Speech Development in Infants - Essay Example

Speech Development in Infants Order no. 167256 No. of pages – 6 We cannot imagine a world without a language! We need a language not only to communicate but also to give expression to our thoughts, feelings and emotions. In ancient times, our primates had no language to communicate. They made sounds like grunting, growling or snorting to convey ideas and emotions. A little later they came to use sign language to get across their thoughts, likes and dislikes. As time went by they became more civilized and used sounds with animation to pass on information. Now when man has become the most civilized creature on Earth, he uses highly sophisticated language that has developed over the centuries. Though, he faced difficulty in the beginning, he persevered and was gradually capable of making the language that we use today. Language acquisition is partly learned and partly innate as infants interact with the people around them and their environment. For some children, picking up a language is the easiest thing in the world, but for others it is the hardest. Many factors are responsible for this such as genetic factors and factors relating to our family background, experiences and exposure. Tiny tots pick up the language without any formal training just by listening and practicing. They often surprise us with their use of words and phrases and often leave us wondering as to who taught them. For a child learning a language comes naturally by instinct. It doesn’t need to be taught, but nurtured and groomed. Primate or not: There is an ongoing debate about whether the human language gradually evolved from more primitive forms of communication like shouts, gestures or calls or whether the language feature is something unique to all humans. As Leaky (1994) states that “language is a defining point in human prehistory”, it is evident that language evolved. But the question is, did language evolve early, during the evolution of humans? Chomsky advocates that, “evolved as an ability that arose as a consequence of the growing brain and therefore appeared late in our evolution”. Joint attention: According to Tomassello 1999, the distinct feature of joint attention is what distinguishes us humans from apes. Therefore, the evolution of language is inextricably linked to joint attention. It is this feature that helps us to acquire knowledge and use it not only for communication but in the description of abstract things which are not within our reach. Primates are not capable of joint attention and therefore cannot learn a language well. How language learning develops: The manner in which you engage a child would determine the path of how language learning takes place in a child in his formative years from one to five. This is a very exciting period you can really enjoy listening to a child. Talking in a natural way without putting the child off and finding out what he or she is doing, hearing or seeing, listening and responding to the words the child says, singing baby songs and telling a great many stories would gradually increase a child’s vocabulary and he learns to speak well. Some children pick up a language very fast while others learn gradually. It is not a good idea to compare two children about their language learning abilities. The important thing to see to is that the language learning is following a steady process and not how fast or slow it is carrying on. When progress is slow: If the first words do not emerge by 18 months, then concerted efforts should be taken to set aside time for talking and playing with the child and setting an environment for it to interact and slowly pick up the language. When parents notice that their child’s speech is taking too long to develop, they should immediately get expert professional advice of a speech- language pathologist. At times, parents do not take immediate action because friends and relatives advise that the child is “too young” to be assessed. But the fact remains that a child is never too young to pick up communication skills. Speech- language pathologist: The very tiny clients that the speech pathologists deal with come with different complaints such as cleft palette, development disability like Down syndrome, hearing impairment and other minor disorders. Sometimes they also cater to children who are unduly silent, shy and withdrawn or plain unresponsive to the communicative attempts of those around him. A child is considered to be a “late talker” if he has a vocabulary of about just 50 words when he is 24 months. It is therefore advisable that a late talker be assessed by a Speech pathologist. Speech perception: The development of speech varies from child to child and it can take place smoothly and gradually or it can take place in jumps and starts. Sometimes a child’s receptive language may be better than its expressive language. If there is undue delay in speech, the parent should take the child immediately and get it examined by a Speech pathologist. This would help the child to develop its speech patterns if given a little help. Milestones in Speech patterns: “Motherese” -At about 7 days old, an infant can distinguish its mother’s voice from another lady’s voice and by 2 weeks old, it can distinguish its father’s voice too. When it comes to about three months the child is able to make vowel sound and at around 6 to 8 months, the child adds a few vowel sounds to it and may say “mama” or “dada”, but does not attach any significance to it. It is during this stage that a child starts developing its attention skills. Fro example, when we point to an object and call for the child’s attention, it