By Susan du Plessis

Most parents can hardly wait for their baby to say its first word. This usually happens between the nine months and a year. From about two years, the child should be able to use simple phrases, and by three he should be able to use full sentences. By four, he should be fully able to talk, although he may still make grammatical errors. By five, he should have acquired basic language.

There is little doubt that language acquisition is one of the key milestones in early childhood development. Much of a child’s future social and intellectual development hinges on this milestone. A language delay can lead to isolation and withdrawal, and to learning difficulties and poor academic performance. Recent research has revealed a dramatic link between the development of spoken language and written language among children, and the importance of language acquisition to basic reading skills.

Many parents believe that the term “language development” implies that the child’s acquisition of language is an automatic process. This, however, is not the case. There is nothing that any human being knows or can do that he has not learned. This is especially true of language acquisition.

The child begins to learn language from the day he is born. From the very first moment it is the parents’ responsibility to lay a proper foundation that will enable the child to acquire adequate language skills. Just like parents must ensure that a child follows a healthy and balanced diet for optimal physically development, they must take steps to ensure optimal language development.

How Language is Acquired
Parents should start talking to their little baby from the day he is born. Some mothers are by nature quiet and reserved. Others have the unfortunate idea that it is foolish to talk to their babies, knowing that they do not understand. The mother, who does not talk continually while feeding, bathing and dressing her baby, is laying the foundation for a late talker.

The baby learns language in one way only, and that is by hearing language as the parents talk and talk to it. The more a parent can talk to a child, often repeating the same words, the same phrases, the same structures over and over, the sooner the child will learn language.

An important thing to note here is that by the time a baby is about nine months old he should be able to understand simple words and commands. He may perhaps also be able to say a few simple words already. Invariably, however, one finds that the baby understands much more than he is able to say. In fact, this remains so of any person throughout his life. One is always able to understand more of any language, even one’s mother tongue, than one is able to use in active speech. This is even more so of any second or third languages that a person is able to speak.

This shows that we have two more or less separate masses of language knowledge, our PASSIVE knowledge (also called receptive language) on one hand, and our ACTIVE (expressive language) on the other. When we listen or read, we make use of our passive vocabulary, and when we speak or write, of our active vocabulary.

An important thing to note here is that the child’s passive vocabulary came into being through constant and continual repetition of words, phrases or structures. Once a word, phrase or structure has been repeated often enough, it also becomes part of the baby’s active vocabulary. This shows that the active vocabulary can only be improved VIA the passive. Research has shown that a child who is just beginning to talk must hear a word about 500 times before it will become part of his active vocabulary. Long before that it will already form part of his passive vocabulary. This means that parents should create as many opportunities as possible in which their baby can hear them talk.

The Secret of Reading to Your Child
Parents should read to their children as often as possible. The secret, however, which will lead to optimal language development, is to read the SAME stories over and over and over.

In the “good old days” there was not the abundance of storybooks that there is today. Parents were compelled – it was also part of the child-rearing traditions – to tell over and over to their children the few stories that they knew, or to read over and over to their children the few books in their possession. They also spent a lot of time teaching their children rhymes and songs. As I discovered for myself through my own son, this over and over repetition of the same stories and rhymes was extremely beneficial for the acquisition of language. In fact, I took this tradition to the extreme, exposing my son to only ONE book for nearly two years.

Soon after my elder son, Gustav, was born, I bought him a book with the story of Pinocchio. The book was aimed at four-year-olds. Except for talking to him continually, I started to read to him from this book when he was only two or three months old – as often as I could, over and over and over. I found this tedious, of course. Gustav, however, loved it, and the results of this experiment made all my efforts worthwhile. Not only did he start talking much sooner than most children do, but when he was just over two years, he could recite nearly all the pages from Pinocchio. When turning to a new page, one only had to read the first word or two on that page and he would recite the rest of the page like a parrot. In itself this may seem quite useless, but of great importance was that the vocabulary in this book soon became part of his everyday speech. In terms of language development, he was soon miles ahead of his age group. In fact, to this day, his vocabulary and his ability to speak with clarity are quite astounding.

