Speech development: infants, toddlers, preschoolers

development of auditory system

auditory and prelinguistic learning begin in utero, w/ prenatal exposure to sounds + speech-contributes to postnatal speech perception and language development

Infant oral mechanism specialization

-Feeding, breathing, early communication

-Anatomical features-- efficient suck-swallow-breathe coordination + airway protection

-Small mandible, sucking pads, large tongue, epiglottis-velum proximity (closer together)

-Velum (soft palate) + larynx are closer

Stages of Communicative INTENT (3)

1. perlocutionary

2. illocutionary

3. locutionary

perlocutionary stage

(0-8 months): behaviors are not consistently intentional but caregivers interpret/respond to actions as communicative

-Crying, smiling

illocutionary stage

(8-12 months): intentional communication emerges through gestures, vocalizations, joint attention

locutionary stage

(12+ months): first words, spoken language used intentionally

Pre-speech vocal development stages (5)

1. reflexive

2. cooing

3. vocal play

4. canonical babbling

5. variegated babbling

Reflexive stage

#1 (0-2): involuntary

vegetative--linked to physical states: hunger, discomfort, bodily functions

Cooing stage

#2 (2-4): voluntary soft vowel-like sounds

Exploration, social engagement, practice

Vocal play stage

#3 (4-6): consonants + vowels,

Developing control over speech system

-Velars- /k, g/ and then front of mouth /p, b, m, d/

-raspberries

canonical babbling stage

#4 (6-10): repeated sets of syllables

Reduplicated-- most critical for speech

variegated babbling

#5 (10-12): variety of consonants + vowels

-Non-reduplicated—series of syllables different from the other (takataka)

-Prosody- melody of speech

How do infants learn? (4 ways)

•Language develops through social interaction.

•Primary caregivers provide infants' most important language-learning experiences.

•Responsive caregiving supports attention, bonding, and language growth.

•These interactions lay the foundation for receptive and expressive language development.

Parentese

Infant-directed speech used during 1-1 interactions

-associated with increased infant attention, vocalizations, back-forth interactions, larger expressive vocab

-speech modifications tailored to child's development and abilities

Bonding

emotional connection between caregiver + infant

-supports social, emotional, communication development

-foundation for later expressive/receptive language

Examples of bonding moments:

-Infant orients toward a caregiver's voice.

-Caregiver soothes the infant during bedtime routines.

-Caregiver responds during feeding and diaper changes.

-Caregiver comforts the infant during illness or distress.

Characteristics of parentese

•Higher-than-usual pitch

•Exaggerated intonation and slower rate

•Increased repetition

•Focus on objects, actions, and experiences shared with the infant

•Clearer speech sounds and greater emotional engagement

Speech input

•Supports language learning, attention, engagement, and expressive development when tailored to the child's developmental level.

•Must capture and maintain the infant's attention.

•Adapts to shifts in the infant's focus and communication attempts.

•Includes modifications such as parentese (infant-directed speech), joint attention, repetition, and contingent responses.

•Responsive and socially engaging speech input promotes language growth.

Familiar social routines

•Repeated caregiver-child interactions that provide predictable opportunities for language learning.

•Support word learning by pairing language with meaningful, familiar activities and objects.

•Help infants anticipate events, participate in interactions, and connect words with experiences.

•Promote attention, memory, and communicative participation.

Examples of social routines

mealtime, diaper changes, bedtime routines, playtime

12-18 Milestones

-Expressive vocabulary starts slowly; accelerates at 18 m

· 12 m = 1-3 meaningful words

· 18 m = 50 words

-Receptive vocabulary is larger

-First 50 words: nouns, social, action, early descriptive words

-Protowords- consistent sound patterns used meaningfully and intentionally before acquisition

18-24 milestones

50% intelligible

18 m = vocabulary growth accelerates

24 m = 200-300 words

· 2-word and multiword utterance increase

· Frequent intentional communication across interactions

-Communicative intentions: answering questions, acknowledging, requesting information, commenting, greeting, calling attention to objects

-Language comprehension- exceeds expression (expressive grows rapidly during 2nd year)

-Speech sound repertoire increases

o More consonants, syllable shapes, CVC + multisyllabic words

o Productions remain phonologically simplified

Age 3 intelligibility

75% to unfamiliar listeners

Age 4 Intelligibility

90-100%

Age 5 Intelligibility

100%

Active articulators

move to produce speech sounds

-tongue, lips, jaw (mandible), velum (soft palate)

passive articulators

stationary target contacted by active articulators

-upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate

voicing

vibration of the vocal folds

place of articulation

where in the vocal tract the sound is produced

manner of articulation

constriction, how airflow is manipulated

Coarticulation

speech sounds influenced by neighboring sounds during fluent speech

-articulatory movement overlaps, increases efficiency + naturalness of speech

allophonic variation

predictable phonetic variants of same phoneme

-differ in pronounciation but do not change meaning of word

-difference not disorder

Allophonic variation examples

-vowel context effects: /t/ in tea vs too, water

-aspiration: pin vs spin

-southern accent vs boston (coffee)

Age 5: semantic/pragmatic

·       Speech: most consonants produced, later-developing sounds may still be refined

·       Semantic/pragmatic

§  Uses language for problem-solving and reasoning

§  Demonstrates perspective-taking during conversations

§  Understands and discusses emotions

§  Engages in complex cooperative and imaginative play

§  Retells and generates organized narratives

§  Understands increasingly abstract concepts and relationships

age 4: semantic/pragmatic

90-100% intelligibility

Speech: produces most early and middle developing consonants

·       Acquiring /s, z, l, ʃ, tʃ/

Semantic/pragmatic

§  Talks about past, present, and future events

§  Retells simple stories and personal experiences

§  Uses language to request, comment, question, explain, and negotiate

§  Maintains multi-turn conversations

§  Uses descriptive and comparative vocabulary

§  Understands and labels basic emotions

§  Participates in cooperative pretend play with peers

age 3: semantic/pragmatic

75% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners

Consonant inventory: /p, b, m, n, t, d, k, g, h, w, f, j, ŋ/

Semantic/pragmatic

·       Talks about people objects, actions, experiences

·       Uses language to request, comment, question, protest

·       Begins discussing past and future events

·       Participates in turn-taking conversation

·       Labels basic emotions, engages in associative play

24-36 months expressive

30 months

o   300-600 words

o   Object, action, kinship, spatial, question words, descriptive terms

o   Grammatical- emerging use of grammatical morphemes, verb phrases, expanding use of ? and negative, overgeneralization may occur

36 months

o   Sentence comprehension: 3-4 word sentences

o   Sentence production: 3-5 words

o   Speech intelligibility: increases 50à70%

o   Use of language in play increases, narrative (no plot)

o   Understand and use why questions

communication strategies defined

strategies during play to reinforce articulation; adjust based on child’s sound targets and error patterns

language input communication strategies

o   Bombardment: repeated exposure to target sounds/words in natural contexts

o   Facilitative talk: open-ended prompts to encourage expressive language

o   Self-talk: match at level, adult narrates their own actions

o   Parallel talk: adult narrates child’s actions

Responsive interaction techniques

o   Imitations: repeat child’s utterance to validate and reinforce

o   Expansions: adding grammar and meaning to child’s speech (recasts)

o   Extensions: adding new information to expand ideas