38

Language Development
Amanda C. Brandone
Sara J. Salkind
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff
University of Delaware

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
Temple University

BACKGROUND AND To better address typical and atypical language devel-

opment as well as strategies of prevention and interven-
DEVELOPMENT tion, the five structural components of language may be
What is language? Language has been hailed as the hall- simplified into three essential aspects of communication:
mark of humanity, the ability that separates humans from content, form, and use (Bloom & Lahey, 1978). Content
animals (Berko-Gleason, 1997). As humans in society, we refers to the semantics of language—the concepts and
use our language ability continuously to embrace ideas, ideas that are encoded in words. Form is the way in
share our feelings, comment on the world, and under- which meaning is represented, including speech, sign lan-
stand each other’s minds. Language can be defined as an guage, and writing. In the context of spoken language,
organized system of arbitrary signals and rule-governed form encompasses phonology, morphology, and syntax.
Finally, use refers to the function of language in context.
structures that are used as a means for communication.
Although each of these aspects of language can be identi-
Language occurs both receptively and expressively through
fied separately, they are inherently interconnected ele-
reading, listening, writing, and speaking. In order to
ments in communication (Bloom & Lahey). Language
become fully functioning members of school and society,
problems may arise when there is a disruption within any
children must learn the elements, the rules, the structure,
one component of the model or in their integration. The
and the conventions of this system.
following sections consider the typical development of
Our working definition of language encompasses five
each of these aspects of language.
structural components: phonology, semantics, syntax, mor-
phology, and pragmatics. Phonology refers to the sounds
and the intonation patterns that are associated with spoken Language Content
language. Semantics encompasses the words of a language Relations between words and their referents are arbi-
and the meanings associated with those words. Syntax trary and symbolic. Words themselves do not lend the
describes the grammatical rules of a language—how words language learner any clues to the identity of what is
combine into phrases and sentences. Morphology refers to being labeled. Thus, learning the meaning of words
the rules that govern the use of morphemes. Morphemes involves learning how one’s own language community
are the smallest units of meaning in a language, including labels content in the world. This is not an easy task.
the prefixes and suffixes that mark syntactic and semantic Consider, for example, seeing a rabbit hopping by and
information, such as number (i.e., plurals), gender, and hearing the word rabbit. How does one know whether
tense (i.e., past, present, or future). Finally, pragmatics is the word applies to the whole rabbit or to its fur? To
how we adjust our speech to our audience and use language its twitching whiskers or to its hopping? Research sug-
toward the goal of communication. gests that even very young children are guided in this

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initial word-to-referent mapping by a default set of patterns and prosodic contours (see Table 2 for develop-
assumptions or predispositions (see Woodward & mental milestones of language form). Young infants also
Markman, 1998, for a review of these principles). enter the world able to discriminate between most of the
Hypotheses based on these assumptions are then sup- sounds that are used in language, including those in lan-
plemented by input and feedback from mature speak- guages to which they have never been exposed.
ers, allowing children to test and revise their label-to- Soon after birth, infants begin to make noises of
referent mappings in order to conform to those of their own, beginning with vegetative sounds, cooing, and
their speech community (see Table 1 for developmental laughing (see Vihman, 1996). By about 4 months of age
milestones of language content). the nature of these noises changes as infants begin to
The semantic achievement of the production of the manipulate their vocal apparatus in vocal play. Starting
first word typically occurs around the child’s first birth- around 6 or 7 months of age, cooing develops into real,
day; however, it may appear as early as 8 months or as language-like sounds, called babbling. A significant
late as 16 months without indicating serious concern. By language milestone, babbling consists of sequences of
this time, children have already been exposed to a great consonant–vowel syllables (e.g., ‘‘mamama’’). Though
deal of language and possess a receptive vocabulary of babbling is itself meaningless, it is through babbling that
about 50 words (Fenson et al., 1994). Once vocabulary infants are able to experiment with producing the sounds
learning begins, progress is slow and measured. However, of their language. Infants’ ability to hear their own vocal-
by 18 months of age productive vocabularies typically izations and those of the people around them takes on
expand to about 50 words. Great individual differences increased importance during this period, and babies who
appear during this period. For example, although at 16 are deaf produce fewer well-formed syllables than their
months the average number of words a baby can say is hearing counterparts (Oller & Eilers, 1988). The final
40, the top 10% of 16-month-olds can say 180 words, stage of prelinguistic vocalization, the jargon stage, gener-
and the bottom 10% can say fewer than 10, and in some ally overlaps with the child’s first true words. Beginning
cases none at all (Fenson et al., 1994). This variation at around 9 to 12 months of age, jargon consists of
among children is completely normal and should be strings of sounds and syllables produced with the rich
expected. variety of stress and intonation that mimic the sounds of
During the toddler, preschool, and school years, chil- adult speech. Although not all babies engage in jargon,
dren continue to acquire a varied lexicon. Semantic its presence is an indicator that children have nearly
development expands from the concrete nouns of infancy mastered the sounds of their language; they have only to
to complex, abstract, and relational concepts, such as formulate those sounds into approximations of meaning-
words for actions, emotions, and colors; and deictic ful words (see Vihman, 1996, for a review of early pho-
terms, such as I, you, this, and that. Children also make nological development).
connections among the words in their vocabulary, build- The next crucial milestone in the development of
ing a complex network of interrelated words and con- language form occurs when the child discovers that rule-
cepts. Semantic development does not end in childhood. based combinations of words actually express more than
Even into adulthood we continue to add new words to the meaning of any of the individual words. For example,
our lexicon (e.g., blog and latte), and fine-tune the con- by 17 months children are able to discriminate between
tent of our communication as we increase our knowledge ‘‘Cookie Monster is tickling Big Bird’’ and ‘‘Big Bird is
and experiences (see Pan, 2001, for a review of semantic tickling Cookie Monster’’ (Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff,
development). 1996). Comprehension of these rule-based combinations
comes prior to production using these rules.
Children begin to combine words into two-word
Language Form
utterances (e.g., ‘‘car go’’ and ‘‘more juice’’) between 18
For typically developing children, sensitivity to language and 24 months. These early word combinations express
form originates in the womb (see Golinkoff & Hirsh- meaningful relationships yet tend to be missing function
Pasek, 1999, for a review). The growing fetus can hear a words (the, a), auxiliary verbs (am, is, has), and the
number of sounds generated both inside and outside of bound morphemes that mark plural (s), possessive (-’s),
the mother’s abdomen. As a result of these experiences, or tense (-ing, -ed). As children learn to combine words
infants at birth are already familiar with some of the into longer sequences, they add the function words and
phonology of their language, including its intonational bound morphemes that were absent from their first