When a child is a bit older, one should start teaching him nursery rhymes. Research has shown that knowledge of nursery rhymes among three-year-olds was a significant predictor of later prereading skills even after the children’s IQ and their mothers’ educational levels were partialed out.

While an apple a day keeps the doctor away, talking forever makes your child clever!

About the Author
Susan du Plessis (BD; BA Hons) is an author of five books on learing and learning disabilities. You can visit her website at www.audiblox2000.com and contact her at susandup@audiblox2000.com.

By Susan du Plessis

Most parents can hardly wait for their baby to say its first word. This usually happens between the nine months and a year. From about two years, the child should be able to use simple phrases, and by three he should be able to use full sentences. By four, he should be fully able to talk, although he may still make grammatical errors. By five, he should have acquired basic language.

There is little doubt that language acquisition is one of the key milestones in early childhood development. Much of a child’s future social and intellectual development hinges on this milestone. A language delay can lead to isolation and withdrawal, and to learning difficulties and poor academic performance. Recent research has revealed a dramatic link between the development of spoken language and written language among children, and the importance of language acquisition to basic reading skills.

Many parents believe that the term “language development” implies that the child’s acquisition of language is an automatic process. This, however, is not the case. There is nothing that any human being knows or can do that he has not learned. This is especially true of language acquisition.

The child begins to learn language from the day he is born. From the very first moment it is the parents’ responsibility to lay a proper foundation that will enable the child to acquire adequate language skills. Just like parents must ensure that a child follows a healthy and balanced diet for optimal physically development, they must take steps to ensure optimal language development.

How Language is Acquired
Parents should start talking to their little baby from the day he is born. Some mothers are by nature quiet and reserved. Others have the unfortunate idea that it is foolish to talk to their babies, knowing that they do not understand. The mother, who does not talk continually while feeding, bathing and dressing her baby, is laying the foundation for a late talker.

The baby learns language in one way only, and that is by hearing language as the parents talk and talk to it. The more a parent can talk to a child, often repeating the same words, the same phrases, the same structures over and over, the sooner the child will learn language.

An important thing to note here is that by the time a baby is about nine months old he should be able to understand simple words and commands. He may perhaps also be able to say a few simple words already. Invariably, however, one finds that the baby understands much more than he is able to say. In fact, this remains so of any person throughout his life. One is always able to understand more of any language, even one’s mother tongue, than one is able to use in active speech. This is even more so of any second or third languages that a person is able to speak.

This shows that we have two more or less separate masses of language knowledge, our PASSIVE knowledge (also called receptive language) on one hand, and our ACTIVE (expressive language) on the other. When we listen or read, we make use of our passive vocabulary, and when we speak or write, of our active vocabulary.

An important thing to note here is that the child’s passive vocabulary came into being through constant and continual repetition of words, phrases or structures. Once a word, phrase or structure has been repeated often enough, it also becomes part of the baby’s active vocabulary. This shows that the active vocabulary can only be improved VIA the passive. Research has shown that a child who is just beginning to talk must hear a word about 500 times before it will become part of his active vocabulary. Long before that it will already form part of his passive vocabulary. This means that parents should create as many opportunities as possible in which their baby can hear them talk.

The Secret of Reading to Your Child
Parents should read to their children as often as possible. The secret, however, which will lead to optimal language development, is to read the SAME stories over and over and over.

In the “good old days” there was not the abundance of storybooks that there is today. Parents were compelled – it was also part of the child-rearing traditions – to tell over and over to their children the few stories that they knew, or to read over and over to their children the few books in their possession. They also spent a lot of time teaching their children rhymes and songs. As I discovered for myself through my own son, this over and over repetition of the same stories and rhymes was extremely beneficial for the acquisition of language. In fact, I took this tradition to the extreme, exposing my son to only ONE book for nearly two years.

