Language has been called the symbolization of thought. It is a learned code, or system of rules that allows us to communicate ideas and express wants and needs. Reading, writing, gesturing and speaking are all forms of language. Language falls into two main divisions: receptive language which is understanding what is said, written or signed; and, expressive language which is speaking, writing or signing.
Acquiring the language of one’s culture is an extremely difficult and challenging task. To understand and use a language effectively, children must master four basic components of the language. First, they must master phonology: They must know how words sound and be able to produce the sequence of sounds that make up any given word. Second, they must master semantics, the meanings of a large number of words combined to form understandable phrases and sentences. Lastly, children must master the pragmatics of language, the use of social conventions and speaking strategies that enable effective communication with others.
Pragmatic skills begin to develop in the early weeks of life, with tiny babies "turn taking", and initiating communicative interchanges, and "talking" (non-verbally, of course) to their caregivers. Pragmatic skills include: 1.knowing that you have to answer when a question has been asked; 2. being able to participate in a conversation by taking it in turns with the other speaker; 3. the ability to notice and respond to the non-verbal aspects of language; 4. awareness that you have to introduce a topic of conversation in order for the listener to fully understand; 5. knowing which words or what sort of sentence-type to use when initiating a conversation or responding to something another person has said; 6. the ability to maintain a topic; 7. the ability to maintain appropriate eye contact, with not too much staring, and not too much looking away during a conversation; and, 8. the ability to distinguish how to talk and behave towards different communicative partners.
By age 3 or 4, most children have acquired sufficient proficiency in language that they are able to carry on productive conversations with the people around them.
"Ages and Stages" charts for speech and language development and speech intelligibility criteria can be worrying if they are interpreted too strictly. Remember that children vary quite considerably with regard to the rate at which they reach the various speech and language "milestones". So there is no need to put out an SOS for a speech pathologist if your child does not do the things listed at exactly the ages stated! When you see language ages and stages and read an age like '12 months' say to yourself, 'twelve months or so'.
What Music Got To Do… Got To Do With It?
Music can influence children as early as their infancy. Traditionally, music has been used to teach language and math. Memorizing lyrics to songs in early childhood helps a young brain learn to store and recall information. Learning musical scales helps supports the teaching of math. Since music is so influential to a child, it can sometimes have negative input in a child's life as well. The types of music that they are exposed to are very crucial. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), too much exposure to particular kinds of music and media can be harmful to a child. Exposure to violence, including violent lyrics, can cause physical and mental health problems for children and adolescents. Some of the behaviors that could come from exposure to violent media are aggression, nightmares, fear and depression. Listening to explicit music lyrics can effect schoolwork, social interactions and produce significant changes in mood and behavior. How children listen to music also influences them and can impact their hearing. Children and adolescents frequently listen to music on personal devices with headphones. Keeping the volume up too high for extended periods can easily do damage to their eardrums and hearing.
Useful Resources
http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/look_who039s_talking (Available in Spanish)
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