Language Development in Young Children

 by Donald G. Jamieson

CEO and Scientific Director, Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network

    A child’s first words are eagerly anticipated by parents, who proudly celebrate the astonishingly rapid progress we see as most children acquire new words and new language skills during their first years of life.

    While spoken language comes naturally to most children, all children make errors of various kinds, and language learning unfolds over our entire lifetimes. Thus, for a time, I called my older sister “Buff” – rather than by her real name, Beth. I could hear the final “th” sound but I just couldn’t get my mouth to pronounce this.

    Without doubt, every family has a story along these lines. But how do we decide when a child’s speech errors are part of the normal learning and maturation process and when they reflect a real, underlying problem? If it is the latter, the underlying problem will not correct itself and we want to ensure that there is an appropriate intervention. On the other hand, if the error will resolve itself, we want to leave well enough alone, so we can direct costly intervention services to those who really do need them.

 

  
    Just when speech errors should cause concern and when they should not has been a source of much confusion. Approximately 16% of children are considered to have a speech sound disorder (SSD). These children do not speak as well as their peers and they are often difficult to understand. SSDs are usually of unknown origin, and not the result of a basic sensory (e.g., hearing), structural

(e.g., cleft palate), or neurological (e.g., cerebral palsy) problem.

    Untreated SSDs can have a lifelong impact. More than half of children with SSDs develop academic difficulties in language, reading, and spelling during their school years. Furthermore, adults with a history of SSDs complete fewer years of formal education and generally have weaker spelling and reading skills. Thus, leaving an early SSD untreated may impact a person’s educational achievement, occupation, and quality of life.

    For effective intervention, we need to identify a communication disorder and its causes early on, and provide effective treatment. When a parent or caregiver suspects that a child has an SSD, they should consult a speech-language pathologist for an evaluation. Most children with SSDs can benefit from a speech-therapy intervention of an appropriate type and at an appropriate intensity. Effective therapy recognizes and builds on the important role parents play in their children’s language development. More generally, there is much that parents can do to foster their children’s speech and language development, including creating a language-rich, supportive environment at home, where children are encouraged to express themselves verbally

From : ECLKC BULLETIN VOLUME 2 NO. 1: JUNE 2007