www.womanthismonth.com 61 March 2014 The first sounds that a baby makes demonstrate that they need something, such as food, warmth or sleep. At around four to six months, babies begin the practice of babbling. These sounds are the beginnings of spoken language as they gain control of their tongue, lips, palate and vocal cords. This period is important as vocal play strengthens the muscles required for clear speech. Unlike reading and writing, it is argued that speaking is a skill which is innate within us all. Children will acquire spoken language without explicit instructions. However, the more interaction your child has, the better their speech and vocabulary will become. If your child is babbling, it is important that you acknowledge their attempts at communication by interacting with them. During this phase of development, children can also learn the vital skill of taking turns, which is an intrinsic part of how conversation works. This is something which they will use for the rest of their lives. This phase helps to introduce your child to the different functions, structures and sounds of human communication. Sensitivity to the human voice Studies on infants have shown that newborns have a natural preference to focus on the human voice above all environmental and non-speech sounds, such as laughing and coughing. Babies understand words before they have the physical ability to speak. Amazingly, linguists have demonstrated that three-day old babies can distinguish between utterances in their mother language and those in another language. Some studies show that, in fact, language acquisition starts even before birth and that children first start to acquire language in the womb when hearing voices. A child understands much more than they can say though it is difficult to estimate just how much. You can expect that your child’s first words will predominantly be nouns, such as names of people and things. Nouns make up at least 60 percent of the first words spoken. Think about how you help your child develop the skill of labelling objects around them to encourage this progress. Babies understand words before they have the physical ability to speak Vocabulary growth chart • Babbling starts at around four to six months and, in English, vowels are acquired before consonants. • A child’s first recognisable words usually appear at about 12 months, but this varies in individuals. • Once children reach around18 months, they will have a productive vocabulary of around 50 words and will begin to combine words to form two word utterances and, soon after, more complex sentences. • At 24 months, most children will have reached a 200-word productive vocabulary. • Between the ages of two and three, a child will be able to understand most of what is said. At around 36 months, the number of words used accurately will be around 2,000. From here, a child will be able to learn and use around 10 new words each day. • By the age of four, only a few consonant sounds cause a problem. • By six or seven years of age, your child will probably be confident in the use of both vowels and consonant sounds. • By the age of around 17, a teenager knows and can use at least 60,000 words accurately.
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