Spring 2005

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Words to Grow On

Liz Warwick

A child’s first spoken word represents a major milestone in development. Although babies communicate in a myriad of ways from birth (crying, physical gestures, facial expressions), the ability to utter one word, then several words, then whole sentences literally opens new worlds.

As professor Judith R. Johnston of the University of British Columbia notes, “New language tools mean new opportunities for social understanding, for learning about the world and for sharing experiences.” While experts hotly debate the mechanics of how children learn language (how much is genetic and how much comes from the environment), there is agreement about the sequence in which language develops. As Johnston points out, most children will speak sometime in their second year and by age two, are likely to know about 50 words and be able to combine them in short phrases. By the start of school, most children will use increasingly complex structures and vocabulary, be able to express ideas of size, location, quantity and time and be able to participate in conversations and tell stories. They will be able both to express themselves and to understand others in social and learning environments.

Language Problems Hinder Development
However, an estimated eight to 12% of preschool children show some form of language impairment, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders. Studies show that these impairments will have significant, long-term negative consequences for children’s healthy development. As Nancy J. Cohen*, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, points out, “Because language competence is critical for both school readiness and psychosocial and emotional adjustment, problems with language and communication can set a child on a maladaptive trajectory throughout life.”

Research shows that children with language impairments have increased risk for a wide range of problems, including psychiatric disorders and poor educational achievement. Dr. Joseph Beitchman of the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry notes that language-impaired children in the Ottawa Language Study (a longitudinal study of English-speaking children in the Ottawa region of Ontario, Canada) had elevated rates of anxiety disorder. In language-impaired boys, the rate of antisocial personality disorder was three times higher than in the control subjects. Children with language impairments were more likely to have learning disabilities, to show hyperactive and externalizing behaviour and to have lower social competence (i.e. less successful interactions with non-family members). “Language-impaired children showed prominent concurrent and long-term deficits in language, cognitive, and academic domains relative to peers without early language difficulties,” Beitchman concludes.

Language Linked to Successful Reading
The successful development of strong language skills in the early childhood years is key to mastering one of the essential tasks of the early school years: learning how to read. In the past decade, researchers and educators have increasingly called attention to the need to foster strong “preliteracy” abilities during the preschool years. Current research shows that school-age competency in reading can be predicted from the degree of development of three key skills: phonological processing (the ability to identify, compare and use phonemes, the smallest units of spoken words); print knowledge (familiarity with a wide variety of written materials); and oral language. The first two skills help beginning readers to “decode” words, while the third skill helps them understand what they have read. Both decoding and comprehension must be present for reading to be successful. As Bruce Tomblin of the University of Iowa’s Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology notes, “Decoding printed words, however, is insufficient for reading competence. The reader also needs to be able to interpret the meanings of the printed text in a manner very similar to how utterances are interpreted when heard.”
Unfortunately, an estimated 12% of children begin school with poor listening and speaking skills that make learning to read a significant hurdle. By fourth grade, some 40% of children are struggling with basic reading; a disproportionate number of these children come from ethnic or racial minorities or poor families.

Preventing Language Problems Pays Dividends
As Laura M. Justice of the University of Virginia points out, research shows that these numbers could be reduced by improving preliteracy skills in children during the years from birth to age five. “The prevalence of reading difficulties is more likely to be influenced through prevention rather than remediation,” Justice notes, “since once a particular child shows a reading delay in elementary school, the odds suggest that a return to healthy progress is quite unlikely.”

As children’s healthy psychosocial and emotional development is linked so closely to proper language development, many researchers suggest the need for increased investment in studying this field, as well as long-term efforts to raise awareness among parents, caregivers and early childhood educators about the many steps they can take to ensure improved language development in young children. Dr. Rosemary Tannock notes that one important and necessary step is the development of more sensitive screening measures that would correctly identify the various kinds of impairments that may occur. Until such screening measures are in place, some researchers caution against wide-scale testing of all preschool children, as the tests are expensive and may not pick up all the problems, or may falsely identify children who don’t have true language impairments. Tannock suggests that instead, screening be done for high-risk populations or for children whose parents express great concern over their child’s language development.
Building a Strong Language Foundation

Dr. Kathy Thiemann and Dr. Steven F. Warren of the University of Kansas suggest that more research is needed into which practices actually improve language skills and how these practices might vary depending on the age and developmental stage of the child. They also encourage researchers and practitioners to move their findings from the labs and into the day-to-day lives of families with children. Parents and other caregivers are likely to play a key role in helping children acquire a strong foundation in language. Dr. Luigi Girolametto* of the University of Toronto, Department of Speech-Language Pathology notes that current research shows that parent-administered interventions (when training is provided to parents to help them work with their language-impaired child) are successful in the short term. More research is needed to determine if the improvements hold long-term.
However, even simple steps taken by parents and caregivers can go a long way toward ensuring healthy language development—and hence overall development—in young children. Monique Sénéchal* of Carleton University suggests that at least two activities be incorporated into everyday routines: playing word games that emphasize the structure of language and thus give children greater phonological awareness, as well as reading books, which helps build vocabulary and awareness of print.
In short, if the goal is the healthy development of a child, no one can afford to overlook the importance of language. Equipped with strong language skills developed and nurtured in the early childhood years, children can forge ahead with their learning and their lives.

Researchers with the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network
Beitchman J. Language development and its impact on children’s psychosocial and emotional development. 2005:1-7*

Cleave PL. Services and programs supporting young children’s language development: Comments on Girolametto, and Thiemann and Warren. 2005:1-5.*

Cohen NJ. The impact of language development on the psychosocial and emotional development of young children. Available soon.*

Girolametto L. Services and programs supporting young children’s language development. 2004:1-6.*

Johnston JR. Factors that influence language development. 2005:1-6.*

Justice LM. Literacy and its impact on child’s development: Comments on Tomblin and Sénéchal. 2005:1-5.*

Sénéchal M. Literacy, language, and emotional development. 2005:1-6.*

Tannock R. Language development and literacy: Comments on Beitchman and Cohen. 2005:1-6*

Thiemann K, Warren SF. Programs supporting young children’s language development. 2004:1-11.*

Tomblin B. Literacy as an outcome of language development and its impact on children’s psychosocial and emotional development. Available soon.*

In: Tremblay RE, Barr RG, Peters RDeV, eds. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development; Available at: http://www.excellence-earlychildhood.ca/encyclopedia Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. Bulletin of the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. Montréal, Québec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development; 2001- .

Available soon at: http://www.excellence-earlychildhood.ca/bulletins.asp?lang=EN.