Lesson Plan:

“Before the First Word” -- Language Acquisition in Early Childhood

Instructor: Dana Cox

Internet Site: http://childhealthanddevelopment.wordpress.com

1. Context:
Community College Child Growth and Development Course
• Infant –Toddler Development
• Language and Literacy Development

2. Goals /Objectives
Learners will:
a. Understand the developmental theories behind language acquisition
b. Describe the basic elements of speech and language development in early childhood
c. Exam the precursors of language infants and toddler develop before they are able to
speak
d. Observe infants and toddler to integrate their understanding of prelinguistic
development in infants and toddler
e. Utilize the CA Infant Toddler Learning Foundations to guide their observations and
apply their understanding of language acquisition in young children [ Research to
Practice]

3. Key Points:
• Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive,
produce and use words to understand and communicate.
• How is Language Acquired? Nature vs Nurture OR Both…It is the intersection where
nature meets nurture
• Research has demonstrated the importance of quality child care in the cognitive and
language development of young children
• The development of language (communication) is uniquely tied to all domains of
development, including sensory (vision, hearing, tactile), motor, cognition, and
social/emotional
• Understanding the infant precursor developmental skills to communication, language and
speech will help guide our observations of infant, toddlers and their caregivers

4. Contents
• There are four major theories of language development.
o The behaviorist theory, proposed by B. F. Skinner suggests that language is
learned through operant conditioning (reinforcement and imitation). This
perspective sides with the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate.
o The nativist theory, proposed by Noam Chomsky, argues that language is a
unique human accomplishment. Chomsky says that all children have what is
called an LAD, an innate language acquisition device that allows children to
produce consistent sentences once vocabulary is learned.
o The empiricist theory suggests, contra Chomsky, that there is enough information
in the linguistic input that children receive, and therefore there is no need to
assume an innate language acquisition device (see above).
o The interactionist perspective, consists of two components. This perspective is a
combination of both the nativist and behaviorist theories. The first part, the
information-processing theories, tests through the connectionist model, using
statistics. From these theories, we see that the brain is excellent at detecting
patterns. The second part of the interactionist perspective, is the social-
interactionist theories. These theories suggest that there is a native desire to
understand others as well as being understood by others.

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 • OTHERS: How do other theories of development play into language acquisition:
o Piaget:
 Object permanence - related to naming performance
 Causality - requirement for communication, and related to verb
comprehension
 Deferred imitation - related to naming performance
o Vygotsky:
 His interest in language and literature blended with his interest in
psychology and lead him to theorize about language/ cognitive
development in children. He hypothesized that development of inner
speech in children developed in the same manner as all other mental
processes. His theory can be used as a map of cognitive development in
children. Vygotsky’s theory leads one to believe that cognitive
development takes place out of a need to communicate our needs to
others.

• Before the First Word—What Do Children Need to Develop to Talk?

A great deal of learning about communication takes place long before a child uses
speech or any formal language system. These skills are the foundation for later
communication
o Early Communication Skills:
 Communicative Intent
 Turn-taking
 Requesting/Protesting
 Social Communication Signals

o Prerequisite Skills for Language:

 Attention skills
 Visual skills-
• Visual reception (ability to see)
• Reciprocal gaze
• Visual tracking
• Visual attending
• Referential gaze
 Auditory skills—
• Auditory reception (ability to hear)
• Auditory attending
• Localization to sound
• Attending to sounds
• Auditory Association and listening
 Tactile skills
 Imitation/ Modeling skills—
• Gestural imitation
• Combining movements and sounds
 Cognitive skills—
• Object permanence
• Cause and effect
• Means-end
 Referential knowledge
o Pre-Speech Skills
 Respiratory skills
 Feeding skills
 Oral motor skills
 Sound production skills
 Vocal imitation
 Imitation of speech sounds

• Research to Practice Concepts:

From Early Child Develop: A Multicultural Perspective by Jeffrey Trawich-Smith

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 o Infants begin to understand language long before they can talk. At birth they can
distinguish speech from other kinds of sounds and recognize the voices of
significant adults. In the second year of life they understand word and phrase.
o Early in life, babies communicate through crying, making noises, smiling,
gesturing, and pointing.
o Near age 1, babies can speak words. Vocabulary grows exceedingly quickly
during the first 2 years of life. The first words babies learn are often names of
things they can act upon, or words that have social meaning.