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Table 1 Milestones of Language Content

Typical Age Content Milestones
8–12 mos. Understand 3–50 words.
First words are used for names of familiar people and objects; communicative games and routines; to talk about appear-
ance, disappearance, recurrence.

12–18 mos. Average expressive vocabulary size: 50–100 words at 18 mos.

Semantic roles are expressed in one-word speech, including agent, action, object, location, possession, rejection, disap-
pearance, nonexistence, denial.
Words are understood outside of routine games; still need contextual support for lexical comprehension.

18–24 mos. Average expressive vocabulary size: 200–300 words at 24 mos.

Prevalent relations expressed: agent–action, agent–object, action–object, action–location, entity–location, possessor–
possession, demonstrative–entity, attribute–entity.

24–30 mos. Understanding and use of questions about objects (What?), people (Who?), and basic events (What is x doing?
Where is x going?).

30–36 mos. Use and understand Why? questions.

Use and understand basic spatial terms (in, on, under, etc.).

36–42 mos. Use and understand semantic relationship between adjacent and conjoined sentences, including additive, temporal,
causal, contrastive.
Understand basic color words.
Use and understand basic kinship terms.

42–48 mos. Use and understand ‘‘when’’ and ‘‘how’’ questions.

Understand words for basic shapes (circle, square, triangle).
Use and understand basic size vocabulary (big, small).
Use conjunctions and and because to conjoin sentences.

48–60 mos. Knowledge of letter names and sounds emerges.

Knowledge of numbers and counting emerges.
Use conjunctions when, so, because, and if.

5–7 years Reorganization of lexical knowledge from episodic to semantic networks occurs.
Average expressive vocabulary size: 5,000 words.

7–9 years School introduces new words not encountered in conversation.

Pronouns used anaphorically to refer to nouns previously named.
Word definitions include synonyms and categories.
Some words understood to have multiple meanings.
Capacity for production of figurative language increases.

(Continued)

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Children’s Needs III

Table 1 Continued

Typical Age Content Milestones

9–12 years Vocabulary in school texts is more abstract and specific than that in conversation.
Students are expected to acquire new information from written texts.
Can explain relationships between meanings of multiple-meaning words.
Begin using adverbial conjunctions.
Understand most common idioms.

12–14 years Abstract dictionary definitions given for words.

Can explain meaning of proverbs in context.

15–18 years Average vocabulary size of high school graduate: 10,000 words.

