child lang (week 2)

Behaviorism

Learning through rewards and punishment.

B.F. Skinner

Proposed that language is a learned behavior like any habit.

Behaviorist language learning process

1. Child attempts a word or sound → 2. Child receives a reward → 3. Adult shapes the behavior by reinforcing increasingly complex words or sounds.

Positive reinforcement

Praise, a hug, or giving the child what was requested.

Negative reinforcement

Removing something the child does not like.

Punishment

Adding something unpleasant or taking away something pleasant.

Shaping

Reinforcing a child's behavior as more words or sounds are added.

Language development theories

Behaviorist theory, Constructivist theory, Social Interactionist theory, and Emergentist theory.

Emergentist Theory

The interaction between internal learning capability and the environment.

Emergentist Theory in action

A good learner + language-rich environment = great language; good learner + poor language environment = good language; poor learner + good language environment = good language; poor learner + poor language environment = poor language.

Emergentist Theory strength

Helps generate hypotheses about specific factors influencing language learning and incorporates both personal and environmental factors.

Emergentist Theory weakness

Can be so broad that it is difficult to determine what is most helpful or how factors work together.

Developmental milestones

Things most children can do by a certain age.

Developmental milestone criterion

Based on what at least 75% of children can do by a certain age according to the ASHA/CDC information presented.

Why SLPs need developmental milestones

They help SLPs understand development, perform differential diagnosis, write appropriate goals, and determine when referrals to PT/OT may be needed.

Differential diagnosis

Determining whether a language delay is isolated or part of a broader developmental delay.

Developmental-age goals

Goals should be appropriate to the child's developmental age.

Language and development

Language develops in parallel with cognitive, play, and motor milestones.

0–3 month milestones

Recognizes loved ones; is alert to sound; turns head to voices; moves arms and legs; holds head up on tummy.

4–6 month milestones

Responds to facial expressions; smiles and giggles; reacts to toys that make sounds; joint attention emerges.

Joint attention

A shared focus of attention involving the child and another person.

7–9 month milestones

Looks for objects dropped out of sight; enjoys movements such as bouncing or rocking; sits up independently.

10–12 month milestones

Can crawl; takes first steps; points.

13–18 month milestones

Walks independently; finger feeds; tries to use a spoon; helps with some self-care such as getting dressed.

Social Play

How children play with others.

Object Play

How children play with objects.

Stages of Social Play

Unoccupied → solitary → onlooker → parallel → associative → collaborative.

Unoccupied play

Watching without engaging.

Solitary play

Playing alone and with different materials than peers.

Onlooker play

Watching and talking about peers' play without engaging.

Parallel play

Playing beside peers but independently.

Associative play

Playing with peers and using the same materials but without a shared purpose.

Collaborative play

Playing with peers using the same materials with a shared purpose.

Stages of Object Play

Exploratory play → relational play → functional play → symbolic play.

Exploratory play

Exploring single objects; approximately 2–4 months.

Relational play

Exploring two or more objects together; approximately 5–10 months.

Functional play

Relating objects in conventional ways; approximately 10–12 months.

Symbolic play

Using objects in a nonliteral way; approximately 12–18 months.

Importance of symbolic play

Symbolic play is a gateway to language development.

Language

A complex and dynamic system of conventional symbols used in various modes for thought and communication.

Three language domains

Form, content, and use.

Form

Phonology, morphology, and syntax.

Content

Semantics.

Use

Pragmatics.

Five language subdomains

Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Phonology

The sound system of the language.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of language identified in the phonology section.

Morphology

How words are formed and structured.

Morpheme

The smallest unit of language that expresses meaning.

Bound morpheme

A morpheme that must be attached to another form.

Free morpheme

A morpheme that can stand alone.

Plural -s

An example of a morpheme.

Syntax

How words are arranged.

Semantics

The meaning of language; vocabulary.

Pragmatics

How we use language; pragmatic use varies by culture.

Receptive language

Understanding language.

Expressive language

Sharing thoughts through words, signs, gestures, and other forms.

Three stages of language development

Prelinguistic stages → illocutionary stage → locutionary/linguistic stage.

Perlocutionary Stage

The birth–9 month stage characterized by unintentional communication.

Perlocutionary communication process

Child produces unintentional behavior → caregiver interprets the behavior → caregiver assigns meaning to the behavior.

Perlocutionary examples

Burping and vocalizations; cooing may be interpreted by a caregiver as pleasure.

Illocutionary Stage

The stage in which children use gestures and nonlinguistic vocalizations intentionally to communicate.

Illocutionary communication process

Child uses a gesture and/or nonlinguistic vocalization → child communicates intentionally.

Protodeclarative

Gesturing and/or vocalizing to point out an object or event.

Protoimperative

Gesturing and/or vocalizing to request an object or event.

Locutionary Stage

The 12+ month stage characterized by talking and primitive speech acts at the one-word stage.

Primitive speech acts

Label; answer; request an action; request an answer; call; greet; protest; repeat/imitate.

Label

A primitive speech act used to identify something.

Answer

A primitive speech act used to provide an answer.

Request an action

A primitive speech act used to request an action.

Request an answer

A primitive speech act used to request an answer.

Call

A primitive speech act used to get someone's attention.

Greet

A primitive speech act used to greet someone.

Protest

A primitive speech act used to protest or reject something.

Repeat/imitate

A primitive speech act involving repetition or imitation.

Communicative act rate during illocutionary stage

Approximately 2.5 communicative acts per minute during free play.

Communicative act rate during locutionary stage

Approximately 5 communicative acts per minute during free play.

Gesture as a leading indicator

Gesture + word combinations appear before two-word utterances and predict their onset.

Gesture development timeline

8–12 months: single gestures only → approximately 10–12 months: begins pointing → 12–18 months: gesture + word-like approximation → 18–24 months: gesture + word or word combination.

Gesture and later word use

Gesture is highly predictive of later word use.

Cooing

Birth–3 month communication milestone.

Canonical babbling

7–9 month communication milestone.

Variegated babbling

9–10 month communication milestone.

True word

A word that resembles the adult form and is used consistently across contexts.

First words

Approximately 10–12 month milestone.

Vocabulary burst

At approximately 18–24 months, vocabulary reaches at least 50 words.

Two-word stage

Approximately 18–24 months.

Two-word utterances

Become consistent at approximately 18–24 months.

24–36 month milestones

Grammar takes hold; MLU climbs from approximately 2.0 toward 3.0; follows two-part directions; understands opposites; sorts by category; parallel play progresses into associative play.

3–4 year milestones

Sentences lengthen and embed; asks and answers wh-questions; sustains a few conversational turns; plays cooperatively with a role and a plan.

4–5 year milestones

Tells a sequenced personal narrative; follows three-step directions; shows emergent literacy behaviors.

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

A measure referenced in the slides for language development; it climbs from approximately 2.0 toward 3.0 during 24–36 months.

Developmental milestone interpretation

Milestones describe typical patterns and do not diagnose.

Questions to ask about a developmental norm

Who was in the sample and how many? When were data collected? Was the sample monolingual and which dialect? Was information based on parent report or direct observation? Is the milestone the mean or the 90th percentile?

Clinical sources for developmental milestones

ASHA communication milestones; CDC Learn the Signs, Act Early; state Early Intervention developmental guidelines; test manual normative tables.

Limitation of developmental norms

Almost all of the norms presented are Western and monolingual.

Language policy organizations

World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and state Early Intervention services.

World Health Organization (WHO)

An organization identified as shaping language policy.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

An organization identified as shaping language policy and providing developmental milestone information.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

An organization identified as shaping language policy and providing communication milestone information.