Language Development in Children

Language Development in Children
Bonnie Eason
Fortis College

Our spoken, written, or signed words and the way we combine them as we think defines language. Infants are born unable to talk, but by four months of age, babies are able to recognize speech sounds. They are also capable of lip reading, one of the reasons babies focus on the face region. This period is known as receptive language. Shortly after the receptive stage, babies enter the babbling stage, where they spontaneously utter a variety of sounds. Before nurture molds our speech, nature enables a wide range of possible sounds. By ten months of age, parents can identify spoken words, and without exposure to foreign language, babies are not able to identify speech outside their native language. By the age of one, children have learned that language has meaning and are able to communicate with one-word statements, known as the one-word stage. At or around 18 months, children’s cognitive ability is greatly increased and are in the two-word stage, and start uttering two-word sentences. After children have mastered the two-word stage, they quickly start using longer phrases. By early elementary school, children are capable of speaking and understanding complex sentences, and continue to learn throughout the life span.
In order for children to excel in language development, it is critical to expose children during infancy to promote the learning of their native language. Deaf children learn language by sign language, and move through the same stages as a child that can hear, and therefore, it is critical to expose deaf children to sign language in infancy.
The psychology book attempts to explain language and has sparked an intellectual controversy. The nature-nurture issue arises on the topic on language development. B.F. Skinner’s theory of language development was based on operant learning. He believed language development was learned through exposure to a child’s native language and reinforcement.
Controversy to Skinner’s theory, linguist Noam Chomsky, believed that we are all born with an innate ability to learn language. Chomsky once stated that with adequate nurture language will naturally occur, it will just happen.
The article states that almost all children learn the rules of their native language at an early age through use. Children are born with an innate ability to learn and eventually comprehend language. Genetics play an important role in language development. Humans are born to speak and socially interact. This is achieved by working through the rules of their native language on their own. The environment also plays a role in language development. Children learn their native language by observing and listening to the people around them. All and all, children develop language through genes, environment, and thinking abilities and processes.
Children develop the ability to speak their first words around 12 to 18 months. They begin using complex sentences between the ages of 4 to 4.5 years of age. Most language fundamentals are developed by the time children start kindergarten. Aspects of language development are not predictable. Some children may develop language earlier or later than other children.
Parents and caregivers should not focus on pronunciation or other problems, as most children overcome most things on their own. However if a child illustrates deficit in hearing or change in communicable abilities, it is suggested that a child see a specialist.

Overall, the article supported the text. However, the article supported, both, the nurture and nurture aspects in the importance of language development, whereas the text book introduced theses aspects as controversial theories, and does not take one side or the other.
Both the text and the article were very informative. While reading the article, I learned that both nature and nurture play a very important role in language development. I also found it very interesting that parents and/or caregivers should not correct language pronunciations or other problems and is usually ineffective. The various stages that children go through during language development were interesting and informative.
It is important for nurses, particularly in the pediatric field, to understand how and when language develops to prevent language misconceptions, which may lead to false judgments and/ or wrong nursing diagnoses. By understanding the stages of language development and knowing what is normal and abnormal can reduce stress and anxiety for parents and children by teaching them the process of language development.