Note. From Language Disorders From Infants Through Adolescence: Assessment and Intervention, by R. Paul, 2001, Philadelphia: Mosby. Copyright
2000 by Elsevier. Adapted with permission. Based on previous works of Chapman (2000), Miller (1981), Nippold (1998).

word combinations. Negative sentences and questions through a combination of eye gaze, vocalization, and ges-
join the simple declarative sentences of early child- ture (e.g., Harding & Golinkoff, 1979). Although ini-
hood. Finally, complex, multiclause sentences appear tially infants are unaware of the impact of these
(see Tager-Flusberg, 2001, for a review of the develop- prelinguistic behaviors, the consistent and contingent
ment of syntax and morphology). responses of caregivers during early protoconversational
Although most grammatical structures are in place exchanges highlight and teach the communicative nature
by the age of 5, children continue to acquire more com- of language (Sachs, 2001).
plex forms and rules of grammar in the school setting. Through interaction with family, peers, teachers, and
Here the focus of language development expands to caregivers, children learn communicative competence, or
incorporate written communication, including reading how to use language appropriately and strategically in
and writing. Learning to read and write requires the social situations (Hymes, 1967). Because we use language
active analysis of certain aspects of language that were for so many purposes, many skills are involved in com-
experienced only passively by the younger child. One municative competence (see Becker-Bryant, 2001).
example of this is phonemic awareness, or the understand- Children need to learn to ask questions, make requests,
ing that letters map to sounds and that those sounds can give orders, express agreement or disagreement, apolo-
be combined to make words. The ability to read and gize, refuse, joke, praise, and tell stories. They must learn
write dramatically transforms the language learner. social routines (such as saying ‘‘Trick or treat’’ on
Through these new language experiences, children gain Halloween), terms of politeness, and ways to address
metalinguistic competence, or the ability to conceptualize, others. Children must also understand how to initiate,
reflect upon, and analyze language as an entity in and of maintain, and conclude conversations, as well as take
itself (see Nippold, 1998, for a review of later language turns, provide and respond effectively to feedback, and
development). stay on-topic. Crucially, they must learn to be sensitive
to their audience and to the situations in which they are
communicating. Sophistication in pragmatics continues
Language Use to develop throughout childhood and into adulthood.
Children learn to communicate long before they develop
the form and content of language (see Table 3 for mile- Factors Contributing to Normal Growth
stones of language use). Infants are born with a repertoire
of affective behaviors that allow for the communication
and Development
of basic needs, and as early as the first year of life they are The single most important factor contributing to the
able to further communicate their intention to others development of the content, use, and form of language is

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Table 2 Milestones of Language Form

Typical Age Form Milestones
0–8 mos. 0–2 mos.—vegetative sounds.
2–4 mos.—cooing, laughing.
4–6 mos.—vocal play.

8–12 mos. 6–10 mos.—canonical babbling (e.g., dadada), variegated babbling (e.g., digaba).
Jargon babble with intonational contours of language being learned.

12–18 mos. Production of first 50 words.

18–24 mos. Understand basic semantic roles and relations.

Two-word utterances and two-syllable words emerge.
Word order is consistent.
Utterances are ‘‘telegraphic,’’ with few grammatical markers.
Speech is 50% intelligible; 70% of consonant sounds produced are correct.

24–30 mos. Grammatical morphemes appear.

Early emerging acquisition: -ing, in, on, plural s.
Use of no, not, can’t, don’t as negation between subject and verb.
Questions formed with rising intonation only.
Use of sentences with semi-auxiliaries: gonna, wanna, gotta, hafta.
Awareness of rhyme emerges.

30–36 mos. Present-tense auxiliaries appear.

Be verbs used inconsistently.
Overgeneralized past-tense forms appear.
Speech is 75% intelligible at 36 mos.
Ability to produce rhyme emerges.

36–42 mos. Emergence of embedded sentences.

First complex sentence forms appear.
Auxiliary verbs are placed correctly in questions and negatives.
Irregular past tense, articles (a, the), possessive ’s acquired.

42–48 mos. Early emerging complex sentence types, including full prepositional clauses, wh clauses, simple infinitives.
Errors in production of s, r, l, th may persist.

5–7 years Use and understanding of passive sentences emerges.

Mastery of exceptions to basic grammar rules emerges.
Ability to segment words into phonemes emerges.
Understand concept of word separate from its referent.

(Continued)

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Children’s Needs III

Table 2 Continued

Typical Age Form Milestones

7–9 years Literate language syntax needed for academic participation develops.
A few errors in noun phrases (‘‘much bricks’’) persist.
Articulation is mostly error-free; some difficulty with complex words may persist (e.g., aluminum).
Phonological knowledge is used in spelling.

9–12 years Syntax used in school texts is more complex than that used in oral language.
Use of word order variations increase in writing (‘‘Near the pool I put a fence’’).
Metacognitive skills emerge.

12–14 years Use of perfect aspect (have/had +[verb]) increases.

Syntax used in writing is more complex than that used in speech.
Knowledge of stress rules (yellowjacket vs. yellow jacket) is acquired.

15–18 years Complexity in written language is greater than in spoken language.

Full adult range of syntactic constructions reached.

