Factors Affecting Language Development in Children
From a developmental point of view, biological, neurological, psychosocial, psychosexual and cognitive development occur together and closely affect each other. In the first two months, babies make vegetative sounds such as crying, burping, coughing and yawning. Between 2-5 months, gurgling sounds and smiles that indicate satisfaction attract attention. In the 4-8 month period, babbling begins with single syllables containing vowels and consonants. After the sixth month, syllable repetitions such as “ba-ba-ba” begin. The first words appear in the 12th month, on average, between 8-18 months. At 18 months, baby can say a dozen words one by one. By the end of the second year, he can put two words together and his vocabulary reaches 200. By the age of 2.5, the child’s words reach around 400. By the age of three, most children start to speak quite well, they can speak in sentences even though they can’t always use the correct verb patterns, they start to form questions starting with “where”, “who” and negative sentences. By the age of 3.5, the number of words exceeds 1000. The 4.5-year-old child now speaks in proper sentences.
Researches on language development focus on the following factors that play a role in language development:
Genetic
All healthy children are born with the ability to learn languages. Babies are innately equipped for language development and are extremely sensitive to hearing. Within a few days of birth, babies can distinguish the human voice, even their mother’s voice, among all sounds. They are sensitive to sound differences and can understand the differences between syllable groups, “b” and “p”, “d” and “t” sound differences. It can be assumed that babies are genetically ready for language long before they begin to understand and produce language.
Physiology
Speech is the creation and production of sounds through the vocal organs in the human body, and it has two basic components: phonation through the larynx and vocal cords, and articulation through oral structures (tongue, palate, lips and teeth). The appropriateness of such physiological conditions is important for language development. For example, in a study conducted with infants who underwent tracheostomy, it was reported that speech and language development were adversely affected.
Perceptual, Cognitive and Neurological Development
Normal hearing perception is important for healthy language development. It has been stated that babies with hearing impairment are separated from normal ones during the sound games period between 4-8 months, they use less consonants, and the creativity in sound production decreases gradually within 4-18 months, and the baby’s language development is disrupted because there is no auditory reuptake from sound games.
Visual perception is decisive for language development, and language development of children with severe vision loss starts later than those with normal vision. Visual loss impairs early mother-infant attachment and self-object differentiation, and children with congenital vision loss have autistic and echolalic features in speech.
The acquisition of language is directly based on the cognitive development of the child, and each of the mental adaptation processes is closely related to perception, concept development and acquisition of language.
Neurological development is also determinant in terms of language development, and the real use of language in children is ensured when the brain reaches the maturity of 2/3 of the adult brain. By the age of three, the child’s brain reaches 4/5 of its adult weight.
Although there is no relationship between the sounds a child makes and his intelligence until the age of two, it has been determined that there is a close relationship between language development and intelligence after the age of two. It is accepted that the intelligence level of early speaking children is usually normal or above normal and that language develops depending on intelligence.
Physical and Mental Condition
Language development and speech are affected in mental retardation, deafness, cerebral palsy, idiopathic toe walking, pervasive developmental disorders and autism. Severe and prolonged illnesses may delay a child’s speech for a year or two. Limitation of communication with others due to illness and less encouragement to speak can lead to delay in speaking.
Mother-Infant Interaction and Social Environment
Although language acquisition basically follows the same order, the pace of this development is affected by the social environment. The verbal communication that adults establish with the baby starting from the early period forms the basis of the baby’s learning of his mother tongue. It is reported that the richness of verbal stimulus presented to the child by the environment and especially the mother will positively affect language development. Children who grow up in nursing homes cry more but spell less than children who grow up in families. Their later learning to speak has shown that close personal relationships are an important factor in language development. Healthy relationships between family members, especially mother and child, affect language development positively. The size of the family is also important in this regard. The only child in the family speaks more quickly and properly because he is the only center of attention in the family.
The interaction of the mother with the baby and the pre-verbal communication skills of the baby are related to each other. With the hypothesis that the babies of mothers with mental disabilities are at risk for language development, this group was supported by home education programs in the early period.
It has been stated that increasing mother-infant interaction affects language development positively.
It is reported that talking with the baby is extremely important not only for the baby’s later language learning, but also for the environment-infant interaction. The infant’s ability to monitor and listen to those interacting with him and the environment in the early period forms the basis of verbal interaction.
It is reported that those who care for the baby are particularly sensitive to social interactions in the child. Emotional communication between baby and mother in early infancy is primarily through face-to-face looking, body posture, touching and vocalization. Although the baby develops more complex and superior systems as he grows, face-to-face interaction and mutual gaze play a core role in sharing affect and regulating interaction. If an infant or small child is shifting their gaze between an object and a person, it can be interpreted as a sign of wanting to share this experience with them.