5. Key Terminology:
o Cognition - Thinking skills that include perception, memory, awareness, reasoning,
judgment, intellect, and imagination  
o Language - System for communicating ideas and feelings using sounds, gestures,
signs, or marks
o Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to
perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate.
o Speech - Making definite vocal sounds that form words to express thoughts and
ideas  
Others:  
o Language Acquisition Device (LAD): Proposed biologically-based mental
structure that theorists believe plays a major role in children's language learning.
Linguist Noam Chomsky revolutionized the idea that an infant's innate ability to
understand a language structurally, before actually being able to speak it, allows
for the possibility that children can learn any language intuitively before a certain
age.
 
o Phonology involves the rules about the structure and sequence of speech
sounds.
o Semantics consists of vocabulary and how concepts are expressed through
words.
o Grammar involves two parts. The first, syntax, is the rules in which words are
arranged into sentences. The second, morphology, is the use of grammatical
markers (indicating tense, active or passive voice etc.).
o Pragmatics involves the rules for appropriate and effective communication.
Pragmatics involves three skills:
o using language for greeting, demanding etc.
o changing language for talking differently depending on who it is you are
talking to
o following rules such as turn taking, staying on topic

6. Rationale / Application to Early Childhood Learning Foundations and

Guidelines
From CA Infant/Toddler Language Domain
The acquisition of language and speech seems deceptively simple. Young children learn
their mother tongue rapidly and effortlessly, from babbling at six months of age to full
sentences by the end of three years, and follow the same developmental path regardless
of culture.” (Kuhl 2004, 831) As is true of human development in infancy overall,
language development occurs in the context of relationships. Emotion and language
development in the early years are linked, as “much of the form and content of
communication between infants and their caregivers in the first year of life depends upon
affective expression” (Bloom and Capatides 1987, 1513). The relationship basis of early
language development appears right at the beginning of life. Newborns prefer the sounds
of their mothers’ voices (DeCasper and Fifer 1980). They also prefer the language
spoken by their mother during her pregnancy (Moon, Cooper, and Fifer 1993).

Preverbal infants communicate through eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and
sounds. Understanding language precedes speaking it (Bloom and others 1996). In
addition, before being able to use language effectively, infants acquire some

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 understanding of the social processes involved in communication. They learn about the
social aspects of communication through engaging in turn-taking behavior in proto-
conversations with their parents or infant care teachers. In proto-conversations, the adult
usually says something to the preverbal infant, and the infant responds by making eye
contact, cooing, smiling, showing lip and tongue movements, or waving arms. These
“conversation-like” conversations go back and forth between the adult and the infant for
several turns.

There is broad variability in language development in its pattern and pace (Bloom and
Capatides 1987). However, the process of early language development is fundamentally
the same across cultures and languages. In describing early language development, Kuhl
(2002, 115) states: “One of the puzzles in language development is to explain the orderly
transition that all infants go through during development. Infants the world over achieve
certain milestones in linguistic development at roughly the same time, regardless of the
language they are exposed to.”

Perceptual processes play an important role in language development. As Gogate,

Walker-Andrews, and Bahrick (2001, 13) note: “A diverse set of experimental findings
suggests that early lexical comprehension owes much to infants’ developing ability to
perceive intersensory relations in auditory-visual events,” [for example, speech].
Experience also affects language development from very early in life. One of the ways
experience influences language development is through its impact on perception early in
infancy. Prior to infants’ first spoken words, or word comprehension, they have already
“come to recognize the perceptual properties of their native language” (Kuhl 2002, 119).

