Importance and Ways of Developing Oral Language Skills in Toddlers

Children are sensorial learners

Dr Maria Montessori defined four planes of development of oral language in the life of the child from birth to adulthood.

The first plane of development (early childhood) is from 0 to 6 years old.
Second plane (childhood) is from 6 to 12 years old.
The third plane (adolescence) is from 12 to 18 years old.
Fourth plane (Maturity) is from 18 to 24 years.

Here, let us first discuss about the first plane of development. Children in this plane are sensorial learners. They use all of their senses to learn about the world around them. This helps them in the development of their personalities as well.

Developmental Milestones of Babies – 1 month to 12 months

Sensitive periods aid in language development

Sensitive periods are defined as a window of time in which the child’s attention is focused on developing a certain skill like a spotlight illuminating an area of development. There are several sensitive periods that present themselves during the child’s first 6 years.

Grasping Multiple Languages –

The first plane is when we see a rapid development of language. It’s also the best time to introduce children to multiple languages as they have the twin powers of an absorbent mind and sensitive periods of language are active. They also have the potential to speak multiple languages fluently, when they are exposed to these languages on a regular basis in their environment.

Eagerness to Learn Languages –

The sensitive period of language is the longest sensitive period. It spans the entire first plane of development from birth all the way till age 6.

During this time, the children are drawn to language and words like moths to a flame. They are particularly attracted to the human voice, mouth and lip movements and are eager to hear the names of specific objects, rhyming words and pronunciation and articulation of complicated words.

Efforts to sharpen of Language Skills –

The child by the age of 6 can learn to speak two or more languages like a native speaker with relative ease due to the sensitive periods of language. After the age of 6, he will have to exert a conscious effort to learn vocabulary and memorize grammatical structures of an additional language rather than being able to absorb it from the environment.

Now that we have understood about the child in the first plane of development, let’s look at some ways we can support the child at home to read and write.

Developmental Milestones of Babies: 2-5 years

Ways to support children at home to develop their language

Exposure to rich culture

We can create an environment rich and filled with spoken language before the child ever reads or writes.
Children can be exposed to rich language through songs, poems and books.

Oral storytelling

Oral storytelling can help children develop their story telling skills. Oral stories can be about

Anything that is reality based
Topics or themes based on those necessary for children to solidify their understanding of reality and the world around them at large
Fairy tales or stories on non-existent things can be avoided or told less.

Sound games

Sound games are another way to build the work on a child’s oral language. This makes the child become aware of the fact that words are formed by sounds.

How to go about? Initially you can play sound games by emphasizing attention to the first sounds of words. Gradually, with repeated practice once they are comfortable with the beginning sounds you can make them aware of the other sounds in a word.

Using correct names of objects in the environment

We need to use correct names of objects.
We can share as many details as possible about the objects. This helps the child to have a rich and vibrant vocabulary.
Children are naturally drawn to big, complicated, but the specific words during these sensitive periods of language. We need to feed on this hunger of theirs. Thus we must be mindful of using the real names for things.

Child Development: Child’s Nature Walk and the Benefits

Following all these will help the child to have a rich vocabulary and to be aware of phonetic sounds. This way when a child finally begins to write he will be bursting with language.