Note. From Language Disorders From Infants Through Adolescence: Assessment and Intervention, by R. Paul, 2001, Philadelphia: Mosby. Copyright
2000 by Elsevier. Adapted with permission. Based on previous works of Chapman (2000), Miller (1981), and Nippold (1998).

input. To learn language, children must hear language and Results from the National Institute of Child Health
experience it being used in the context of communication. and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care
Accordingly, the most important factor contributing to the Research Network (2000) likewise demonstrate that
commencement of language development is infants’ ability regardless of whether child care takes place at home, with
to hear. Research suggests that hearing problems, including family members, or in a formal child care setting, input
those stemming from recurring ear infections in infancy is nevertheless crucial to language development. When
and early childhood, may have long-term effects on lan- teachers and caregivers talk to children, ask questions,
guage development (‘‘Who has Hearing, Speech, and and wait for answers, they create a more stimulating lan-
Language Problems?’’ 1995). However, hearing the sounds guage environment. This environment results in children
of language is not enough. Children must hear their world who know more letters, colors, and shapes at age 3 than
discussed and described to learn the intricacies of language. children who are not addressed as frequently. Early lan-
They must be invited to contribute to the conversation guage stimulation remains one of the best predictors of
and allowed to experience language within a rich and stim- later vocabulary, reading, and mathematical skills.
ulating linguistic environment.
Language is not taught explicitly; instead, it is learned
through communication. Thus, the more opportunities PROBLEMS AND IMPLICATIONS
children have to interact with other language users, the
more linguistic input they have to analyze and learn from. For most children, the development of language proceeds
Not surprisingly, research suggests that children exposed without difficulty. By the age of 5, typically developing
to larger amounts of adult input develop larger, richer children have mastered the building blocks of the system
vocabularies and more advanced syntactic skills than chil- and are left only to refine and integrate their skills in
dren exposed to more limited input (Huttenlocher, order to use language in an increasingly complex range of
1998). Parents and caregivers who encourage conversa- tasks. During the course of the development of language,
tion, ask questions, and build on conversations that their there is a tremendous range of what can be considered
children start, have children with more advanced lan- normal. Many harmless problems inevitably occur (e.g.,
guage abilities (Hoff & Naigles, 2002). sound substitutions, such as ‘‘f ’’ for ‘‘th’’ in birthday;

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Table 3 Milestones of Language Use

Typical Age Use Milestones
0–8 mos. Caregivers attribute intent to child’s actions.

8–12 mos. Intent expressed with gestures and vocalizations: requesting objects and actions, refusing, commenting, playing
communicative games.
Frequency of communicative acts: 2.5/min. of free play.

12–18 mos. Words replace preverbal means in expressing intent.

Frequency of communicative acts: 5/min. of free play.

18–24 mos. Word use increases as preverbal communication decreases.

New intents include requesting information, answering questions.
Frequency of communicative acts: 7.5/min. of free play.

24–30 mos. ‘‘Please’’ used for polite requests.

New intents include symbolic play, talk about absent objects, misrepresentation.
Narratives are characterized primarily by labels and descriptions.

30–36 mos. Some requests for clarification provided.

Use of language in play increases.
Narratives express theme but no plot.

36–42 mos. More flexibility in requesting, including permission directives (Can you . . . ?) and indirect requests (Would
you . . . ?); direct requests decrease in frequency.
Narratives express theme and some temporal organization.

42–48 mos. New functions emerge, including reporting on past events, reasoning, predicting, expressing empathy,
creating imaginary roles and props, and maintaining interactions.

48–60 mos. Ability to address specific requests for clarification increases.

Narratives express some plot but no high point or resolution.

5–7 years Narratives are true stories expressing central focus, high point, and resolution.

7–9 years Stories contain complete episodes with internal goals, motivations, and reactions of characters; some multi-episode
stories appear.
Language is used to establish and maintain social status.
Increased perspective-taking allows for more successful persuasion.
Provide conversational repairs: defining terms, giving background information.
Begin to understand jokes and riddles based on sound similarities.
Can perform successfully in simple referential communication tasks.

(Continued)

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Children’s Needs III

Table 3 Continued

Typical Age Use Milestones

9–12 years Stories include complex, embedded, and interactive episodes.

Understand jokes and riddles based on lexical ambiguity.

12–14 years Expository texts are used in school writing.

Most information is presented in expository formats.
Understand jokes and riddles based on deep structure ambiguity.

15–18 years Language is used to maintain social bonds.

Persuasive and argumentative skills reach near-adult levels.