Soon after my elder son, Gustav, was born, I bought him a book with the story of Pinocchio. The book was aimed at four-year-olds. Except for talking to him continually, I started to read to him from this book when he was only two or three months old – as often as I could, over and over and over. I found this tedious, of course. Gustav, however, loved it, and the results of this experiment made all my efforts worthwhile. Not only did he start talking much sooner than most children do, but when he was just over two years, he could recite nearly all the pages from Pinocchio. When turning to a new page, one only had to read the first word or two on that page and he would recite the rest of the page like a parrot. In itself this may seem quite useless, but of great importance was that the vocabulary in this book soon became part of his everyday speech. In terms of language development, he was soon miles ahead of his age group. In fact, to this day, his vocabulary and his ability to speak with clarity are quite astounding.

When a child is a bit older, one should start teaching him nursery rhymes. Research has shown that knowledge of nursery rhymes among three-year-olds was a significant predictor of later prereading skills even after the children’s IQ and their mothers’ educational levels were partialed out.

While an apple a day keeps the doctor away, talking forever makes your child clever!

About the Author
Susan du Plessis (BD; BA Hons) is an author of five books on learing and learning disabilities. You can visit her website at www.audiblox2000.com and contact her at susandup@audiblox2000.com.

After you bring your baby home it will seem like he is able to do something new everyday. You wait anxiously for his quiet alert period and look constantly for a new milestone. During the first three months there are a lot of milestones your baby will probably reach. These include rolling over, lifting his head, pushing up, smiling, laughing and cooing.

Your Baby Is Lifting His Head!
Some baby’s are born with neck muscles strong enough to lift from birth. Many times you will first notice your baby lifting his neck when you cradle him on your chest in your hospital room. If your baby can not lift his head from birth, your pediatrician will probably not be concerned as it isn’t something that a baby SHOULD be able to do from the time they are born.

In order for your baby to strengthen those neck muscles he will need lost of tummy time. Whether he gets it on the floor or on your chest, tummy time is essential to your baby learning to lift his head. He will want to move and look around, and he will quickly learn that the way to do that is through turning his head. This is a great accomplishment that should be celebrated for your baby.

He Can Roll!
A baby’s first sense of independence is rolling over. At first he will only be able to roll over from one side to the other, but eventually he will be able to roll from front to back, and back to the front again. In most cases your baby will probably get bored with rolling over before he discovers that he can get somewhere by doing it, but once your baby is rolling easily, you should always be sure to be within arms reach so that he doesn’t get into something that could be dangerous for him.

Pushups!
At some point during time it will look like your baby is doing pushups. This may start in the first 3 months, however in many cases it doesn’t start till after your babies three month birthday. Your baby will discover his arms, and strengthen them during tummy time, eventually getting into a push up position where he looks like he is ready to go.

Pushups are an important step in your baby’s effort to learn to crawl which will come later. Your baby will also discover that they can roll over from a pushup position and may think that this is a blast. If your baby laughs, laugh along with him!

Toothless Grins
At some point during the first three months your baby’s gassy grins should lead way to full on, intentional smiles. These smiles will probably range from curved up lips to mouth wide-open grins that will melt your heart. For babies that have dimples, this is the time when they will really become noticeable.

Parents often wait for this, and consider it the biggest milestone of the first part of their baby’s life. You will notice recognition from your baby when he looks at you and grins so big that even the worst of days are made ok for mom and dad.

Belly Laughs
Shortly after your baby starts to smile, you should start to hear another noise coming from your baby. Following the grins come the giggles. The little chuckles that occur when you are playing with your baby, or when your baby hears you laugh is music to most parents’ ears. Even hearing mom or dad laugh can bring laughter to your baby’s mouth. As your baby perfects the giggling, it will turn into belly laughs that will be impossible to resist by anyone nearby. After all, laughter is contagious.

Coo Coo
It isn’t a bird outside of your window, it is your baby! Until now your baby’s only form of communication was to cry. Normally, during these first three months of life you baby will begin to make other noises that sound an awful lot like coos. Your baby will make these sounds when he is happy or wants your attention when you are near, hopefully cutting down on the crying that you hear everyday. When you respond to these sounds it will show your baby that they are doing something good, and your babies language will continue to develop over the next few months and years.

These milestones are generally done in the first three months, however it is best to remember that every baby is different and every baby reaches milestones at a different rate. If your baby seems ahead or behind his peers and you are concerned about it, be sure to ask his pediatrician during his next well-check.