Stages Oral Development

ORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGESPKB 3105

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Stage 2 18 months to

two years

A child at this stage responds to specific songs, uses

two-word sentences, depends on intonation and

gesture, understands simple questions, and points

and/or names objects in pictures.

Stage 1 Infant A child at this stage smiles socially, imitates facial

expressions, coos, cries, babbles, playes with sounds,

develops intonation, and repeats syllables.

Stage 3 Two to three

years

A child at this stage begins to use pronouns and

prepositions, uses “no”, remembers names of objects,

and generalizes. There is a high interest in language

and an increase in commucation. There is a large jump

in vocabulary growth and articulation.

Stage 4 Three to four

years

A child at this stage communicates needs, asks

questions, begins to enjoy humor, has much better

articulation, begins true conversation, responds to

directional commands, knows parts of songs, can retell

a story, speaks in three and four word sentences, is

acquiring the rules of grammar and learns sophisticated

words heard in adult conversation.

Stage 5 Four to five

years

A child at this stage has a tremendous vocabulary, uses

irregular noun and verb forms, talks with adults on adult

level in four to eight words sentences, giggles over

nonsence words, engages in imaginative play using

complex oral scripts, tell longer stories, recounts in

sequence the day’s events and uses silly and profane

language to experiment and shock the listener.

Cooing


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As early as six weeks, infants will begin to spontaneously make cooing sounds (Reich,

1986; Wolff, 1969). These extended sounds resemble vowel sounds, such as /aaa/,

/ooo/, /ahhh/. (Note that the slash marks surrounding the letters refer to the sound

associated with the letters.) At this stage children are learning to make sounds by

manipulating their tongues, mouths, and breathing. This cooing behavior may occur

when the child is alone and clearly indicates the child is experimenting with making

sounds.

These vowel-like sounds occur earlier than do the consonant-like sounds because the

vowel-like sounds are produced with less articulation than are the consonant sounds.

For example, when you produce an /aaa/ sound your mouth and throat are more open;

when you produce a /p/ sound, you need to coordinate your lips and breath to produce

the sound.

Babbling

Infants’ sound production becomes more varied and complex around 4–6 months of

age. At this time they begin to babble, making repeated consonant–vowel sounds, such

as ba-ba-ba (Clark & Clark, 1977; Stoel-Gammon, 1998). A more complex type of

babbling develops around 8–10 months. This type of babbling varies intonation and

rhythm and sounds like the child is talking. It is calledecholalic babbling because it

reflects the intonation and rhythm of the speech of the adults in the child’s environment

(Sachs, 1989).

One-Word Stage

Around one year of age, children begin to produce word-like units. These word-like units

may be invented words, also known asidiomorphs (Reich, 1986). For example, a child

may have a special invented word that refers to a toy or to his personal blanket. This

idiomorph is a “word” in the sense that it is stable and used to refer to a particular object

on a consistent basis. In addition to these invented words, children also produce more

conventional words that resemble adult pronunciation and meaning.


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The one-word stage is a significant development because the child is now using a

stable language unit to communicate meaning. Often parents and family members will

adopt the child’s invented words or pronunciations as a way of encouraging the child to

talk.

Telegraphic Stage

As toddlers develop their speaking vocabulary, they begin to string several words

together. Like Eric in the chapter’s opening vignette, children typically enter their

preschool years speaking in several word utterances or short sentence-like segments.

This is referred to as telegraphic speech because utterance includes only content words

with no conjunctions, articles, prepositions, or word endings (for example, plural

endings) (Tager-Flusberg, 1997), such as “daddy shoe,” “go bye-bye,” or “cookie all

gone.” This stage is significant because now the child is arranging the words in ways

that communicate more complex messages.

Beginning Oral Fluency

By ages 3–4, most children will be moderately fluent in the language used at home.

They use this oral language for a variety of purposes, such as asking questions,

responding to others’ questions, and expressing their thoughts. Throughout the

remaining preschool years, as well as in elementary school, children’s oral language

continues to become more complex in grammar and vocabulary, and more varied in the

ways that they use language to communicate with others, both in their family and in

their community.

Stages of Oral Language Development (Language Domain)


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Receptive language, listening skills, expressive language, reading, and writing Source:

MacDonal, S. (1997) The Portfolio and Its Use: A Road Map for Assessment. Southern

Early Childhood Association.

Stage 1

Infant A child at this stage smiles socially, imitates facial expressions, coos, cries,

babbles, plays with sounds, develops intonation, and repeats syllables.

Stage 2

18 months to two years A child at this stage responds to specific songs, uses two-word

sentences, depends on intonation and gesture, understands simple questions, and

points and/or names objects in pictures.

Stage 3

Two to three years A child at this stage begins to use pronouns and prepositions, uses

"no", remembers names of objects, and generalizes. There is a high interest in

language and an increase in communication. There is a large jump in vocabulary growth

and articulation.


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Stage 4

Three to four years A child at this stage communicates needs, asks questions, begins

to enjoy humor, has much better articulation, begins true conversation, responds to

directional commands, knows parts of songs, can retell a story, speaks in three and four

word sentences, is acquiring the rules of grammar and learns sophisticated words heard

in adult conversation.

Stage 5

Four to five years A child at this stage has a tremendous vocabulary, uses irregular

noun and verb forms, talks with adults on adult level in four to eight words sentences,

giggles over nonsense words, engages in imaginative play using complex oral scripts,

tell longer stories, recounts in sequence the day's events and uses silly and profane

language to experiment and shock the listener.

REFERENCES


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http://www.talkingchild.com/chartvocab.aspx

wwwstatic.kern.org/gems/calpin/stagesofold.pdf

http://www.education.com/reference/article/stages-oral-language-development/

Source : MacDonal, S. (1997) The Portfolio and Its Use : A Road Map for Assessment.

Southern Early Childhood Association

http://www.education.com/reference/article/stages-oral-language-development/

http://www.talkingchild.com/chartvocab.aspx

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Stages Oral Development