1. Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate how adolescents thinking and language acquisition skills change as they get older. In order to do this, I observed my younger cousins who are all boys ages 9, 7, and 3. Research Question How do students' language acquisition and thinking skills change as they get older ? Background Literature Language acquisition- a set of rules for all languages that allows all people to comprehend language and use words they learn in order to produce sentences and communicate. Previous research states that puberty and what happens to an adolescent around the time of puberty, effects how they think as they get older. Thinking & Language Acquisition Paige Smigelski University of Cincinnati, (CECH Middle School Education Math & Language Arts smigelpa@mail.uc.edu Methods For my observation I observed my cousins. I focused on their reactions to certain situations, how they think, and how their language differs from one another. I tried to observe them from an outside point of view instead of playing with them, but I sometimes got dragged into a few situations. I wanted to see how each of the boys acted and spoke around each other as well as how they acted around adults, depending on their age. Results I discovered that my cousins have different abilities when it comes to their speech based on their age and where they lie in birth order. For example, the two oldest boys seemed to have a much higher level of thinking and language skills compared to their younger brother. I also noticed that the youngest boy copied a lot of what his older brothers said and did, which led me to conclude that birth order has a big effect on how a person acts, thinks, and acquires language. Professional Implications This affects me as a future teacher because it gave me some insight on how students might behave, think, and speak based on their age and also depending on how many siblings they have. In being able to understand that each student is different and has varying needs based on these things, I will be more able to accommodate to their needs and better relate to my students, which would create a more positive learning environment all around. Why? I chose this topic because I am interested in how the mind works as well as how it changes. I began to think that thinking and language acquisition skills are acquired from those around us such as our siblings and parents.

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