Note. From Language Disorders From Infants through Adolescence: Assessment and Intervention, by R. Paul, 2001, Philadelphia: Mosby. Copyright
2000 by Elsevier. Adapted with permission. Based on previous works of Chapman (2000), Miller (1981), Nippold (1998).

over- or underextension of meaning, as when all animals language impairment, specific learning disabilities, and
are called dog; or overgeneralization of grammatical rules, developmental delay. Language disorders are also widely
as when children overapply ‘‘-ed’’ as a past-tense indica- recognized as characteristic of other disabilities, particu-
tor, resulting in goed instead of went); nevertheless, more larly hearing impairment, mental retardation, autism,
severe problems do arise. traumatic brain injury, and certain types of emotional
disturbance. Students with severe language impairments
typically are identified at an early age and receive speech
Classification of Language Problems or language therapy. However, a larger number of stu-
The literature often draws a distinction between delay dents experience more subtle language problems that
and disorder when discussing language. The term delay become manifest as the demands of school increase.
refers to language that is similar to that which would be Table 4 describes the difficulties associated with each lan-
expected from a younger child, whereas disorder refers to guage dimension.
language that is qualitatively different from what is typi- Language skills underpin all human interaction and
cal. In practice, however, this distinction is often unclear. are therefore crucial to children’s success in school and
Recent studies of the prevalence of language delay give society. As a result, problems with language have pervasive
an incidence of between 3% and 15% (Lees & Urwin, effects on the ability to read, write, and interact with
1997). Yet these studies fail to agree about where the dis- others. A great deal of evidence links spoken language
tinction between delay and disorder should be drawn. In problems to reading disabilities (e.g., Catts, Fey, Tomblin,
this chapter, the following definition of language disor- & Zhang, 2002). Children with early language impair-
der, from the American Speech-Language-Hearing ment have been found to be at significantly higher risk for
Association (1993), is used: reading disabilities later in life. Attention to children’s
development of vocabulary, grammar, narrative structure
A language disorder is the impaired comprehension and content, and other aspects of spoken language func-
and/or use of a spoken, written, and/or other symbol tioning is thus crucial in the early identification of chil-
system. The disorder may involve (1) the form of dren at risk for reading disabilities. In a study of normally
language (phonology, morphology, syntax), (2) the developing children, Walker, Greenwood, Hart, & Carta
content of language (semantics), and/or (3) the func- (1994) found that general language skills acquired prior
tion of language in communication (pragmatics) in to age 5 predicted both reading and academic achieve-
any combination. (p. 41) ment in later grades. Anywhere between 50% and 100%
of children with preschool speech and language disorders
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education experience persistent language problems and academic
Act of 1997 (IDEA) a language disorder is recognized as difficulties (see Lewis, Freebairn, & Taylor, 2000).
a primary disability under the categories of speech or Language skills grease the wheels of human social

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interaction. Thus, they are also related to children’s  Phonological problems, including limited vocaliza-
acceptance into a group, the ease with which they form tions and restricted babbling.
friendships, and their ability to interact appropriately with  Few spontaneous vocal imitations and reliance on
others. direct modeling in imitation tasks.
 Little combinatorial or symbolic play.
 Few communicative or symbolic gestures (e.g., point-
Risk Factors for Language Problems
ing, waving).
The causes of language problems are developmental in  Behavior problems.
nature. Although no specific etiology has been found,  Few conversational initiations.
three major risk factors for language delay have been  Difficulty interacting with peers as compared with
identified (Olswang, Rodriquez, & Timler, 1998). The adults.
first is prolonged periods of untreated otitis media, or
inflammation of the middle ear. Moderate hearing loss When a toddler with slow language development
associated with otitis media may interfere with children’s shows significant risk factors, intervention is warranted.
ability to decode and practice language. Second is a fam-
ily history of language and learning problems.
Approximately half of families of children with language ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS FOR
impairments have at least one other family member who PREVENTION
has a language problem (Spitz, Tallal, Flax, & Benasich,
1997). The final risk factor for language delay is parental Though language impairment generally first becomes a
characteristics, including a directive rather than respon- serious challenge during the school years, the seeds of
sive interaction style, high parental concern about child- language problems are in place much earlier and relate to
ren’s language, and low socioeconomic status. With children’s prior medical history and family life.
respect to the impact of socioeconomic status on lan- Accordingly, early identification and intervention services
guage development, a study by Hart and Risley (1995) for children thought to be at risk for language impair-
found that in an average hour of interaction with chil- ment remain the most promising methods of prevention.
dren under 3 years of age, professional parents (as com- The role of school personnel, including school psycholo-
pared with their working-class and welfare counterparts) gists, in the prevention of language impairment is
used more words of all kinds, more multiclause senten- twofold. First, they should screen the hearing and lan-
ces, more past and future verb tenses, more declaratives, guage skills of all children upon entry into school, if not
and more questions of all kinds. The average number of sooner. They also should assess the language skills of
words children heard per hour in professional families infants and preschoolers considered to be at risk for a
was 2,150, as compared with 1,250 in working-class language disorder based on results of screening or the
families, and a mere 620 were heard per hour in welfare presence of risk factors reviewed above. Older school-age
families. Given the cumulative effects of this variation in students at risk for a language disorder also should be
linguistic input, it is no surprise that socioeconomic sta- screened or monitored periodically for the need of serv-
tus is associated with language impairment and success in ices throughout their schooling (see Paul, 2001, for a
school. review of screening and language assessment procedures).
In addition to these risk factors, Olswang and col- Early identification of hearing and language problems
leagues (1998) have identified a series of behaviors in helps to ensure that children receive intervention to min-
children in the 18- to 36-month range that are predictors imize the effects of delay on language development.
of the need for language intervention. These include the The second role of schools in the prevention of lan-
following: guage impairments (as well as other impairments related
to language) is the provision of preventive programs for
 A smaller than average vocabulary, including few children found during screening to be at risk for a lan-
verbs, a lack of variety of verbs, and a predominance guage disorder. This finding would be indicated by low
of general verbs (e.g., make, go, do). scores on screening measures, which are likely to reflect
 A language comprehension delay of 6 months or a the risk factors discussed previously. Because language
comprehension deficit with a large comprehension- emerges from natural interactions that occur between
production gap. children and their caregivers, early intervention programs

