1. Language Development: Preschoolers & Early School Age EDU 280 Fall 2014

2. Characteristics  Young preschoolers: 2-3 years old  Older preschoolers: 4-5 year olds

3. Characteristics

4. Young Preschoolers  Vocabularies range from between 250 to over 1,000 words.  An average of 50 new words enter the child’s vocabulary each month.

5. Characteristics Verb forms regularization: a child’s speech behavior that indicates the formation and internalization of a language rule (regularity) Sequence in formed rules for past tense verb usage:  Uses irregular tense endings correctly: ran, came, drank  Forms an internal rule when discovering that “ed” expressed past events: danced, called, played  Overregularizes: adds “ed” to all regular and irregular verbs that were formerly spoken correctly: “camed,” “dided,” “wented,” “breaked”  Learns that both regular and irregular verbs express past tense and uses both

6. Plurals  In using plural noun forms the following sequence is common: Remembers and uses singular forms of nouns correctly: ball, dog, mouse, bird Uses irregular noun plurals correctly: men feet, mice Forms an internal rule that plurals have “s” or “z” sounds Applies rule to all nouns: balls, mens, dogs, feets, birds, mices, or ballsez, dogzes, feetsez Achieves flexible internal rules for plurals, memorizes irregular plural forms, and uses plurals correctly. Characteristics

7.  Key Word Sentences Sentences are about 4 words long  Pronouns often used incorrectly Me finish all milk  Questions “Wh” questions appear  Overlapping concepts Overextension Underextension Characteristics

8.  Running Commentaries  Repetition  Lack of clarity About one in every 4 words of the young preschooler is not readily understandable Young preschoolers are only 40-80% correct in articulation Characteristics

9. Typically articulation of all English speech sounds is not accomplished until age 7 or 8

10.  Vocabulary of over 1500-2000 words  Sentences of 5 or 6 (or more) words  Exploring the Conventions of Conversation  Relational Words  Impact Words  Sound Words  Reality and Nonsense Older Preschoolers

11.  Articulation of letter sounds still developing About 75% of the English letter sounds are made correctly Omissions and substitutions are still present Older Preschoolers

12. Myths Concerning Speech and Intelligence  A large and mature vocabulary at this age is not necessarily an indicator of intelligence.

13. 5 Year Olds  Can use many descriptive words spontaneously- both adjectives and adverbs  Knows common opposites: big-little, hard-soft, heavy-light, etc  Has number concepts of 4 or more  Can count to ten  Speech should be completely intelligible, in spite of articulation problems  Should have all vowels and the consonants, m,p,b,h,w,k,g,t,d,n,ng,y (yellow)

14. 5 Year Olds  Should be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words  Should be able to define common objects in terms of use (hat, shoe, chair)  Should be able to follow three commands given without interruptions  Should know his/her age  Should have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after while tomorrow, yesterday, today  Should be using fairly long sentences and should use some compound and some complex sentences  Speech on the whole should be grammatically correct

15. 6 Year Olds  In addition to the above consonants these should be mastered: f, v, sh, zh, th, l  Speech should be completely intelligible and socially useful  Should be able to tell one a rather connected story about a picture, seeing relationships between objects and happenings  By this age a child understands 13,000 words

16. 7 Year Olds  Should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g as in George  Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp short-long, sweet-sour, etc  Understands such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc  Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words  can now understand 20,000-26,000 words,

17. 8 Year Olds  Can relate rather involved accounts of events, many of which occurred at some time in the past  Complex and compound sentences should be used easily  Should be few lapses in grammatical constructions-tense, pronouns, plurals  All speech sounds, including consonant blends should be established  Should be reading with considerable ease and now writing simple compositions

18. 8 Year Olds  Social amenities should be present in his speech in appropriate situations  Control of rate, pitch, and volume are generally well and appropriately established  Can carry on conversation at rather adult level  Follows fairly complex directions with little repetition  Has well developed time and number concepts