Language Development

by Hannah Mortimer, Educational and Child Psychologist

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• Your child's second and third years seem to bring with them a new word or phrase every day.
• During the fourth and fifth years, language begins to become much more subtle, abstract and complex. This is when the child begins to link language with thinking.
• You begin to see short phrases developing from about eighteen months of age when the child has collected around fifty words Until the age of two, the child is gathering new words and labels.
• The age of three to four is crucial - the length of the children's spoken phrases grows rapidly between the third and fourth birthdays and their grammar becomes more complex.
• Social interaction plays a large part in helping children develop language and how parents speak to their children is extremely important.
• You can see how your child's language is developed by the kinds of question he or she can answer at different stages.
• The growth of thought is the next all important area of development which will continue to grow alongside their language ability for the remainder of their childhood and beyond.

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