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Table 4 Language Difficulties

Language Dimension Difficulties

Use Does not consider who the listener is, the familiarity of the listener, or the degree of formality of the situa-
tion or environment.
Maintains poor eye contact, infringes on conversational partner’s turn to speak, fails to maintain appropri-
ate conversational distance.
Does not consider perspective of listeners, including their ability to follow the speaker’s train of thought,
what and how much information to provide to them, and their verbal and nonverbal responses.
Neglects polite terms and uses imperative statements inappropriately.
Has difficulty with conversation initiation and topic maintenance.

Form Has difficulty using possessives, past tense, prefixes, noun derivation (-er), adverb derivation (-ly), and wh-
questions.
Has difficulty learning rules for subject–verb agreement, reflexives, irregular past tense, irregular plural
nouns, noun possessives, comparatives and superlatives, and auxiliary verbs.
Has difficulty processing complex syntactic structures such as interrogatives and embedded, passive, and
negative sentences.
Has difficulty transforming sentences to create new sentences.
Produces shorter, less elaborated sentences that lack syntactical complexity; relies on basic sentence
structure.
Ignores or omits word endings (plurals, verb tense, superlatives) and low-stress words (prepositions,
conjunctions).
Begins sentences with ‘‘um’’ or ‘‘uh,’’ reflecting inability to order thoughts and words.
Displays sound omissions or substitutions; demonstrates difficulty discriminating sounds.

Content Displays restricted, literal, and concrete receptive and expressive word knowledge.
Substitutes nonspecific words or phrases and indefinite terms for specific words when describing objects or
events.
Has difficulty using and understanding linguistic concepts (e.g., before/after, if/then, many, some, few),
conjunctions, transition words, relational terms, and words with multiple meanings.
Has difficulty understanding synonyms, antonyms, and verbal analogies and perceiving logical relationships
among words.
Has difficulty with figurative language, including idioms, proverbs, metaphors, similes, sarcasm, and jokes.

Note. Compiled from material presented in Speech, Language, and Hearing Disorders: A Guide for the Teacher (3rd ed.), by B. J. Hall, H. J. Oyer,
and W. H. Haas, 2001, Boston: Allyn & Bacon; Speech and Language Difficulties in the Classroom (2nd ed.), by D. Martin and C. Miller, 2003,
London: David Fulton Publishers.

aim to enhance and supplement children’s social and lin- the most successful and widely used models for effec-
guistic experiences by establishing natural, interactive, tively training caregivers as language facilitators is the
communication-based relationships between at-risk chil- Hanen Early Language Parent Program (Girolametto,
dren and their environment, including the adults within Greenburg, & Manolson, 1986). The basic notion
that environment (Rossetti, 2001). behind this program is that parents can be their children’s
Early intervention often requires significant involve- language facilitators only if they are taught how. The
ment by the caregiver, as caregivers must be taught how Hanen approach thus instructs caregivers in becoming
to respond to children in ways that will ultimately better communicative partners to help their children
enhance and increase their language behaviors. One of learn to communicate. Parents are taught to identify

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Table 5 Specific Intervention Techniques

Technique Explanation
Modeling Adult models a word or function for the child to imitate after the child demonstrates an interest
in an object or activity. A correct imitation of the model is followed by praise, verbal expansion,
and immediate access to the desired object/activity.

Mand modeling Adult uses a prompt (e.g., ‘‘Tell me what you want’’) or a request for response to a direct question
(e.g., ‘‘What’s this?’’) followed by corrective imitation or reinforcement and access to the desired
object or activity.

Conversational recasting Adult replies to child’s utterances by maintaining the child’s basic meaning but syntactically
changing one or more of the sentence components and incorporating elements that are slightly
above the child’s current language level (e.g., Child: ‘‘Book fall.’’ Adult: ‘‘Oh no! Did the book fall
off the table?’’).

