The Learning Center Foundation

Another area of major development in a child’s life has to do with speech and language development.

What do we mean by “speech”? Speech and language are too different areas. Speech includes such areas as articulation, lisp, stuttering, mumbling, substitution, omission, distortion, and addition of speech sounds. Speech therapy includes many physical exercises to strengthen the tongue, lips, and vocal cords. Speech more formally concentrates on the pronunciation and articulation of words and the correct placement of those words in a sentence.

What do we mean by “language”? Language development, as many people commonly describe it, has to do with how well the child understands and uses both the spoken and written word. One way to look at language development is to break it down into four major categories.

• Receptive Language. The first area describes how a child receives language. How does language get into the head? Either by what one hears or by what one sees, as in reading. This is referred to as “receptive language.” When a word is spoken, for example, “apple,” the child instantly creates an image of an apple, or immediately understands and can identify the object by its name. The child who has some delay in receptive language may hear the word “apple” and take extra milliseconds to link that word to the actual object. For example, when a parent says, Go to your room and get your tennis shoes, this child may not immediately understand what he or she is supposed to do. It may take the child a few extra milliseconds to understand first what the phrase, “Go to your room” means. Second, the child may not immediately be able to visualize what tennis shoes are. These children sometimes appear to not listen. They may ask, What room? or What are tennis shoes? Frequently a parent thinks that this is a bright child asking a dumb question. These kinds of conflicts between parent and child may suggest a receptive language delay.
• Associative Language. A second area of language development describes what happens to language when it gets into the head. Once a child can easily identify the meaning or idea of a word, the child must understand its relationship to other objects or ideas. For instance, if the child hears the word “apple,” he or she may also immediately associate it to the color red. The child probably can compare it in size and shape to a ball. The child may group it in relationship to fruit. The child may understand it as a food.

  Telling your child to clean up his or her room could be a big challenge unless the child knows specifically that dirty clothes go in a certain place. Clean clothes, books, and toys must be put in certain places, and the bed has to be made. Often a child with this difficulty goes to his or her room and does only one thing, saying, I’m done, or It’s clean, or I’m finished.

  When a child reads, he or she probably can tell you what was said in the story. The child may not be able to draw inferences or apply the information to other situations. Another example is when a parent tells a child not to hit his younger sister or brother. The child then hits the dog. The parent then tells the child not to hit the dog, and the child breaks his or her toys. The child is following directions, but he or she is not getting the general idea about not hitting, hurting, or being destructive. This could be an associative language weakness. Sometimes these problems appear in what a child hears, and other times in what a child sees or reads.

• Expressive Language. A third area of language development includes the entire expressive range. Once we understand language, how do we express ourselves so others will understand us? We do it through gesture language or expressive verbal language. When you ask a child a question, he or she may know what you are saying. The child may even have some ideas to express. The child may not be able to find the right words, or put them in the right order or context to give you a proper answer. The child may shrug his or her shoulders and say, I don’t know, or simply give you a blank stare. Often these children like to give only one-word answers. How was school? Fine. What did you do? Nothing.

  Many children can express themselves well verbally, but have great difficulty when it comes to writing or putting their ideas on paper. Usually this problem is discovered early in a child’s education, as the child begins to write stories in second, third, and fourth grade. I can’t think of anything to write, is a common comment of these children. It seems that each sentence is a difficult struggle. A child who seems to have difficulty in both areas most likely has expressive problems.

  The case of expressive language disturbances is varied. The problem may be developmental or genetic; it may appear from birth on. The problem may be neurological, as in an expressive aphasia that is a neurological disorder in the brain. It may be due to brain damage to the language area in the brain. It may be due to an emotional problem, as in the child who is very depressed and unable or unwilling to talk. Sometimes the difficulty may be caused by the environment in which the child is raised, wherein the child is not allowed to speak except under very restrictive circumstances. Dyslexia is often considered a language disorder.

• Memory. A fourth area of language development has to do with both short- and long-term memory through both hearing and seeing. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that language is also learned kinesthetically, or through body movement or touch. This is easily proven with riding a bicycle. Even if you haven’t ridden a bicycle for some time, it can be easily relearned, because the body seems to have an inherent memory.

  Memory is a key ingredient in the process of communication. It is the storehouse of information taken in visually or auditorially. There are two factors that are vital in this storehouse. The first is the capacity to store incoming information. The second is the capacity to retrieve or access that information as needed. People with poor memory functions need repeated exposure to store the information and/or have difficulty retrieving the information at will. Some people can retain information that they hear. If they listen to a lecture or tape, they may have better retention of what was said. Other people remember better if they can read or see what is being done. A third group of people do best if they hear an explanation, read the explanation, and write down the explanation, using all three sensory modalities. This is called a “multisensory approach” to learning, and is often used with poor spellers.

Short-term memory, long-term memory. Short-term memory and long-term memory are stored in different parts of the brain. Some theorists believe that all information comes into one part of the brain first (short-term memory), and is evaluated for its importance to the individual. It then is stored in another section of the brain that holds information long-term. Tasks that are frequently repeated will move from short-term to long-term memory regardless of their value. Commonly it appears in elderly people that the long-term memory begins to out-function the short-term memory.
Developmental stages. Generally between the ages of birth to eight, the child’s perception and language develop. After about age eight, individuals use language and perception to learn and communicate at a more complex level. In early and middle adolescence, abstract concepts are integrated in the child’s language development. Most basic perceptual development should be concluded by about age eight. A fully intact auditory and visual perceptual development must be in place to support language development. Language development continues throughout life.

Learning a new language. Language problems sometimes appear when an individual tries to learn a new language. Any problem in the child’s language of origin will be highlighted as the child tries to learn a new language. Young children appear to learn new languages easily. These children learn because of exposure and necessity. They also have fewer preconditioned notions to undo.

What do you do about it? Usually speech problems are quickly and easily identified in preschool or kindergarten. If you suspect that your child has a problem with speech, or a delay in speech development, you might consult a professional speech therapist or speech pathologist. If you suspect a problem with your child’s language development, you probably can help your child.

1. If you think the child has difficulty understanding the meaning of your words, use short sentences and make sure the child knows what you’re saying by asking him or her to identify the key words in the sentence, for example, Please go brush your teeth. If it appears the child doesn’t understand the direction, ask him or her to repeat it back to you.
2. If you suspect that your child has difficulty seeing the relationship between items, ask him or her questions. In the last example, you might ask, What do you need to do? Where do you brush your teeth? What do you use to brush your teeth? When are you supposed to brush your teeth? These are the natural connections made by a child with good associative skills.
3. If the child has difficulty putting thoughts and feelings into words, encourage him or her to be specific. Many children will say, You know. Encourage the child to give you full-sentence answers to what you ask, for instance, Tell me one thing you did today, and then wait for a complete sentence.
4. First it is important to find out if the child’s memory is better for things that are heard or for things that are seen. A chart on the wall that gets checked off when chores are done might be best for the child who needs visual support. Telling instructions to a child who has a strong auditory memory will give good results. Showing a child, telling a child, and rehearsing with a child will often give you the best results.
5. If your efforts fail, or if the problems are severe, seek professional help from a speech and language therapist. Many public schools have speech therapists on staff to serve the district. You might also contact a child psychologist who has experience with language development.

Recommendations:

1. Parents are often used to interpreting their children’s language. Consult a speech and language specialist if you have continuing doubts.
2. Children suffer when they are teased by other children about their speech problem. Take care of the problem as soon as possible.