Infants are learning about the prosodic or sound characteristics of their native language:
by nine months of age, English-speaking infants demonstrate a preference for the sound
stress pattern characteristic of words in the English language (Jusczyk, Cutler, and
Redanz 1993). Kuhl (2002, 112) concludes: “At age one—prior to the time infants begin
to master higher levels of language, such as sound-meaning correspondences,
contrastive phonology, and grammatical rules—infants’ perceptual and perceptual-motor
systems have been altered by linguistic experience. Phonetic perception has changed
dramatically to conform to the native-language pattern, and language-specific speech
production has emerged.”

Receptive Language
Infants excel at detecting patterns in spoken language (Kuhl 2000). The literature
indicates that infants’ speech perception abilities are strong. Not only do infants
understand more vocabulary than they are able to produce, but they also demonstrate
awareness of the properties of the language or languages they are exposed to before
they acquire words (Ingram 1999). During the first six months of life, infants are better
than adults at perceiving various types of contrasts in speech (Plunkett and Schafer
1999). Infants improve in their ability to discriminate the sounds characteristic of their
native language while losing their abilities to discriminate some sounds characteristic of
languages other than their native language (Cheour and others 1998). According to Kuhl
(2004), the way in which the infant’s brain processes repeated experiences with speech
explains language acquisition in a social and biological context. According to this view,
from early infancy young children use a mental filter to orient, with greater efficiency and
accuracy, to the speech sounds characteristic of their native language. This strategy
enables infants to identify the phonemic units most useful to them in their native language
and serves as a building block to later word acquisition (Kuhl 2004).

Expressive Language
Infants use their expressive language skills to make sounds or use gestures or speech to
begin to communicate. Even preverbal infants use vocalizing or babbling to express
themselves. They also imitate the sounds and rhythm of adult speech. As they develop,
infants generate increasingly understandable sounds or verbal communication. They
demonstrate their expressive language abilities by asking questions and responding to
them and repeating of sounds or rhymes. Children typically acquire their first 50 words
between the ages of one and two (Ingram 1999). Kuczaj (1999, 145) notes: “The 24-
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 month-old child with a productive vocabulary between 50 and 600 words will easily
quadruple or quintuple her vocabulary in the next year, and then add between 3000 and
4000 words per year to her productive vocabulary until she graduates from high school.”

Infants’ use of nonverbal gestures as a form of communication appears to be a typical

feature of early language development, although there is considerable variability among
children (Acredolo and Goodwyn 1988). The use of communicative gestures appears to
generally precede the child’s first words (Carpenter, Nagell, and Tomasello 1998).
Commenting on the infant’s motivation to use gestures, Acredolo and Goodwyn (1997,
30) state that the human infant has a special capacity to communicate with gestures.
Acredolo and Goodwyn (1997) go on to say that typically developing infants seem so
intent on communicating once they realize there is somebody out there “listening” that
they find creative ways to do so before they have mastered words.

Communication Skills and Knowledge

Sensitivity to the timing of conversational exchanges has been demonstrated through
research on back-and-forth communication involving young infants (Rochat, Querido, and
Striano 1999). Infants use speech, gestures, and facial expressions as well as direct their
attention to communicate to others. As they grow, they increasingly understand the rules
or conventions of social communication. Infants also gain an expanded vocabulary that
helps them express themselves through words. As they develop, infants benefit from
communicating with both peers and adults, very different conversational partners.
According to Pan and Snow (1999, 231), “Interaction with peers, who are less competent
and usually less cooperative partners than adults, requires use of more sophisticated
conversational skills, such as knowing how and when to interrupt, how to remedy
overlaps and interruptions by others, and how to make topic-relevant moves.” One type
of environment that typically offers abundant opportunities for communication with both
adult and child conversational partners is high-quality child care settings.

