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Feature Articles for May 2003

Infants/Toddlers: Learning New Words

The ability to understand what is heard is called receptive language. At age 16-18 months of age, this language is still growing faster than expressive language, which is called speech.

At this age, Toddler is using mostly single words. The bulk of these words are nouns like “milk,” “ball,” or “dog,” but she can also use adjectives like “hot,” verbs like “want,” and “go,” or even questions, such as “whadda?”

These words represent thoughts and serve as actual sentences. “Car” may mean “We’re going for a ride, and I can’t wait to look out the window to see the world!”

The first two-word sentences are pieced together with the words said together but not really connected, as “Boy. Run.”

You will notice that Toddler talks at least as much to herself as to other people. She may appear astonished when someone responds to this self-talk.

Receptive language is learned mainly in a social context in which feelings and actions coincide with objects, people, and their gestures.

When Dad says, “Come here,” he holds out his arms to receive Toddler. When Mother says, “Give it to me,” she reaches out to accept the object. When Mother holds a cup to Toddler’s lips, she says, “Drink your juice.”

In other words, Toddler’s receptive language is the product of simple associations which have been going on since she was about six months old.

Imitation plays a big role in the life of the toddler. She uses it for learning new words. The parent says, “See the monkey,” and Toddler echoes the word “monkey.” Or Toddler points to an object and her parent supplies its name.

There is a snowballing effect in learning language–the more a child is able to speak, the more she learns to speak.

Once Toddler discovers this power of speech, she has a new style of behaving and dealing with her world. She demonstrates this mastery by talking with the adults in her life. And they generally love it!

For more information, check out the Growing Child Web site at www.GrowingChild.com

Courtesy GrowingChild.com