Language and Understanding of your Child
In one, language begins with the birth cry of the newborn and o develop with such sounds as "ma-ma" and "dady" which are sometimes proudly interpreted to mean "mama" and the stricter sense. however, language begins when meanes attached to words. In this sense the baby really doesn't speak his first word until he is about a year of age, often older. At first a single word may carry a number of meanings. For example, "milk," varying inflections and .gestures, may mean, "I want e is milk," "I spilled my milk," or "I want more milk." the baby passes from the single word to phrases, such as "All Gone". Finally, language develops to the stage at which ideas are whole sentences.
Learning to Talk
Children learn a ianguage largely through imitation. Speaking clearly and correctly to the child aids in learning good speech. Pushing th~ child into talking, even after he or she has some speaking vocabulary, may make him become stubbornly silent. When the child is given too much attention, when every need and whim are anticipated, talking may be delayed. Silence itself can indeed be reinforced. In cases of delayed speech, a careful study of rewards and punishments, in nonspeech matters. almost always results in improvement in speech.
It is quite common for children seemingly to drop words "from theiI vocabulary as new words are added. It isn't so much that they forget the words as it is that a change in the need for using certain words comes with increasing age. The preschool child (and exceptions are few) seems to take on those words which to the adult may seem useless. When the child gets into the second or third grade of school, bad language increases, particularly in boys. Fortunately, children grow out of these habits as they grow out of bad manners, which they will pick up somewhere between six and eight years of age. Our culture seems to be one that expects girls to have better language habits than boys.
Understanding
By the time a child is three years old, his sensory perceptions are well organized. Some children can give good descriptions of what they perceive, feel, and understand. Experience with concrete situations is an essential aspect of the early development of understanding in the child. Such experiences are often used in describing related events. For example, when the "crazy bone" of a three-year-old was stimufor the first time, the child described the tingling sensation as . fingers are singing." Apparently the child perceived a relationbetween the nerve sensation, a new experience, and auditory perception, which had familiarity and therefore was meaningful. Another described the perception as feeling like ginger aie. When his ent to sleep, one five'-year-old said, "My foot is fizzing." .
One of the most difficult concepts for a child to grasp is that of Since time is a relatively abstract concept, this is to be expected. For the five-year-old a favorite TV program may have meaning in of "late afternoon" or "after dinner." The average child is seen to eight years of age before he or she can tell time on a clock to the quarter hour, and the concept of "month" or "year" comes even leer.
Thinking
The thinking of children is not unlike the problem-solving procesr. of t. It is natural that children should confuse the real with the ative and should fail to see certain cause-and-effect relation in the manner of the adult. A child may say, "Clouds are alive because they move," or he may have the idea that thinking is done e mouth.
Much of the mental life of the preschool·age child is based on :.elieve activities which, as a mode of early adjustment, allow carry on thinking without much effort. In the growth of understanding, make-believe, fantasies, and other imaginative activities play a significant role. Around four to five years of age imaginahes a peak. Fantasies may serve the child as escape (just as etimes do for adults), or they may provide the basis for contructive ideas. Out of childhood make-believe come useful habits of thinking. Through fantasy the child is also provided with a good emotional release. As far as five-year-olds are concerned, - not lying when they say that they were chased by a bear. If a s out to be a liar, it will be for reasons other than early understanding through make-believe!