Interest in Print
Infants show an interest in print at first through physically exploring, such as putting
books in their mouths, handling books, or focusing on print in the environment around
them. Turning the pages of books, looking at books or pictures, asking for a favorite book
or telling a favorite story with an adult are other indicators of interest in print. As infants
grow older, making intentional marks on paper with a crayon or marker, pretending to
read and write, repeating stories, repeating rhymes, recognizing images in books,
noticing common symbols and words, and enjoying books are all related to interest in
print. Interest in print can be considered one aspect of emergent literacy, the idea that
literacy develops from early childhood rather than something that becomes relevant only
upon school entry (Whitehurst and Lonigan 1998). Because early experiences with print
contribute to later literacy, shared book reading is recommended as a valuable way to
promote emergent literacy (Whitehurst and Lonigan 1998).

7. Content/ Instructional Procedures / Materials

a. Lecture/ Power Point—“ Before the First Word” What Infants Need to Do Before
they Talk
b. Large Group Discussion/ Brainstorming:
Write out all of the Research to Practice Critical Concepts and have students
give at least one application of what parents and caregivers need to do to
support this concept
c. Small Group/ Partner /Individual Work:
Have students use an Infant Toddler Environment Observation sheet to observe and
document how teachers/ caregivers and the child’s environment support language
development within relationships, routines and the care giving environment
d. Reading Assignments:
Appropriate G &D text related to language development in infants and toddlers
e. Internet Assignments:

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 Zero to Three: Tips on How Infants Learn to Talk
http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/early-language-literacy/helping-learn-
to-talk.html

8. Evaluation procedures
a. Match the Behavior to the Developmental Skill Using the Infant/Toddler Desired
Results Profile, or other Assessment Tool (ie: Age and Stages) Cross-match
assignment
b. Midterm and/or Final Questions
c. Toddler Language Observation Assignment
Describe the toddler's ability to perceive sensory stimuli. What language skills does
this toddler possess? What words does he use to communicate his needs? Give
examples. How does he respond to commands and directions? What gestures does
he use? Describe two of them. Is he using single holo-phrases or telegraphic
speech? Give examples. Describe how he imitates sounds, movements, and words
that he hears or sees. What about simple games like "peek a boo." Does he
understand simple directions? Give 2 examples for each category. Make sure you
describe the setting in which the toddler used his/her words to communicate to
another person.

9. Resources
• Books:
o Beyond Baby Talk: From Sounds to Sentences, A Parent's Complete Guide
to Language Development by Kenn Apel Ph.D., Julie Masterson Ph.D.
o Early Communication Skills for Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for
Parents and Professionals by Libby Kumin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
o How Babies Talk: The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three
Years of Life, by R. M. Golinkoff Ph.D., and K. Hirsh-Pasek
o Nobody Ever Told Me (or my Mother) That: Everything from Bottles and
Breathing to Health Speech Development by Diane Bahr, MS, CCC-SLP
o Talk to Me, Baby”: How You Can Support Young Children’s Language
Development, by Betty. S. Bardige
o What’s Going On In There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First
Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot, Ph.D.
o The Scientist In the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind by A.
Gopnik, A. Meltzoff, P. Kuhl

• Internet Sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_development  
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/seccyd.cfm
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09langdev.asp
http://speech-language-therapy.com
http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/speech-pathology/glossary.cfm
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-vygot.html  
 

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 California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development Foundations.

