ORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGES 1

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Stage 2 18 months to A child at this stage responds to specific songs, uses

two years two-word sentences, depends on intonation and
gesture, understands simple questions, and points
and/or names objects in pictures.

Stage 1 Infant A child at this stage smiles socially, imitates facial

expressions, coos, cries, babbles, playes with sounds,
develops intonation, and repeats syllables.

Stage 3 Two to three A child at this stage begins to use pronouns and
years prepositions, uses “no”, remembers names of objects,
and generalizes. There is a high interest in language
and an increase in commucation. There is a large jump
in vocabulary growth and articulation.

Stage 4 Three to four A child at this stage communicates needs, asks

years questions, begins to enjoy humor, has much better
articulation, begins true conversation, responds to
directional commands, knows parts of songs, can retell
a story, speaks in three and four word sentences, is
acquiring the rules of grammar and learns sophisticated
words heard in adult conversation.

Stage 5 Four to five A child at this stage has a tremendous vocabulary, uses
years irregular noun and verb forms, talks with adults on adult
level in four to eight words sentences, giggles over
nonsence words, engages in imaginative play using
complex oral scripts, tell longer stories, recounts in
sequence the day’s events and uses silly and profane
language to experiment and shock the listener.

Cooing
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As early as six weeks, infants will begin to spontaneously make cooing sounds (Reich,
1986; Wolff, 1969). These extended sounds resemble vowel sounds, such as /aaa/,
/ooo/, /ahhh/. (Note that the slash marks surrounding the letters refer to the sound
associated with the letters.) At this stage children are learning to make sounds by
manipulating their tongues, mouths, and breathing. This cooing behavior may occur
when the child is alone and clearly indicates the child is experimenting with making
sounds.

These vowel-like sounds occur earlier than do the consonant-like sounds because the
vowel-like sounds are produced with less articulation than are the consonant sounds.
For example, when you produce an /aaa/ sound your mouth and throat are more open;
when you produce a /p/ sound, you need to coordinate your lips and breath to produce
the sound.

Babbling

Infants’ sound production becomes more varied and complex around 4–6 months of
age. At this time they begin to babble, making repeated consonant–vowel sounds, such
as ba-ba-ba (Clark & Clark, 1977; Stoel-Gammon, 1998). A more complex type of
babbling develops around 8–10 months. This type of babbling varies intonation and
rhythm and sounds like the child is talking. It is calledecholalic babbling because it
reflects the intonation and rhythm of the speech of the adults in the child’s environment
(Sachs, 1989).

One-Word Stage

Around one year of age, children begin to produce word-like units. These word-like units
may be invented words, also known asidiomorphs (Reich, 1986). For example, a child
may have a special invented word that refers to a toy or to his personal blanket. This
idiomorph is a “word” in the sense that it is stable and used to refer to a particular object
on a consistent basis. In addition to these invented words, children also produce more
conventional words that resemble adult pronunciation and meaning.
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The one-word stage is a significant development because the child is now using a
stable language unit to communicate meaning. Often parents and family members will
adopt the child’s invented words or pronunciations as a way of encouraging the child to
talk.

Telegraphic Stage

As toddlers develop their speaking vocabulary, they begin to string several words
together. Like Eric in the chapter’s opening vignette, children typically enter their
preschool years speaking in several word utterances or short sentence-like segments.
This is referred to as telegraphic speech because utterance includes only content words
with no conjunctions, articles, prepositions, or word endings (for example, plural
endings) (Tager-Flusberg, 1997), such as “daddy shoe,” “go bye-bye,” or “cookie all
gone.” This stage is significant because now the child is arranging the words in ways
that communicate more complex messages.

Beginning Oral Fluency

By ages 3–4, most children will be moderately fluent in the language used at home.
They use this oral language for a variety of purposes, such as asking questions,
responding to others’ questions, and expressing their thoughts. Throughout the
remaining preschool years, as well as in elementary school, children’s oral language
continues to become more complex in grammar and vocabulary, and more varied in the
ways that they use language to communicate with others, both in their family and in
their community.

Stages of Oral Language Development (Language Domain)

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Receptive language, listening skills, expressive language, reading, and writing Source:
MacDonal, S. (1997) The Portfolio and Its Use: A Road Map for Assessment. Southern
Early Childhood Association.

Stage 1

Infant A child at this stage smiles socially, imitates facial expressions, coos, cries,
babbles, plays with sounds, develops intonation, and repeats syllables.

Stage 2

18 months to two years A child at this stage responds to specific songs, uses two-word
sentences, depends on intonation and gesture, understands simple questions, and
points and/or names objects in pictures.

Stage 3

Two to three years A child at this stage begins to use pronouns and prepositions, uses
"no", remembers names of objects, and generalizes. There is a high interest in
language and an increase in communication. There is a large jump in vocabulary growth
and articulation.

Stage 4
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Three to four years A child at this stage communicates needs, asks questions, begins
to enjoy humor, has much better articulation, begins true conversation, responds to
directional commands, knows parts of songs, can retell a story, speaks in three and four
word sentences, is acquiring the rules of grammar and learns sophisticated words heard
in adult conversation.

Stage 5

Four to five years A child at this stage has a tremendous vocabulary, uses irregular
noun and verb forms, talks with adults on adult level in four to eight words sentences,
giggles over nonsense words, engages in imaginative play using complex oral scripts,
tell longer stories, recounts in sequence the day's events and uses silly and profane
language to experiment and shock the listener.

REFERENCES

http://www.talkingchild.com/chartvocab.aspx

wwwstatic.kern.org/gems/calpin/stagesofold.pdf
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http://www.education.com/reference/article/stages-oral-language-development/

Source : MacDonal, S. (1997) The Portfolio and Its Use : A Road Map for Assessment.
Southern Early Childhood Association