Oral Language Development

Expression through oral language is one of the toddler’s and older child’s most remarkable accomplishments. Although talking is often considered a natural phenomenon, learning to talk requires time and proper brain development, along with practice in the child’s everyday situations. Because language provides the foundation for all later literacy learning, an understanding of the ages and stages of oral language acquisition is critically important. Equally essential is the caregiver’s knowledge of the strategies that adults and peers can enlist to facilitate the child’s language development. This entry addresses ages and stages, as well as several recommended strategies, for eliciting optimal oral language development.