Foundation: Receptive Language

The developing ability to understand words and increasingly complex utterances
8 months 18 months 36 months
At  around  eight  months  of  age,   At  around  18  months  of  age,   At  around  36  months  of  age,  
children  show  understanding  of   children  show  understanding  of   children  demonstrate  
a  small  number  of  familiar   one-­‐step  requests  that  have  to   understanding  of  the  meaning  of  
words  and  react  to  the  infant   do  with  the  current  situation.     others’  comments,  questions,  
care  teacher’s  overall  tone  of   requests,  or  stories.    
voice.    
For  example,  the  child  may:   For  example,  the  child  may:   For  example,  the  child  may:  
• Smile  and  look  toward   • Go  to  the  cubby  when   • Look  for  a  stuffed  bear  
the  door  when  the   the  infant  care  teacher   when  the  infant  care  
infant  care  teacher   says  that  it  is  time  to   teacher  asks,  “Where’s  
says,  “Daddy’s  here.”     put  on  coats  to  go   your  bear?”    
• Wave  arms  and  kick   outside.     • Get  the  bin  of  blocks  
legs  in  excitement   • Cover  up  the  doll  when   when  the  infant  care  
when  the  infant  care   the  infant  care  teacher   teacher  asks  what  the  
teacher  says,  “bottle.”     says,  “Cover  the  baby   child  wants  to  play  with.    
• Smile  when  the  infant   with  the  blanket.”     • Show  understanding  of  
care  teacher  uses  baby   • Go  to  the  sink  when   words  such  as  no,  not,  
talk  and  make  a   the  infant  care  teacher   and  don’t,  and  
worried  face  when  she   says  that  it  is  time  to   utterances  such  as  when  
uses  a  stern  voice.     wash  hands.     the  infant  care  teacher  
• Get  a  tissue  when  the   says,  “There’s  no  more  
infant  care  teacher   milk,”  or  “Those  don’t  
says,  “Please  go  get  a   go  there.”    
tissue.  We  need  to   • Know  the  names  of  
wipe  your  nose.”     most  objects  in  the  
immediate  
environment.  
Understand  requests  
that  include  simple  
prepositions,  such  as,  
“Please  put  your  cup  on  
the  table,”  or  “Please  
get  your  blanket  out  of  
your  backpack.”    
• Laugh  when  an  adult  
tells  a  silly  joke  or  makes  
up  rhymes  with  
nonsense  “words.”  
Show  understanding  of  
the  meaning  of  a  story  
by  laughing  at  the  funny  
parts  or  by  asking  
questions.    
Behaviors  leading  up  to  the   Behaviors  leading  up  to  the   Behaviors  leading  up  to  the  
foundation  (4  to  7  months)     foundation  (9  to  17  months)     foundation  (19  to  35  months)    
During  this  period,  the  child   During  this  period,  the  child   During  this  period,  the  child  may:  
may:   may:   • Show  understanding  of  
• Vocalize  in  response  to   • Follow  one-­‐step  simple   pronouns,  such  as  he,  
the  infant  care   requests  if  the  infant   she,  you,  me,  I,  and  it;  
teacher’s  speech.     care  teacher  also  uses  a   for  example,  by  touching  

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 • Quiet  down  when   gesture  to  match  the   own  nose  when  the  
hearing  the  infant  care   verbal  request,  such  as   infant  care  teacher  says,  
teacher’s  voice.  Turn   pointing  to  the  blanket   “Where’s  your  nose?”  
toward  the  window   when  asking  the  child   and  then  touching  the  
when  hearing  a  fire   to  get  it.     infant  care  teacher’s  
truck  drive  by.     • Look  up  and   nose  when  he  says,  
• Quiet  down  and  focus   momentarily  stop   “And  where’s  my  nose?”    
on  the  infant  care   reaching  into  the   • Follow  two-­‐step  
teacher  as  he  talks  to   mother’s  purse  when   requests  about  
the  child  during  a   she  says  “no  no.”     unrelated  events,  such  
diaper  change.     • Show  understanding  of   as,  “Put  the  blocks  away  
• Look  at  or  turn  toward   the  names  for  most   and  then  go  pick  out  a  
the  infant  care  teacher   familiar  objects  and   book.”    
who  says  the  child’s   people.     • Answer  adults’  
name.     questions;  for  example,  
communicate  “apple”  
when  a  parent  asks  
what  the  child  had  for  
snack.    
 
