HOW LANGUAGE DEVELOPS IN THE FIRST 8 YEARS

Ella Ryan looks at how children progress their communication and language skills from young babies’ communication styles, right up to eight years of age.

LANGUAGE HELPS CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Communication is key for very young children, so it’s no surprise that developing their language skills is an essential part of their overall development.

Teaching your child words and language early on supports your child’s ability to:

• Communicate their feelings to you. Toddlers, for example, are easily frustrated, which can lead to the dreaded tantrums! However, helping them to learn the ability to tell you when they are angry, or sad will reduce their need to become frustrated.

• Learning words early helps them to understand your instructions, feelings and other communication

• Teaching your child to speak automatically means they will think and learn at a faster pace

• Using words and language allows a child to feel good about saying hello, goodbye and many other words that help them relate to others - both family members and other children

Remember, just because babies won’t be able to talk back to you, it does not mean you should not talk to your baby as much as possible. As they learn to understand more, they begin to gain confidence and enjoy language, which is the first step to embrace learning to read and write.

THE BEST WAY TO START