development with no stages

• Piaget: Cognitive development is limited by stages and occurs when assimilation is not possible (adaptation)

• Vygotsky: Cognitive development includes socially transmitted knowledge (cooperative learning and scaffolding), private speech internalizes knowledge

Apply the Zone of Proximal Development to language:

Scaffolding: if a child can’t quite use plural forms correctly on their own, a caregiver or SLP might first provide a model or partial cue; with this support, the child succeeds, and over time the scaffold is removed as the child internalized the skill

Apply behavioralism to Speech Pathology today. Consider how we use this approach to change communicative behaviors:

• The central belief of Behavioralism is that language is learned

• SLPs use this approach through operant conditioning and positive reinforcement.

Consider the differences between accents and dialects (speech and language differences). What is the role of the SLP in contending with these?

• Accent: relates to differences or variations in speech production or pronunciation

• Dialect: both language and speech differences

• Role of the SLP: must understand that these are differences and not disorders. Only if someone with a specific accent or dialect wishes to undergo speech therapy, should SLPs step in.

Discuss how language development could be explained by cognitive interactionists:

• Cognitive interactionists believe that language results from cognition

• Piaget expands on Vygotsky’s theory of language resulting from social interaction

• Cognition: the process of acquiring knowledge can be done through experiences such as social interactions

  • joint attention, play, labeling, conversation