Communication Development - The First 4 Years

Vision and Hearing Abilities of Newborns

Vision

newborns are nearsighted at birth
they’re sensitive to brightness & color
they recognize an object that reappears within 2.5 seconds
by 2 months, the newborn has some short-term mental images for people and objects in their environment
within a few months, vision and reach are coordinated * this is very important for developing communication skills

Hearing

able to distinguish loudness and duration of sound
within days, the newborn can discriminate between different phonemes (sounds of speech)
within 2 weeks, fluid in the middle ear drains and improves hearing
they learn to coordinate vision and hearing in the first few weeks * they can turn their head toward a sound

Infant Motor Skills

the control of large muscles moves progressively downward
the control of the head, neck, and trunk development occurs first so sitting is accomplished by 6 months
the exploration of objects (characteristics and functions) form early concepts that are the bases for word definitions
by 1 year, the infant progresses through crawling to walking * not all babies crawl, but can usually crawl at around 8 months * females tend to be early with language milestone and males tend to be early with motor milestones

Infant Communication

Caregivers talk to newborns/infants as if the babies understand * caregivers are very important in the formation of communication
As babies begin to understand, caregivers modify speech to maximize child’s participation
By 1 month, infant initiates interaction by gazing at caregiver & vocalizing
To maintain infant’s attention, the caregiver exaggerate facial expression, voice, and vocalizes more often
Infants respond to this exaggeration and both partners affect the interaction

“Conversations” with Infants

More conversational turn taking begins between the infant and caregiver at about 12 weeks
At 6 weeks, infant can fix on caregiver’s eyes and “hold it” with eye-widening and brightening * The infant is more likely to look and continue looking at a caregiver who looks back * Play begins
$Stimulus-response sequence$ : if the infant signals, the caregiver will respond * learned at 0-3 months * a relatively constant stimulus/signal results in a predictable response
At 3-4 months, more predictable patterns have emerged * rituals (eg feeding/diaper changing) * game playing (peekaboo)
At 6 months, the baby’s interest in toys increases * now interactions often involve the caregiver, baby and object
$Joint attention$ : shared focus of 2 or more people on the same object
Parent reference to objects, people, events outside of immediate context increases
At 8-9 months intentionality (goal-directedness) develops * The baby considers his audience when attempting a communicative act * Different behaviors signal different intentions
At 12 months, first meaningful words are used

Speech Development

In newborns, speech starts with reflexive sounds like burping, vegetative sounds
Most oral reflexes disappear/are modified by 6 months * except the big 4 reflexes * gagging * yawning * coughing * sneezing
Initially, newborns cry on inhalation and exhalation * efficient sound production gradually increases
By the end of the 1st month, caregivers tell the reason for crying by different sound patterns
Crying helps the baby modify breathing patterns and get used to air flow across the vocal folds * $vocal folds$ : where speech sounds originate)
Non-crying sounds are more important in speech development * These sounds usually accompany feeding or produced in response to the caregiver
Sounds contain phonation or vocal fold vibration at the larynx * $phonation$ : voicing or producing sounds of speech
The child does not yet have the ability to produce fully resonated and articulated speech sounds * Speech production is by chance

Some Definitions

$Resonation$ : Modification of the vibratory pattern of the laryngeal tone through changes in the size and configuration of the vocal tract * The vocal tract is the nasal cavity, mouth, and pharynx/throat
$Articulation$ : Rapid and coordinated movements of the tongue, teeth, lips and palate to produce speech sounds

Speech: The First 12 Months

2 months: * cooing or gooing * sounds from the back of the throat
4 months: * babbling may begin with a consonant-vowel structure
5 months: * babies imitate the tone & pitch of caregivers
6 months: * more labial (lip) sounds produced as muscle control moves forward from the back of the mouth * “ma ma” and “pa pa”
6-7 months: * reduplicated babbling begins * babies can make longer strings of sounds * the actual consonant-vowel patterns sound the same but intonation & pitch can vary * The baby begins to adapt to the speech patterns of their environment * Stops, nasals, and approximant phonemes predominate consonants of English in baby’s vocalizations. * $Stops$ : the sound stops in the oral cavity (pa, ba, ka, etc.) * $Nasals$ : the sound goes through the nasal cavity (mm, nn, etc.) * $Approximate phonemes$ : similar phonemes to english (wa, etc.)
8-12 months: * $Echolalic stage$ : babies can repeat what they hear * not a lot of meaning in this speech * variegated babbling- “ma ba ga” * Babies notice contrasts in pitch, vowels, and consonants * $Jargon$ : long strings of sound with adult-like patterns * adults cannot understand this * the rhythm of speech sounds like an adult but it has no meaning * bad if jargon persists after 18 months

Language Development

Learning language encompasses learning that one thing can represent another
Language is related to cognitive skills * Cognitive skills & language develop together
For a baby, their mom’s voice will come to represent their mom
Later, other noises and objects will come to represent events and other objects in the baby’s environment
Then a symbol or the word “mama” will provoke the image of their mom
At about 18 months, the baby will use “mama” to refer to mom even when she’s not there
Around 12 months, children produce their first true words
By 18 months, children can usually produce 50 single words and begin to combine 2 words
Jargon and babbling decrease during this time * Red flag if jargon doesn’t decrease after 18 months
By age 2, a toddler has an expressive vocabulary of 150-300 words
Early word combinations follow predictable patterns * agents come before actions and actions come before objects * Example: “mommy eat”, “eat cookie” etc.

Phonological Processes

$Phonological processes$ : children reduce and simplify words to forms that they are able to say
$Final Consonant Deletion:$ reducing the consonant-vowel-consonant structure of most words to a more familiar consonant-vowel structure * “cat” becomes “ca_”
Phonological processes typically recede by age 4 * Red flag if phonological processes don’t recede by 4 years

The Preschool Processes

By age 3, a child’s vocabulary is now 900 words
By age 4, a child’s vocabulary is 1500 words
During this time, the emphasis of language development shifts from pragmatics & semantics to language form (syntax and morphology) * $Pragmatics$ : language use in social contexts * $Semantics$ : vocabulary knowledge & use * $Syntax$ : grammar * $Morphology$ : order of words

Syntax & Morphology

At age 2, children produce short 2-4 word phrases/sentences
At age 3, the word order rules used by younger children form the basis for more elaborate grammar * Now most children’s utterances contain a subject and verb
By age 5, 90% of adult syntax is acquired * Children at this time are using compound sentences and dependent clauses * EXAMPLE OF SYNTACTIC PROGRESS: * Toddler: “No cookie” * 2-3-ish: “Doggie no eat” * Preschool: “mommy can’t catch me”
For the English-speaking preschooler, language becomes more complex as it becomes longer
This is clinically measured by calculating the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) of a child’s language.
The child’s MLU may be compared to normal data for their age group to note any significant discrepancies that may indicate a language skill delay or disorder

Speech During the Preschool Years

By age 3, most children have mastered vowel sounds and the consonants p,m,h,n,w,b,k,g,d
By age 4, children have added t,f,”y” * At least 50% of 4-year-olds say /r,l,s,”sh”,”ch”, z/
Children with neuromuscular problems, sensory deficits, perceptual problems, or poor learning skills will have difficulty acquiring all the sounds of English.