The Development of Language
Communication Milestones from Birth to 18 Months
Infants don’t talk or begin communicating until later on in their development… right?
On average most children won’t speak their first “real” word until around the time of their first birthday. It’s often at this time that parents begin tuning into their child’s language development. However, many parents don’t realize that from day one their babies are absorbing a tremendous amount of information from the world around them and that much of this information will serve as the cornerstone of their language development.
Verbal vs. Non-Verbal Communication
Communication can occur either verbally or non-verbally. Verbal language includes the words that we speak while non-verbal communication consists of the messages that are sent by facial expressions, gestures or body language. Both forms of communication play an important role in the overall development of strong communication skills.
For new babies, non-verbal communication serves as a critical building block towards verbal language. Babies gather information from birth based upon their parent’s facial expressions. By gazing into their parent’s eyes, babies are absorbing the emotions on their parent’s faces and reading the messages that their parents are sending. These non-verbal attributes of communication, such as making eye contact, interpreting facial expressions and turn taking are precursors to conversational skills and language development. Generally speaking, a good conversationalist makes appropriate eye contact, offers good back-and-forth talk-time versus listen-time and is an active listener. These very skills can begin to be cultured with newborn babies during their daily care such as during mealtimes and bedtime routines.
Expressive & Receptive Language
Language is classified as either receptive or expressive. Simply put, receptive language is the language that babies understand and expressive language is the language that babies use. For example, if you say to your baby, “Oh, Daddy’s home!” and your baby begins to react, or look around for Daddy, he/she has just expressed the receptive understanding of your statement, ‘Dad is home’. Alternatively, if you call out your baby’s name and your baby replies vocally using jargon or vowels such as “ooh-daahh,” he/she has just responded to you using expressive language and in his/her own words has said, “I’m over here, Mom!”
Language Milestones
Speech-Language Pathologists often use developmental milestones to determine if children are meeting specific receptive and expressive language benchmarks. Knowing these general guidelines can be helpful for parents seeking additional information regarding their child’s language skills. The American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) offers the following milestones:
Birth to 3 Months: (Receptive)
- Startles to loud sounds
- Smiles or quiets down when spoken to
- Seems to recognize parent’s voice
- May increase or decrease sucking behavior in response to sound.
Birth to 3 Months: (Expressive)
- Makes sounds of pleasure, such as cooing
- Cries differently depending on needs, (i.e. hungry, tired)
- Smiles when sees parents
4 to 6 Months: (Receptive)
- Moves eyes towards the direction of sound
- Responds to changes in your voice
- Attends to music and toys that make sounds
4 to 6 Months: (Expressive)
- Babbling with more consonant sounds (p,b,m)
- Laughs
- Vocalizes to show excitement
7 to 12 Months: (Receptive)
- Likes people games, such as peek-a-boo
- Turns to locate sounds
- Recognizes common words (shoe, cup)
7 to 12 Months: (Expressive)
- Babbling using vowels and consonants in long and short bursts
- Uses sounds to get attention, rather than crying
- Uses gestures, such as two arms up to indicate “pick me up!”
- Has 1-2 single words, such as Momma, or Hi!
One to Two Years: (Receptive)
- When asked, can point to several body parts
- Follows simple 1 step command “Give me the ball”
- Listens to simple stories, and songs
- Points to pictures in a book when named
One to Two Years: (Expressive)
- Says additional unique single words each month
- Uses some 2 word combinations, (more milk)
- Uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words
A Parent’s Role
Parents can begin to encourage their baby’s language development by using a variety of techniques. Often times these strategies can be employed during everyday activities. Some examples of how parents can help include:
- Get down to your baby’s level. This can entail sitting or lying on the floor so that you and your baby can be face-to-face.
- Follow your child’s lead by tuning into his or her interests. Your child will be more motivated to communicate when engaged with something that interests him or her. It does not need to be a toy and can be something as unconventional as opening and closing a box or looking out the window.
- Simplify your language by matching it to your child’s language. Use language at a level at or slightly above your child’s level.
- Add melody to your language to make it more fun and interesting.
- At times, imitate what your child does or says to keep the interaction going.
- Repeatedly model simple words or fun sounds for your child to imitate.
- Teach your child to use signs. Pair signs with words to facilitate development of single words.
- Teach your child the power of communication: require him or her to communicate in order to get what he or she wants. This could simply entail making eye contact, signing, or saying a single word.
- Expand on your child’s utterances to help them get to the next level. For example, if your child says “more,” you can respond with “more juice.”