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Expert Q&A
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| By Harriet S. Worobey, M.A. Early Childhood Educator Director, the Nutritional Sciences Preschool | ||
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What types of understanding and communication skills should an almost 3-year-old have?
I almost hesitate to give you too many developmental milestones, for fear that you may judge your child lacking, but with the realization that you want to encourage your child's language development, here goes.
In terms of auditory expressive language, most children over 2 will have 50 or more single words and two-word sentences. At 3 most can hold brief conversations. They can give the name and use of two objects ("Show me something we use to brush hair."). At over 36 months, most have the correct use of the pronoun "I." In terms of receptive language, most 3-year-olds can follow two-step requests ("Get your shoes and bring them to me."). Between 3 and 4, children master the basic grammar of English -- by trial and error, copying adult speech, playing with language forms, and hearing lots and lots of books, poetry and songs.
One important thing to remember is that the production of speech is a motor skill. It has nothing to do with the language that children understand. Most speech difficulties are developmental (letter substitutions, "baby talk") and will improve with age. If there are communication problems that seem outside the ordinary, consult with a speech therapist. They can work wonders!
The most important way you can help your child's language development is reading to him, singing to him, talking to him, playing language games with him -- in short, have a wonderful time with him while teaching him.
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