Foundation: Expressive Language
The developing ability to produce the sounds of language and use vocabulary
and increasingly complex utterances
8  months   18  months   36  months  
At  around  eight  months  of  age,   At  around  18  months  of  age,   At  around  36  months  of  age,  
children  experiment  with  sounds,   children  say  a  few  words  and   children  communicate  in  a  way  
practice  making  sounds,  and  use   use  conventional  gestures  to  tell   that  is  understandable  to  most  
sounds  or  gestures  to   others  about  their  needs,  wants,   adults  who  speak  the  same  
communicate  needs,  wants,  or   and  interests.     language  they  do.  Children  
interests.   combine  words  into  simple  
sentences  and  demonstrate  the  
ability  to  follow  some  
grammatical  rules  of  the  home  
language.    
For  example,  the  child  may:   For  example,  the  child  may:   For  example,  the  child  may:  
• Vocalize  to  get  the   • Look  at  a  plate  of   • Use  the  past  tense,  
infant  care  teacher’s   crackers,  then  at  the   though  not  always  
attention.     infant  care  teacher,   correctly;  for  example,  
• Repeat  sounds  when   and  communicate   “Daddy  goed  to  work,”  
babbling,  such  as  “da  da   “more.”     “She  falled  down.”    
da  da”  or  “ba  ba  ba  ba.”     • Point   t o   a n   a irplane   i n   • Use  the  possessive,  
• Wave  to  the  infant  care   the  sky  and  look  at  the   though  not  always  
teacher  when  he  waves   infant  care  teacher.     correctly;  for  example,  
and  says,  “bye-­‐bye”  as   • Use  the  same  word  to   “That’s  you  car”  or  “Her  
he  leaves  for  his  break.     refer  to  similar  things,   Megan.”    
• Lift  arms  to  the  infant   such  as  “milk”  while   • Use  a  few  prepositions,  
care  teacher  to   indicating  the  pitcher,   such  as  “on”  the  table.  
communicate  a  desire  to   even  though  it  is  filled   • Talk  about  what  she  will  
be  held.     with  juice.     do  in  the  future,  such  as  
• Use  two  words   “I  gonna  get  a  kitty.”    
together,  such  as   • Use  300–1000  words.    
“Daddy  give.”     • Use  the  plural  form  of  
• Shake  head  “no”  when   nouns,  though  not  
offered  more  food.     always  correctly;  for  
• Jabber  a  string  of   example,  “mans,”  and  

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 sounds  into  the  toy   “mouses.”    
telephone.     • Express,  “Uncle  is  
• Gesture  “all  gone”  by   coming  to  pick  me  up.”    
twisting  wrists  to  turn  
hands  up  and  down  
when  finished  eating  
lunch.    
• Use  made-­‐up  “words”  
to  refer  to  objects  or  
experiences  that  only  
familiar  adults  will  
know  the  meaning  of;  
for  example  “wo-­‐wo”  
when  wanting  to  go  
next  door  to  visit  the  
puppy.    
Behaviors  leading  up  to  the   Behaviors  leading  up  to  the   Behaviors  leading  up  to  the  
foundation  (4  to  7  months)     foundation  (9  to  17  months)     foundation  (19  to  35  months)    
During  this  period,  the  child  may:   During  this  period,  the  child   During  this  period,  the  child  may:  
• Squeal  when  excited.     may:   • Tend  to  communicate  
• Make  an  angry  noise   • Babble  using  the   about  objects,  actions,  
when  another  child   sounds  of  his  home   and  events  that  are  in  
takes  a  toy.     language.     the  here  and  now.    
• Make  a  face  of  disgust   • Consistently  use   • Use  some  words  to  refer  
to  tell  the  infant  care   utterances  to  refer  to   to  more  than  one  thing;  
teacher  that  she  does   favorite  objects  or   for  example,  “night-­‐
not  want  any  more  food.     experiences  that  only   night”  to  refer  to  
familiar  adults  know   bedtime  or  to  describe  
the  meaning  of;  for   darkness.    
example,  “ba  ba  ba  ba”   • Use  many  new  words  
for  blanket.     each  day.    
• Express  “Mama”  or   • Begin  to  combine  a  few  
“Dada”  when  the   words  into  mini-­‐
mother  or  father,   sentences  to  express  
respectively,  enters  the   wants,  needs,  or  
room.     interests;  for  example,  
• Say  a  first  word  clearly   “more  milk,”  “big  
enough  that  the  infant   doggie,”  “no  night-­‐
care  teacher  can   night”  or  “go  bye-­‐bye.”  
understand  the  word   • Have  a  vocabulary  of  
within  the  context;  for   about  80  words.    
example,  “gih”  for  give,   • Start  adding  articles  
“see,”  “dis”  for  this,   before  nouns,  such  as,  
“cookie,”  “doggie,”  “uh   “a  book”  or  “the  cup.”    
oh”  and  “no.”     • Use  own  name  when  
• Name  a  few  familiar   asked    
favorite  objects.     • Ask  questions  with  
• Change  tone  when   raised  intonations  at  the  
babbling,  so  that  the   end,  such  as  “Doggy  
child’s  babbles  sound   go?”    
more  and  more  like   • Communicate  using  
adult  speech.     sentences  of  three  to  
• Use  expressions;  for   five  words,  such  as  
example,  “uh  oh”  when   “Daddy  go  store?”  or  
milk  spills  or  when   “Want  more  rice.”    

