Speech, language, and communication are critical areas of development for children. They play a vital role throughout our lives, helping us to understand what is going on around us, communicate our basic needs and feelings, hold conversations, think and learn, develop relationships, solve problems, and more. They also support many other aspects of development, including cognitive, social, and literacy development. Research has found, however, that in some areas, more than 50% of children entering reception have language levels below what is expected for their age. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this statistic has likely worsened as language development has regressed for many children, leaving them behind their peers. Both parents and early years workers could play a significant role in helping to improve children’s language development and outcomes. To aid you in doing this, in this article we will cover the stages of normal language development, why it is so import...
Children's brains are influenced by both their genes and their environment. Babies are born ready to learn, with more than one million neural connections forming every second during the first few years of life. The early years are important, as how the brain grows is strongly influenced by what's happening in a child's environment and their interactions with the people around them. Vision and hearing pathways develop first, followed by early language skills and higher cognitive functions. A child's vocabulary often quadruples between ages two and four. These connections become more complex over time as children grow, and influence brain development to create positive learning behaviours from an early age.
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