Labeling Adult attends to focus of child’s attention and verbalizes the name of the item of focus.

Expansion Adult repeats child’s utterance with the addition of relevant grammatical and semantic details
(e.g., Child: ‘‘Dog in house.’’ Adult: ‘‘Yes! The dog is inside the house.’’).

Extension and expatiation Adult responds contingently to the child’s utterance by contributing something new and
extending some aspect of meaning (e.g., Child: ‘‘Dog in house.’’ Adult: ‘‘Yes. He went inside. He
got too cold.’’).

Buildups and breakdowns Adult expands and breaks down the child’s utterance to draw attention to its grammatical
components (e.g., Child: ‘‘I make a mess.’’ Adult: ‘‘You did. You made a big mess. A big mess.
You sure did make a mess. You made a mess, all right! Didn’t you?’’).

Note. Adapted from material presented in Language Intervention With Young Children, by M. E. Fey, 1986, San Diego, CA: College-Hill Press.

children’s attempts to communicate and to respond to effective tools in the prevention of language problems
them contingently using techniques that facilitate inter- (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
action and ultimately language growth (see Table 5). Administration for Children and Families, 2002). Early
Results suggest that children of parents in the Hanen Head Start programs were found to enhance children’s
program were more responsive, initiated more conversa- cognitive and language development at both 2 and 3
tional topics, used more verbal turns, and displayed a years of age, leading to improvement in receptive
more diverse vocabulary than children in a matched con- vocabulary and the extent and complexity of children’s
trol group. Implementing the teachings of the Hanen spoken language. Through proactive, supportive, high-
program with parents and other adults may be useful in quality interaction, immersion in such early intervention
enhancing the communication environment and thus the programs is a small step toward equalizing the disparate
language abilities of children of all ages, but especially early language experiences of children from different
those in the preschool years. Home visitation programs socioeconomic backgrounds.
targeting parents of children at risk have also been shown Data suggest that, in general, early intervention pro-
to have a small but significant impact on cognitive and grams have enduring effects on children’s cognitive and
socioemotional outcomes (Sweet & Appelbaum, 2004). social–emotional development into middle school
Federally funded community-based programs for (Nelson, Westhues, & McLeod, 2003). Investment in
low-income families with infants and toddlers, such as such programs can be considered an investment in the
Head Start and Early Head Start, also function as future, resulting in dramatic savings for both school

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Children’s Needs III

districts and society. For example, cost-effectiveness anal- treatment that targets not only spoken language prob-
yses of the Perry Preschool program, an early interven- lems but also anticipated problems in reading.
tion program for children with low IQs from low- Together the school psychologist and the speech and
income African American families, demonstrated mone- language pathologist can develop a language interven-
tary savings of more than $95,000 per participant by the tion program that is both effective and appropriate for
age of 27 (Barnett, 1996). More specifically, 2 years of the individual student.
enrollment in the Perry Preschool program resulted in A critical component of intervention should be col-
school cost savings of $5,500 per participant (Barnett, laboration and consultation with the parents of children
1985). Although this program did not specifically target requiring language intervention. By incorporating
language development, these findings illustrate the parents and the natural home setting into the interven-
remarkable generalized long-term effects of intervention tion process, the effects of intervention procedures taking
before the age of 3. By implementing early intervention place outside of the home may be maximized. If properly
programs, schools can promote the language develop- trained, parents can serve as powerful and effective agents
ment of their students in a way that is both effective and of intervention, helping to improve parent–child com-
cost-efficient. munication in general, as well as advancing specific inter-
vention goals (Fey, 1986). Parents can be instructed in
the communication methods suggested by the Hanen
ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS FOR Early Language Parent Program, as well as in joint book
INTERVENTION reading techniques (see Kirchner, 1991) and specific
intervention practices such as modeling, mand modeling,
The general premise of the many methods of language conversational recasting, labeling, expansion and exten-
intervention is to enhance the natural language develop- sion, and buildups and breakdowns (see Table 5 for
ment process by augmenting, highlighting, or modifying descriptions of these techniques). If parents are equipped
the linguistic input students receive. It is beyond the with knowledge of how to help children with language
scope of this chapter to review the various approaches problems, language facilitation can occur not only at
and techniques used by speech and language pathologists school, but also at home.
to remediate a language disorder. However, direct inter- Finally, speech and language pathologists and school
vention from a speech and language pathologist should psychologists should collaborate with teachers in devel-
not be the only service provided to children with or at oping daily classroom lessons that foster language devel-
risk for language disorders. Intervention should include a opment. The classroom environment offers an ideal
strong collaborative problem-solving component in setting for intervention aimed at stimulating overall lan-
which team members, including the students’ teacher(s), guage development in a meaningful and naturalistic con-
parents, speech and language pathologists, and school text. For those students already displaying language
psychologists, work together in planning and delivering difficulties, classroom-based interventions can present
interventions for the classroom and home. language instruction that is rich, frequent, and relevant
Given their familiarity with cognitive and behavio- to students’ daily experiences. By enriching the everyday
ral theory, school psychologists can act as effective part- language environment, classroom-based services can also
ners to the speech and language pathologist in the potentially help children who have not been formally
design and delivery of developmentally appropriate identified as having language impairment (Fey, 1986).
language intervention services (Telzrow, Fuller, Siegel, Regrettably, children’s classroom language experiences
Lowe, & Lowe, 1989). The school psychologist can often fall short of stimulating. There is a fundamental
assist the speech and language pathologist in the devel- disparity between natural language and school language.
opment of appropriate goals for the student’s behavior Unlike natural language that is authentic and relevant,
management, social interaction, and developmental school language is characterized by unnatural, disembod-
play. They can also offer insight and support to speech ied, teacher-dominated talk that is ‘‘directed toward
and language pathologists regarding the psychological pedagogical ends and not toward communication with
and adjustment aspects of the language intervention children’’ (Piper, 1998, p. 242).
process. Because of the clear relationship between early Nonetheless, school language environments can be
language difficulties and future reading problems, modified in ways that will ultimately enhance students’
school psychologists should ensure that students receive learning experiences. Suggestions derive roughly from a