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 something  falls  off  the  
table.    
• Say  “up”  and  lift  arms  
to  be  picked  up  by  the  
infant  care  teacher.    
 
Foundation: Communication Skills and Knowledge
The developing ability to communicate nonverbally and verbally
8  months   18  months   36  months  
At  around  eight  months  of  age,   At  around  18  months  of  age,   At  around  36  months  of  age,  
children  participate  in  back-­‐and-­‐ children  use  conventional   children  engage  in  back-­‐and-­‐
forth  communication  and  games.   gestures  and  words  to   forth  conversations  that  contain  
communicate  meaning  in  short   a  number  of  turns,  with  each  
back-­‐and-­‐forth  interactions  and   turn  building  upon  what  was  said  
use  the  basic  rules  of   in  the  previous  turn.    
conversational  turn-­‐taking  when  
communicating.    
For  example,  the  child  may:   For  example,  the  child  may:   For  example,  the  child  may:  
• Put  arms  up  above  head   • Respond  to  the  infant   • Persist  in  trying  to  get  
when  the  infant  care   care  teacher’s  initiation   the  infant  care  teacher  
teacher  says,  “soooo   of  conversation   to  respond  by  repeating,  
big.”     through  vocalizations   speaking  more  loudly,  
• Try  to  get  the  infant  care   or  nonverbal   expanding  on  what  the  
teacher  to  play  peek-­‐a-­‐ communication.     child  said,  or  touching  
boo  by  hiding  her  face   • Initiate  interactions   the  infant  care  teacher.    
behind  a  blanket,   with  the  infant  care   • Repeat  part  of  what  the  
uncovering  her  face,  and   teacher  by  touching,   adult  just  said  in  order  
laughing.     vocalizing,  or  offering  a   to  continue  the  
• Pull  the  infant  care   toy.     conversation.    
teacher’s  hands  away   • Jabber  into  a  toy  phone   • Make  comments  in  a  
from  his  face  during  a   and  then  pause,  as  if  to   conversation  that  the  
game  of  peek-­‐a-­‐boo.     listen  to  someone  on   other  person  has  
• Try  to  clap  hands  to  get   the  other  end.     difficulty  understanding;  
the  infant  care  teacher   • Shake  head  or  express   for  example,  suddenly  
to  continue  playing  pat-­‐ “no”  when  the  infant   switch  topics  or  use  
a-­‐cake.     care  teacher  asks  if  the   pronouns  without  
• Make  sounds  when  the   child  is  ready  to  go   making  clear  what  is  
infant  care  teacher  is   back  inside.  (18  mos.   being  talked  about.    
singing  a  song.     • Respond  to  the  infant   • Answer  adults’  
• Interact  with  the  infant   care  teacher’s   questions,  such  as  
care  teacher  while   comment  about  a  toy   “What’s  that?”  and  
singing  a  song  with   with  an  additional,  but   “Where  did  it  go?”  Begin  
actions  or  while  doing   related,  action  or   to  create  
finger  plays.     comment  about  the   understandable  topics  
same  toy;  for  example,   for  a  conversation  
make  a  barking  sound   partner.  
when  the  infant  care   • Sometimes  get  
teacher  pats  a  toy  dog   frustrated  if  the  infant  
and  says,  “Nice   care  teacher  does  not  
doggie.”     understand  what  the  
child  is  trying  to  
communicate  
• Participate  in  back-­‐and-­‐
forth  interaction  with  
the  infant  care  teacher  

