Language

LANGUAGE: the ability to express or communicate one's thoughtd or feelings by means of vocal sounds, gestures, signs, etc. Language is primarily divided into receptive and expressive skills.

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE: This is the ability to understand wha is being said. This encompasses understadning concepts, vocabulary and grammatical skills.

A five year old child should be able to understand the spatial concepts of up/down/off/on/under/behind/in front of. More difficult concepts of between, beside, through, next to, will be taught throughout the year.

Vocabulary is highly correlated to reading. As your child,s reading skills develop so will his vocabulary. There are several improtant elements in expanding vocabulary:

  1. The child does not learn words until he has experienced them in several ways. Picture books are great for vocabulary stimulation, but real objects are better.
  2. Repetition is important. The more often the child has heard the word, the sooner it will become part of his own vocabulary.
  3. Children are great pattern-learners. They will fill-in-the-blanks when presented the opportunity, "Pass the salt and ______."

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE: This is the ability to use spoken language to communicate needs or wants with structured patterns. This is where vocabulary and grammar present themselves. There is a definite order of acquisition of grammatical skills which a five year old should be using the majority of in his everyday speech:

  1. Progressive -ing (as in running)
  2. Prepositions: in and on
  3. Regular plural -s (as in toys)
  4. Regular past tense-ed (as in walked)
  5. Possessive -s (as in Mommy's coat)
  6. Uncontracted copula -is (Daddy is tired.)
  7. Determiners "a" and "the"
  8. Irregular past tense (as in "sat")
  9. Third person singular (he walks)
  10. Third person singular irregular (he catches)
  11. Uncontracted auxillary "Has" (she has finished)
  12. Contracted copula (Daddy's tired)
  13. Contracted auxillary (She's finished)
  14. Superlatives (biggest, best)
  15. Comparatives (bigger, better)
  16. Adverbials (quickly)

SUGGESTIONS:

1. Talk to your child during meal time, driving the car, bathing, dressing, cleaning, shopping, and watching TV. Ask your child to label or describe the objects in the environment.

2. Ask the child questions about what they did in school, or during a play date. Sequencing language helps with vocabulary retention, reading readiness and math skills.

3. Keep a calendar, journal or scrape book with your child. Have the child be aware of upcoming holidays, birthdays, school activities and religious events. This adds to the child's knowledge of his/her environment, and allows for good conversation.

4. Your language is the model for your child's speech and language, so encourage conversations that are age appropriate and polite! Social graces such as "please" and "thank-you" help your child gain their wants and needs in the classroom and in life.

5. Be proud of your accomplishments with your child! Research proves that parents know best when it comes to their own child's langauge development. If you notice speech or language difficulties, discuss it with your child's teacher or the school's Speech-Language Pathologist.

6. Have fun conversations! Use the dinner table like a speech clinic. Discuss everything from daily events to what's in the rooms of the house. Conversational skills, such as continuation of the topic, and turn-taking are essential parts of speech and language.

7. Enrich vocabulary with language based games such as :"Scrabble", "Wheel of Fortune", Scattegories", and "Outburst". These games all help vocabulary skills. Crossword puzzles and word search games are excellent form of written vocabulary.