1. Language Development Theories: Practical Implications

2. PowerPoint Outline I. Introduction
II. Theories of Language Acquisition

3. I. INTRODUCTION**
Children begin developing language at birth as they interact with their caregivers.
Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are exposed to diverse experiences; this diversity creates the concepts to which children attach symbols, or words.

4. II. Theories of Language Acquisition**
A. Behaviorist Theory:
B.F. Skinner
Explains acquisition of verbal behavior
Verbal behaviors are learned under appropriate conditions of stimulation, response, and reinforcement
Breaks verbal behavior down into echoics, mands, tacts

7. In therapy, clinicians who use principles of the behaviorist theory:

8. For example:**
Target: The child will use the word earth in a sentence.
Appropriate antecedent event “What planet do we live on?”
Child: “We live on planet Earth.”
SLP: Right! Great! Here’s a

9. Youtube
Sheldon trains Penny

11. B. Social Interactionism Theory**
Language function, not structure, is emphasized
Language develops as a result of children’s social interactions with the important people in their lives
Vygotsky (Russian psychologist): language knowledge is acquired through social interaction with more competent and experienced members of the child’s culture

12. According to social interactionism theory:

14. Clinical Implications:

15. How would you motivate the following clients to talk?

16. C. Cognitive Theory** Jean Piaget
Emphasizes cognition, or knowledge and mental processes
Language acquisition is made possible by cognition and general intellectual processes
Two forms: strong cognition hypothesis and weak cognition hypothesis

17. Strong cognition hypothesis:**
Cognitive abilities are prerequisites to language skills
Language will absolutely not develop without these cognitive abilities

18. Weak cognition hypothesis:

19. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development:

20. Youtube video:
Lucille Piaget’s sensorimotor

21. Preoperational (2-7 years)

22. Concrete Operations (7-11 years)**
Acquires conservation and classification skills
Child less egocentric, has ability to see others’ points of view

23. Youtube
A typical child on Piaget’s conservation tasks

24. Formal Operations (over 11 years)

25. Clinical implications of the cognitive theory:

26. Also….**
If cognitive skills are low, why bother with language therapy? It won’t help, because the foundation (cognition) is not there
Thus, children with (low) cognitive skills that are commensurate with their (low) language skills are denied therapy

27. Lastly…**
Clinicians must assess and treat cognitive precursors to language and facilitate development of these precursors before working on language itself
So, with a very young child, you would work on symbolic play and object permanence before you tried to have a child say her first word

28. D. Nativist Theory:** Noam Chomsky
All children are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
This is a specialized processor that is a physiological part of the brain
--Children have an innate capacity to acquire language

29. Hulit et al. 2015:

30. Chomsky introduced the concepts of:**
Language competence- innate
Language performance- what we actually see
Surface structure—phrase or sentence you actually hear
Deep structure—holds rules of sentence formulation

31. surface structure
Deep structure

32. Clinical implications of the nativist theory are scant:

33. Drawbacks:

34. E. Information Processing Theory

35. Phonological processing:**
Concerned with processes involved in a child’s ability to mentally manipulate phonological aspects of language
These include word rhyming, syllabication, etc.

36. Temporal auditory processing:**
Child’s ability to perceive the brief acoustic events that make up speech sounds and track changes in these events as they happen quickly in the speech of other people
Child’s capacity for and speed of processing
Children with problems can’t remember and repeat back digit strings, lists of real or nonsense words, etc.—esp. if fast

37. PowerPoint Outline I. Introduction
II. Theories of Language Acquisition

38. If we can provide early intervention for children with language impairments…**
We will prevent many future problems and help these children achieve their social, academic, and professional potential