INFANT LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

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INFANT LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

• Chapter 8

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• Language our most human achievement.
• Any symbolic expression that has meaning
• Sensitive Period babies perceive language
  differently from other sounds

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BRAIN IS WIRED FOR LANGUAGE DEV

• Receptive communication babies understand words
  before they speak (about 6 months)
• Parents should speak to their (unborn) child
• Menchu
• Infants communicate through gesture, noises,
  crying before they use words
• First form of communication is crying. Babies
  whose parents respond to their cries have
  improved communication competence

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BABBLING

• Repetitive vocalization in childs first year.NOT
  considered real communication
• DOES encourage interaction with caretaker
• Earliest open vowel cooing
• 4-5 months add consonants
• 9 months vowel-consonant-vowel
• 10-11 months expressive jargon resembles adult
  speech

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WORDS

• Begin about 8 - 18 months
• Overgeneralization
• Overrestriction
• Referential (objects)
• Expressive (social expression)

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BILINGUAL CHILDREN

• 1/2 children in world are bilingual. Growing
  number in U.S.
• Children learn same size vocabulary, split
  between two languages
• Before 18 months mental dictionary
• After 18 months mixed speech
• Bilingual kids put 2 words together at same age
  as monolingual kids do despite different rules
  (syntax)

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BILIINGUAL CHILDREN, continued

• Children use various strategies to make sense of
  different rules and vocabulary

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TODDLER LITERACY

• It is never too early to read to children
• books, ads, signs, food boxes, etc.
• Parents should use scaffolding to develop
  literacy skills

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LANGUAGE DELAYS

• Hearing babbling decreases at about 6 months
• Early detection is CRUCIAL
• ASL is learned like verbal language
• Be responsive to communication attempts
• Use language to dev. residual hearing
• Use total communication
• Initiate turn taking in conversation

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GENERAL LANGUAGE DELAY

• One of the most common disabilities
• Unknown cause
• Minimal brain dysfunction
• Stress
• Poverty

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CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

• Name things
• Expansion
• Expatiation
• Initiate conversation
• Scaffolding (naming game) see page 162