510
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whole-language perspective or, ‘‘a child-centered, litera- SUMMARY

ture-based approach to language teaching that immerses
students in real communication situations whenever pos- School success hinges on language knowledge, as lan-
sible’’ (Froese, 1990, p. 2). In contrast to that in the typi- guage skills are the single best predictor of later school
cal classroom, talk in whole-language classrooms is readiness, reading skills, and mathematics ability.
genuine and natural. Students participate daily in Although language development continues throughout
authentic tasks involving authentic language (e.g., pre- the lifespan, the formative years occur in infancy and
dicting daily newspaper headlines based on recent events preschool when, through interaction with others, chil-
and writing or discussing the content of the accompany- dren discover the meanings of words (language content or
ing articles). In this way, both reading and writing are semantics), the way in which meaning is represented (lan-
incorporated as a means of learning, yet not at the guage form, including phonology, morphology, and syntax),
expense of oral language. Whole-language classrooms and the way in which language is used toward the pur-
also typically integrate subject areas so that language pose of communication (language use or pragmatics).
plays a central role across the curriculum. For example, The ages at which children achieve language mile-
lessons in science, math, language arts, social studies, art, stones vary greatly. Most children easily acquire the com-
and music all focus on a single, overarching theme, such plexities of language; yet many children experience
as rivers or dinosaurs. As a result, genuine and meaning- difficulty with language form, content, or use. Severe lan-
ful learning across content areas is connected by a com- guage impairments are typically identified at an early
mon language (Piper, 1998). age. However, more subtle language problems often
Mercer and Mercer (1998) also provide the follow- become manifest as the demands of school increase.
ing techniques that teachers can use to incorporate lan- Language impairment has no single cause. However,
guage intervention into normal classroom instruction research indicates that frequent ear infections, a family
(they also provide activities and specific strategies for history of language and learning problems, and low
increasing language comprehension and production in socioeconomic status are each associated with language
students with language problems): impairment.
Language emerges from natural interactions that
1. Teach language in context through authentic and occur between children and their caregivers, and lan-
relevant communication. guage input is a crucial factor in determining language
2. Follow the sequence of normal language develop- ability. Accordingly, methods of prevention and interven-
ment (see Tables 1–3). tion aim to create an optimally stimulating and respon-
3. Vocalize thoughts and describe ongoing actions. sive language environment for all children, particularly
4. Use parallel talk to describe what others are doing. those at risk of language impairment. The enrichment
5. Use modeling to provide practice on a specific lan- and enhancement of children’s language experiences,
guage skill. both in the classroom and at home, necessitate the part-
6. Use expansion to demonstrate how an idea can be nership of school psychologists, speech and language
expressed in a more complex manner (see Table 5). pathologists, teachers, and parents. This collaborative
7. Use elaboration to show how to provide more infor- commitment to language stimulation may have enduring
mation (see Table 5). effects on students’ cognitive, social, and linguistic
8. Use everyday activities to provide skill practice development.
within a context.
9. Recognize the relationship between comprehension
and production.
10. Plan and teach the generalization of classroom les-
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
sons to natural communication. Books and Other Printed Material
Language forms the basis for success in the class- Berko-Gleason, J. (2001). The development of language.
room. As a team, the school psychologist, speech and New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
language pathologists, parents, and teachers can ensure This text thoroughly explores the development of
that students receive language intervention that will ena- syntax, morphology, semantics, phonology, and
ble them to be effective learners and communicators. pragmatics. It also examines individual differences

511
Children’s Needs III

in language development and covers atypical REFERENCES

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