What Parents have Reported About Their Child's Comunication on our Measures
We have established a collaborative relationship with over 200 community healthcare and childcare providers and agencies in Leon County in 1998. As of December 1998, we have gathered about 600 Checklists and conducted follow-up evaluations on 264 children. We began offering the menu of service options to families in July, 1998 and in 6 months have provided parent education classes at the Public Library, infant/toddler play groups, and individualized intervention to about 70 families. We are currently gathering data on child and family outcomes to document the effectiveness of our early intervention program.
We have gathered information from hundreds of children in the Tallahassee area thanks to the help of many health care and childcare providers. Following is a summary of the preliminary developmental patterns found based on parent report with the one-page Checklist and 4-page Caregiver Questionnaire. We are interested in knowing what skills should be expected in most children at different ages in order to set criteria for early detection. The word "most" is used to mean at least 80% of the parents report that their child has this skill.
- Early communication is rooted in the expression
of emotion and use of eye
gaze. Even before 8 months, most parents report that they know when
their child is happy versus upset. By 8 to 9 months of age, most parents
report that their child looks at them to see if they are watching when
playing with toys and that their child smiles while looking at them. Sharing
emotion and attention is a critical milestone in learning to talk.
- Children
learn the power of communication before they learn to talk. Most
parents report that their child can let them know that he/she needs help
or wants an object out of reach by 8 to 9 months. By 12 months most parents
report that their child can get them to notice interesting objects.
Communicating to get others to do things and to draw others' attention
to things are important milestones in learning to talk.
- Children use gestures
before they use words. Children learn the following conventional gestures,
usually in the order listed: giving, pushing away, raising arms, showing,
reaching, waving, pointing, shaking head no, nodding head yes. Most
parents report that their child gives objects, shows objects and waves
by 10 to 11 months. By 12 months, most children point to objects and
use at least 6 of the conventional gestures listed. Shaking and nodding
head are equivalent to the words no and yes, and usually develop along
with children's first spoken words. By 19 to 20 months, most children
nod their head to indicate yes.
- A child's ability to use sounds is the
strongest predictor of language skills a year later. Most children
use sounds to get attention or help by 8 to 9 months. Many sounds at this
age are only vowel sounds, but most parents report that their child
uses 1 or 2 consonants and sometimes strings consonant sounds together
by 8 to 9 months. The 10 earliest sounds to develop, listed in developmental
order, are: m, n, b, d, g, w, l, y, s, and sh. When given a list of
these 10 sounds, most parents report that their child uses at least 3
sounds by 12 months, 4 sounds by 15 to 16 months, and 6 sounds by 19 to
20 months.
- Children usually understand more words than they
can say. The first
word that children usually recognize is their name. Most parents report
that by 8 to 9 months their child often looks or turns toward them
when they call their child's name. Parents can reliably report how
many words their child understands if given a list of words to choose
from. When given a list of the 36 most common early words that children
understand, most parents report that their child can understand (without
gestures) at least 4 words by 12 months, 18 words by 15 to 16 months,
and 30 words by 21 to 22 months.
- Children usually use their first word around
their first birthday and can use dozens before their second birthday. Most parents report that their child uses 1 to 3 words by his/her first
birthday. Parents can reliably report how many words their child uses
if given a list of words to choose from. When given a list of the 36
most common early words that children use, most parents report that their
child uses 1 word by 12 months, 5 words by 13 to 14 months, 10 words by
17 to 18 months, and 21 words by 21 to 22 months. These are not necessarily
all the words the child uses, but a quick and reliable way to index
word use. As children's vocabulary grows, they begin to combine words
and are on their way to constructing sentences. The average age that children
begin to combine words is 19 months. Most parents report that their
child puts two words together by 21 to 22 months.
- Knowing how to use objects helps children learn
the names of objects. Many of the most common first words are names for objects that the child
uses. Knowing what to do with an object, first to use it functionally
(e.g., drinking with a bottle), and then in play (feeding a stuffed animal
with a bottle), helps children learn names for objects. A child's use
of objects is also an important predictor of language development. When
given a list of 10 common objects (i.e., cup, bottle, comb/brush, spoon,
bowl, toothbrush, washcloth, ball, toy vehicle, and telephone) most parents
report that their child uses 1 object by 8 to 9 months, 3 objects by 12
months, 7 objects by 15 to 16 months, and 9 objects by 21 to 22 months.
Like word use, this is not a measure of all the objects the child can
use, but a way to index object use easily. Most parents report that their
child can stack 2 blocks by 15 to 16 months, and 3 or 4 blocks by 21 to
22 months. Most parents indicate that their child pretends with toys by
17 to 18 months (e.g., feeding a stuffed animal or putting a figure in
a vehicle).