turns its gaze to whatever we are pointing at. When it becomes a year old, the child assigns the words “mama” or “dada” to the right people and also goes on to respond to short commands like “come here”, “no, not now”, or “baby sit here”. By the end of around 15 months, the child is able to string vowels and consonants together and speak “gibberish”, but at the same time, it can say around 10 correct words. By 18 months a toddler can say the names of special people along with a few action words and phrases. It can also follow two step commands like “go to the room and bring your doll”. (joint attention and the development of cognition and communication). By around two years of age, a child can combine words into small sentences like “Mama come we’ll go,” or “I want chocolate”. By three years old, he speaks with longer sentences consisting of four to five words and often repeats words spoken by others. By the time the child id four years of age, he speaks in clear sentences and could be understood very well by strangers. He also recognizes relationships and can say his name, sex and age. Therefore, we could see that speech develops gradually and systematically as the child becomes older. Speech and Language Disorders: Many parents either fail to see or rather don’t want to admit that their child is having a communication problem. They often think that everything will set right once they go to school. It is estimated that of all children born, 2% have a disabling condition. These delays and disorders have an adverse affect on the persona, social, academic and vocational life of the child concerned. Sometimes these concerns are directed towards a cross-cultural background or a cross-linguistic environment. In severe cases, a child may be living in its own world and is not capable of relating to people around him. In such a condition, immediate action should be taken by taking the child to a psychopathologist and a speech therapist. These specialists are qualified people who study the child and form an analysis of the problem the child is facing and give appropriate treatment. A child could easily fall behind if its language skills are poor. Since speech-language disorders may be due to several different reasons, many people contribute to conclude an accurate diagnosis. These people are – speech-language pathologist, psychologist, social worker, audiologist, neurologist, electro-physiologist, otolaryngologist, pediatrician and nurse. In some cases of cerebral Palsy, remediation of a language disorder would help to off set learning difficulties. Previously, the focus was on the development of a child’s first words up to its early stages of grammar. But in recent times, current studies focus on pushing back the starting age to 10 months of age. This is the point where the transition from pre-linguistic to linguistic communication takes place in normal kids. In this way, the late talkers are identified earlier in the process of expressive language development and followed into the early stages of grammatical development. This would help to detect language disorders at an early date. Autism: Autism is also known as “autistic spectrum disorder” (ASD) It is described as a neurodevelopmental disorder and ranges in severity and manifestation. Some researchers are of the fact that Autism can also be the outcome of the increasing rate of toxins found in the environment. Children suffering from Autism are non-verbal, un-responsive and not spontaneous. They risk delay in social inter action and communication skills and often resort to repetitive behavior patterns and activities. A childhood Autism rating scale is used to diagnose a child with Autism. A 7 point on the scale would show how much deviation is present from that of a normal child. Be it Autism, multiple sclerosis, muscles dystrophy or cerebral Palsy, the common thread that runs through them is the inability to communicate. Modern advancement in Science and technology has developed so much that it lends a great helping hand to people suffering from these disorders. Therefore, in conclusion we could say, that the first and foremost thing parents can do is to keep a close watch on the child’s behavior and development and if any abnormal behavior is detected they should take the child immediately to a Speech Pathologist. This would save them a lot of trouble if the disorder is detected and treated in its early stages. References: Bates. E, & Tomasello, M.(eds) Language Development Oxford: Blackwell, 2001 Email.eva.mpg.de/~tomas/public.html Brazelton, T. Berry. (1992). Touchpoints. Your child’s emotional and behavioral development. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Shelov, Steven P. (1994). The American Academy of Pediatrics: Caring for your baby and young child.New York: Bantam Books. www.childevelopmentinfo.com/development/language_development.shtml American Academy of Paediatrics Caring for Baby and Young Child Bantam 1999. www.speech-language-theory.com/devel1.htm Speech Development in Infant and Toddler, Debbie Reese, 1998 www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/speech.develop.baby.pn.html San Diego State University Department of Communicative Disorders Developmental Psycholinguistics Laboratory. Siegel, B. (1996). The world of the autistic child: Understanding and treating autistic spectrum disorders. New York: Oxford Press. Shore, S. (2001). Beyond the wall: Personal Experiences with autism and Asperger Syndrome. Shawnee Mission, Autism Asperger Publishing Company. p. 146. www.pediatrics.about.com/od/weeklyquestion/a/04_signs_autism.htm www.stagesLearning.com www.healthline.com Read More