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 by  speaking,  giving  
feedback,  and  adding  to  
what  was  originally  said.    
Behaviors  leading  up  to  the   Behaviors  leading  up  to  the   Behaviors  leading  up  to  the  
foundation  (4  to  7  months)     foundation  (9  to  17  months)     foundation  (19  to  35  months)    
During  this  period,  the  child  may:   During  this  period,  the  child   During  this  period,  the  child  may:  
• Respond  with  babbling   may:   • Ask  and  answer  simple  
when  the  infant  care   • Copy  the  infant  care   questions,  such  as  
teacher  asks  a  question.     teacher  in  waving  “bye-­‐ “What’s  that  
• Laugh  when  a  parent   bye”  to  a  parent  as  he   • Say,  “huh?”  when  
nuzzles  her  face  in  the   leaves  the  room.     interacting  with  the  
child’s  belly,  vocalizes   • Purse  lips  after  hearing   infant  care  teacher  to  
expectantly  when  she   and  seeing  the  infant   keep  interaction  going.    
pulls  back,  and  laugh   care  teacher  make  a   • Repeat  or  add  on  to  
when  she  nuzzles  again   sputtering  sound  with   what  she  just  said  if  the  
• Move  body  in  a  rocking   her  lips.     infant  care  teacher  does  
motion  to  get  the  infant   • Repeat  the  last  word  in   not  respond  right  away.    
care  teacher  to  continue   an  adult’s  question  in   • Engage  in  short  back-­‐
rocking.     order  to  continue  the   and-­‐forth  interactions  
• Babble  back  and  forth   conversation;  for   with  a  family  member  
with  the  infant  care   example,  saying  “dat”   by  responding  to  
teacher  during  diaper   after  the  infant  care   comments,  questions,  
change.     teacher  asks,  “What  is   and  prompts.    
that?”     • Respond  almost  
• Respond  with  “yes”  or   immediately  after  a  
“no”  when  asked  a   parent  finishes  talking  in  
simple  question.     order  to  continue  the  
• Hold  out  a  toy  for  the   interaction.    
infant  care  teacher  to   • Get  frustrated  if  the  
take  and  then  reach   infant  care  teacher  does  
out  to  accept  it  when   not  understand  what  
the  infant  care  teacher   the  child  is  trying  to  
offers  it  back.     communicate.  
• Show  an  understanding   • Attempt  to  continue  
that  a  conversation   conversation,  even  
must  build  on  what  the   when  the  adult  does  not  
other  partner  says;  for   understand  him  right  
example,  expressing,   away,  by  trying  to  use  
“bear”  when  the  infant   different  words  to  
care  teacher  points  to   communicate  the  
the  stuffed  bear  and   meaning  
asks,  “What’s  that?”     • Sustain  conversation  
• Initiate  back-­‐and-­‐forth   about  one  topic  for  one  
interaction  with  the   or  two  turns,  usually  
infant  care  teacher  by   about  something  that  is  
babbling  and  then   in  the  here  and  now.    
waiting  for  the  infant   • Respond  verbally  to  
care  teacher  to   adults’  questions  or  
respond  before   comments.    
babbling  again.    
• Say  “mmm”  when  
eating,  after  a  parent  
says,  “mmm.”    
 

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