It is stated that mothers mostly ask questions in their conversations with their babies, they are limited to the events they are experiencing at that moment, and they talk about the child’s feelings, wishes and needs. It has been noted that the mother and baby do not make a sound at the same time, but talk alternately, that mothers leave a response time as in typical adult speech while talking to their babies during this period, and they do not ask questions to their babies when their mouths are full.
It has been reported that they asked questions to get an answer from the baby and said the answer they expected in their own words. When mothers talk to babies when they are about 10 months old, they mostly name objects, 13-16. It has been observed that they talk about behaviors and use movements and gestures that attract the attention of the baby more frequently in the last six months. All these stimuli given by the mother to the baby were found to be compatible with the baby’s language development. Emphasis is placed on the maturation of the baby’s nervous system, as the mother-infant interaction increases as the months progress. It is stated that providing head-neck control allows the baby to make eye contact and show behaviors towards social interaction. In a study conducted with children aged 16-42 months and their mothers, the relationship between the mother’s verbal responsiveness to the child and the child’s verbal scores was reported.
It was noted that when mothers use the functional word at the end of the sentence in mother-infant speech, unlike adult speech, they say that word longer. Babies pay more attention to infant-directed speech than to adult-directed speech in the first year. This selective attention is thought to be important in terms of social, emotional and language development. In the comparison of the words “good morning”, “how are you”, “what are you doing”, “let’s go for a walk” in conversations aimed at the baby, it is remarkable that the total pitch level is high, the pitch range is wide, and the duration of the phrase is long in the baby-directed speech. and it is emphasized that the child’s responses to speech attempts can shape his language systems and that the mother’s exaggeration in normal conversation is related to the child’s display of inappropriate phonological behaviors.
8-12 months old baby understands a few words in a routine framework, but looking at the objects that the mother is looking at, moving with the object that draws attention, imitating the actions may give the impression that she understands much more. For example; When the mother says, “Look at that beautiful ball,” the baby catches the mother’s gaze and looks at the ball. If the mother says “let’s hold the ball” while the baby is moving towards the ball, it looks as if the baby has followed this instruction and receives positive reinforcement. These behaviors also enable the mother-infant interaction to be strengthened and the baby to take part in the interaction successfully. In this way, the baby gets closer to understanding the real language.
When the children were 18 months old, the relationship between the caregiver or person (mother, relative, babysitter and nursery) and the child’s cognitive and language development was examined. The continuity and sameness of the caregiver was emphasized in the development of the response language; The low level of responsiveness in kindergarten children was associated with a change in the caregiver team.
The general condition of the baby being restless increases the duration and intensity of crying and negatively affects the mother-infant harmony. The mother’s embrace of the baby reduces the crying and restlessness of the baby by creating an environment similar to the intrauterine environment. It has been reported that there is a relationship between low crying behavior at the end of the first year and excess of other communicative behaviors. It was concluded that the mother’s responsiveness to the baby’s warnings contributed positively to the development of communication by supporting the baby’s sense of trust. When the behaviors of mothers when their babies cry and their comfort on the baby were investigated, it was observed that mothers showed the most cuddling behavior in the first 3 months and the most comforting behavior on babies was cuddling. Other behaviors of mothers during this period are speaking or making sounds, feeding, approaching and touching, presenting a pacifier or toy, entering the room, and preventing the disturbing warning; The most comforting maternal behaviors after being held in the lap are feeding, presenting a pacifier or toy, entering the room, touching and approaching, and making sounds, respectively. In the last 3 months of the first year, while the frequency order of the stated maternal behaviors does not change, their amount decreases and the amount of entering the room and other behaviors increases. In this period, the comfort of speaking, touching-approaching and entering the room increases on the baby.
The mother’s conversations with their 1-year-old children in environments with and without toys were video-recorded and the distribution of nouns and verbs in mother’s speech was examined. While noun type words are more common while playing toys, it is noteworthy that verbs are used more in the environment without toys. It was stated that mothers encouraged their children to say more names. It has been reported that there is a significant positive relationship between the frequency of the noun type words used during the game and the frequency of the names in the first 50 words of the children. In this period, it is stated that games such as the “cee” game played by the baby and his caregiver, naming objects, toys and body parts affect language development and verbal interaction positively. It has been stated that there is a strong relationship between the mother’s behavior during toy play, especially the attention of the baby, and the baby’s language skills.