Speech, language & communication

Babies are hardwired to communicate right from birth, but all children need help to learn to talk. Communication doesn't just develop on its own, although it can sometimes seem that way. Part one of this series describes what we mean by communication - how children move from being able to copy tongue movements at birth to talking about the birthday party they went to yesterday.

What is speech, language and communication?

* Communication describes how we pass on and receive messages with other people. It can apply to information conveyed with words (spoken or written), noises (the sound of a kiss over the telephone or a cheer at a football match) gestures or hand movements (a wise nod or a wave 'bye-bye').

* Language is the structure for words to be used. It describes how sentences are made up, the order of the words and the little parts of the words that change - for example, 'cow' into 'cows' or 'need' into 'needed'.

Understanding words and sentences and using them are both language skills.

* Speech is the name given to how sounds are made in the mouth to form spoken words.

So how do we learn to do it?

There are plenty of things that children have to get right before they can learn to communicate through spoken language. They need to learn how to listen to sounds around them and to pay attention to what they can see and hear. Babies start to learn this very early on. Even before they are born, babies learn the sound of their mother's voice and so once they are born, they will focus on the mother's voice in preference to other sounds. This provides a great opportunity for parents and other adults to talk to babies and young children, either by commenting on what the child is doing or by responding to sounds that the child is making.

When children learn to focus on sounds and other aspects of communication, they also learn to copy some of what they see and hear. A newborn baby can copy a tongue being stuck out if they are held close to the other person's face. It is through copying that many parts of the communication chain develop.

Adults can help babies, toddlers and young children to develop these fundamental skills. Learning to listen and focus attention takes time. It is usual that in the early stages, children are easily distracted and will turn to any noise or movement that is nearby. By the time a child is about three, however, most are able to focus on one thing with all their attention.

This focused attention does mean that it is difficult for children to stop what they are doing, to move on to the next activity or to move to snack time. It also means that information given while a child is playing is not very likely to be understood.

Word building

Children learn to understand words long before they can use them. From about nine months old, children begin to understand frequently used words that are associated with a particular situation or object. They learn this through constant repetition of the word which is always associated with the thing that it stands for. For example, a nine-month-old will have heard the word 'bed' or 'cot' many, many times since he was born and often this is at the time when he is going to bed or getting out of bed.

Short sentences help children of all ages to learn new words and understand what they mean. Commenting on what a child is doing provides the context for the new words to be learned. So if a child is playing with cars, you could say, 'Oh, you're pushing that car. That's a big car.' This will also encourage children to say more than if you asked a question that they don't feel is related to what they are doing, or that requires only a 'yes' or 'no' answer, for example - 'Do you like cars?'

A focus is often placed in education on language enrichment and extending vocabulary. Recent research has shown that many children go into school without having a good enough understanding of words and sentences.

It is often the case that Foundation Stage children do not understand the longer sentences that are used by the adults around them. A useful rule of thumb is to use sentences that are one word longer than the child uses. So when children are talking in four-word sentences, your sentences should be approximately five words long. This is quite hard to do and you will probably need a lot of practice, but it will certainly help the children you work with to understand better. It will also give them a chance to learn the new words that you are encouraging without having to sort out what all the other words mean in that sentence.

Talking with meaning

In the same way as children do not understand long sentences immediately, they will not usually start to talk in long sentences. Instead, children need to build up the sentences they use gradually.

From about a year or 18 months, children start to form sets of sounds that are consistently used to mean a certain thing. (At this stage, the set of sounds may bear no resemblance to the adult form of the word, but it is a word just the same).

Listening very carefully for the first words means that when you hear them, you can respond. It may be that the baby says 'da' meaning 'that'. When this happens, an adult responding and repeating the word back, the baby knows that the adult knows what they are saying. It also gives the baby a 'model' of the word to copy. This means that they can adjust the sounds to be more like the adult sounds that they have heard.

When children have a vocabulary of about 100 or so single words, they usually start to build these words up into mini-sentences. Initially, these sentences will be two words long and may be something like 'bye-bye teddy'

or 'milk gone'. This is made easier for the child if they hear very short sentences around them.

Sounds easy

We all know that children do not use adult sounds straightaway. There is a pattern to the sounds that children use first and what happens in words that makes children use more simplified versions. The first sounds to be used are the ones that are made at the front of the mouth, like 'p', 'b'

and 'm'. It is not until a child is about five years old that they can really make an adult sounding 's' and 'sh' and 'ch'.

