Anyone who watched a child become a skilled communicator will agree that this is a wonderful process. Never again in life will a child be as ready to learn language as between 0 and 3 years of age.
According to Elaine Weitzman and Janice Greenberg in their book Learning Language and Loving It (The Hanen Centre, 2002) researchers have established that the first three years of life is a "critical period" for language development. This means that children in this age group are optimally ready to learn how to communicate. They are naturally interested in communication and learning is a spontaneous process.
Characteristics of Toddler’s Language
In order for parents to be good communication partners, it is important to understand how they proceed from just understanding language to using it. In learning how to communicate, toddlers stick to a few basic rules:
- They have to understand words before they can use it.
- They need to hear a word repeated hundreds of times before they will say it.
- They use simple day-to-day words before they progress to more difficult words.
- They simplify the pronunciation of words, (dog becomes “do” and bottle becomes “botie”).
- They like to use simple syllable structures like “baa” instead of sheep or “ta” instead of give.
- They have a simple vocabulary consisting out of: names of objects in their environment (like “mommy”), action words (like “up”), social words (like “hello”) and description words (like “big”).
- They use one word for many different purposes – “mommy” might mean “I want juice” or “I want a cuddle”.
Language Development Milestones for Toddlers
Between the ages of 1 and 3 years toddlers progress through three levels of communication development. The age ranges for the different levels are a guideline only and some children may master these skills earlier or slightly later.
At 12 to 18 months children start to:
- Use their first single words (10-20 words).
- Use one word to describe a lot of things.
- Imitate words and animal sounds.
- Name pictures in a storybook.
During 18 to 24 months, toddlers start to put words together in sentences. They:
- Start to use two word sentences regularly.
- Have a rapidly expanding vocabulary.
- Ask a lot of questions.
- Tell what happened to them.
At 24 to 36 months toddlers use longer and longer sentences. They:
- Put three, four and five words together in sentences.
- Use more and more correct language.
- Start to ask "why" questions.
- Start to tell stories.
Games That Facilitate Language Development
The following are ideas for easy interaction games to play with children at the different communication levels between one and three.
Language Games for Toddlers 12 to 18 Months
Blowing Bubbles is an interaction game classic. Eye contact comes naturally as the child watches for the next stream of bubbles to come. The vocabulary used during this game is ideal for the beginner talker with words like: more, lots, bubbles, blow, catch, all gone and pretty.
Language Games for Toddlers 18 to 24 Months
Sharing Books is important during this stage. Even though younger children can enjoy books too, at this stage simple stories captivate the attention of a novice talker. Make sure to have eye contact with the child and share the book with him by pointing to the pictures and words. The vocabulary will depend on the story so make sure that the book is appropriate for his age level.
Language Games for Toddlers 24 to 26 Months
Having a pretend tea party is great interaction fun for both boys and girls. This game is rich with opportunities to practice social skills like greetings and saying please and thank you. Make the game more fun in playing along and asking for things the child might have forgotten like milk, sugar and cookies.
Young children are prewired to acquire language. Language development is a gradual process and parents can help it along by interacting with their toddlers at a level that is appropriate for them and about subjects that interest them.