Copying is a really strong instinct for children, so when they can focus on a word in a short sentence, it means that they can really think about the sounds that are used in the word. When they are ready, children will try to copy these sounds, though they may not get them right straightaway.

If a child says a word that doesn't quite sound right, repeat the word back as you would say it. Don't try to get the child to 'say it again properly', as this can lead to frustration and lack of confidence. When the child has the skills, they will attempt a more adult version of the word.

There is a long way to go from understanding and using two main words in a sentence to being able to use language for organising, planning, building friendships and more complex thinking. Children will gradually build up these skills by copying adults around them, getting responses to what they are saying and adapting their language to become more like the adults that they hear.

Don't miss part 2 of this series (NW, May 17) which will help you to identify and assess communication difficulties in your setting, explain more common problems such as dyslexia and dyspraxia and address issues such as EAL.

DID YOU KNOW?

Right from birth, babies are ready to listen. From about two months before they are born, babies hear and learn to recognise voices around them. When they are first born, their eyes can focus on the human face at the distance that they are when they are being fed.

Between 0 and three months, babies learn to turn their head to familiar sounds and will smile and gurgle to games such as 'peekaboo' and 'up'.

Babies at this age will discover different sounds and may start to enjoy cooing and gurgling.

Around six months, babies will watch a speaker very intently and will use different noises of their own to get other people's attention. At this age babies continue to play with sounds (babbling) and the sounds will start to be more similar to those in their home language.

Around one year old, babies will start to understand familiar and frequently used words or phrases such as 'bye-bye' and 'all gone'. At this stage, babies may start to use sets of sounds consistently with meaning, so although they may not sound like adult words, these are baby's first words Between 12 and 18 months old, toddlers will understand more and more words and will be making the changes to the sounds they use, so that they are more recognisable as words. By 18 months, they will be using approximately 20 words.

By two years, children will be understanding around 100 words and will be able to make sense of two main parts of simple sentences - for example, 'put the bricks in the box'. Children at this age can use around 50 words individually and may be able to put two or three words together in short sentences. Between the ages of two and three years, language really takes off.

By the age of three, children will be able to understand slightly more complex sentence parts like 'in', 'on' or 'under' and might start to be aware of colour and shape labels. Three-year-olds can usually construct sentences of four to six words in length, but don't yet use adult speech sounds.

By four years, children will understand and use longer sentences although there is still some way to go before communication at the level of an adult. Speech sounds which may still be tricky at this stage are f, l, y, th, r, s, ch and j.

SKILL BUILDING

To help children develop their listening and attention skills

* In a group setting, have regular quiet times or quiet areas where children who find it hard to listen in noisier environments can go.

* Call a child's name before you talk to them. This way, they have a chance to focus their attention before listening to what you have to say.

* Play games where you listen out for different noises - it could be an alarm clock hidden in an area of the room, or you could find different animals by making the noise and asking the children to choose the right one.

* For older children, you could have a sound table and ask them to find lots of items or pictures beginning with the same sound. Remember, it is the sound that is important at this stage, not the letter. So 'knees' would go with 'nose' but 'ship' would not go with 'sea'.

USEFUL RESOURCES

* I CAN is launching a DVD in May called 'Learning to Talk - Talking to Learn'. This will provide information on how speech and language develops and it features a unique sequence of film showing how children's communication development changes from age nought to five.

* I CAN has also developed an accreditation framework for settings that would like to demonstrate they can support children's communication development. You will be able to find out more about these resources and professional training courses by logging on to www.ican.org.uk or tel. 0845 225 4071.

* The Hanen Centre provides training courses such as 'Learning Language and Loving It' and materials such as the 'More Than Words' book for professionals and parents. They can be contacted at www.hanen.org

* I CAN has a website specifically aimed at professionals working with children's communication development. It is www.talkingpoint.org.uk.

* The National Literacy Trust runs a campaign to encourage parents and carers to talk to children from birth to three. Their website is www.talktoyour baby.org.uk.

* Baby Talk by Dr Sally Ward (Century, 10.99)

* The Social Baby - Understanding babies' communication from birth by Lynne Murray and Liz Andrews (CP Publishing, 12.99)