Stages of Human Development
Perlocutionary Stage
The Neonate Birth-1 month
Motor Development
motor behavior regulated by involuntary, automatic movements called reflexes
many (not all) disappear by 6 months
mass activity reflexes involve the whole body
specific activity reflexes involve specific muscle groups or portion of the body
Cognitive Development
rate of brain growth greatest immediately following birth
myelination-development of protective myelin sheath around cranial nerves
disappearance of reflexes related to brain growth and myelination
Social Development
differentiated crying: birth, hunger, pain, anger
Communication
crying provides experiences with air moving across vocal cords to produce sound
crying also provides experience in modification of breathing pattern
suck-swallow development
makes non-crying speech sounds-often while feeding (QRN-semi vowels)
The Examiner (still perlocutionary) 1-6 months
Motor Development
increased muscular control allows for free hand object manipulations
vision and reach become coordinated
social behaviors increase (smiling and responding)
babbling emerges moving from reflexive, random behaviors to more controlled muscular
activity (rolling, creeping-Army crawl)
first gains control of head (new perspective of environment)
trunk stability and sitting follow head
arm control follows trunk (reaching, grasping)
Cognitive
obtains full focus by 3 months (can now appreciate visual stimuli)
mouthing is primary means of exploration
differences between nutritional and non-nutritional sucking
Socially
begins to differentiate among persons (certain response association with certain people)
extrinsically motivated social smile appears
stops feeding to engage in social actions (smile, attending to faces)
neuromuscular control moves forward from back of oral cavity-greater control of tongue
oral muscles develop sufficiently to stop and start movements
as vocalizations increase, crying decreases
FRN (full vowels) and babbling emerges (including infants with hearing loss)
babbling made up mostly of sound from surrounding language
Illocutionary Stage
begins around 6 months (to approximately 12 months)
child is now INTENTIONAL ex. pointing
child demonstrates intentionality through a variety of behaviors including:eye contact,persistence in attempting to communicate,phonetically consistent forms
The Experimenter 7-12 months
Motor Development
General downward progression of physical development continues:unaided sitting,creeping,crawling,standing,cruising,walking
Cognitive Development
motor skills expand range of exploration by freeing hands
experiments with sounds and reactions
begins to search for objects outside range of vision
trial and error approach to problem solving
demonstrate knowledge of routines and scripts
Social Development
participates in join action routines
social interactions become increasingly verbal
Communication
baby responds more consistently to speech
around 7 months, begins to look at objects when they are named
babbling, jargon and phonetically consistent forms (PCF’s) emerge
echolalic speech may emerge
Locutionary Stage
begins when children use first TRUE WORDS
criteria: must have a phonetic relationship to some adult word
Must be used in the presence of a referent
around 12 months, but this can vary greatly among children
Criteria of first vocab: will say 1-2 syllables
,reduplication is common,things in environment,mostly nouns,midlevel of generality,delete final consonant Ex. doll becomes ‘da’, saying ‘all’ not normal
The Explorer (1-3 years)
Motor Development
child moves from dependence to independence
newly acquired walking and talking abilities provide mobility and tools to explore and
expand world
tendency to get into dangerous/humorous/unbelievable situations
Physical
brain growth decelerates (head size increases only slightly during this period)
deceleration in both height and weight
walking becomes more coordinated and stable
can manipulate small objects in pincher grasp
Cognitive
mouthing of objects decreases as other sensory channels become more useful (distancing)
attention span increases noticeably
begins to understand cause/effect
imitation abilities expand
understand means-end
Socially
sense of self begins to develop (ego)
likes to be the center of attention
engages in non-social, parallel play
can’t put themselves in another’s place
needs wants expressed vocally and with gestures
Communication
language development moves beyond single words
development of both lexicon (personal vocab) and word combos
50 verbs at 18 months (N+V) HUGE MILESTONE
50 words or combining at 24 months or classified a late talker
100 words
likes rhymes, songs, fingerplays
decrease in use of jargon and babbling (but still remains)
Semantic Development
preschool period one of rapid lexical and relational concept acquisition
may use a fast mapping strategy initial concept formation after one exposure.Followed by extended hypothesis testing to more clearly define meaning
Concept Formation
under extension-overly restricted word usage (contains fewer exemplars than adult
meaning)
over extension-overly broad word usage (usually only applies to expressive
language)
Syntactic Development
Two-word combinations (onset about 18 months)
Transitional Forms (CV Syllables, empty forms, single-unit words)
use semantic-syntactic rules for combining
initial word order varies, but stabilizes shortly before the child begins to use syntactic
markers
Learning to combine words is HUGE milestone.
Longer Utterances
child begins to use 3-word combinations when about 50% of utterances contain 2-
words
most common are agent-action-location & agent-action-object
The Exhibitor (Pre-Schooler) 3-5 years
Motor Development
very mobile/curious about the world
acquires many self-help skills e.g. washing, dressing.
Physical Development
increased control of independent movement on right and left sides
hand preference established by end of the period
increased strength and coordination of fine and gross motor skills
Cognitive Development
develops symbolic play ability
increase in memory skills-new ways of storing and retrieving information
simple grasp of temporal concepts
magic is a logical explanation for perplexing problems
Social Development
good sense of self established
likes to role play adult behaviors
develops sense of humor-likes to tell jokes
refined communication skills allow child to become an effective communicator
beginning to engage in social play
can participate in organized games with simple rules
experiments with adult interactions and vocabulary
Communication
lexical development accelerates
language becomes a tool for exploration
relies on word order for interpretation of temporal (time) information
acquires 80% of adult syntactic structures
phonological development-as acquired all vowels, most consonants
Pragmatic Development
Preschoolers conversational skills develop in terms of:
range of topics
management of conversations
awareness of the needs of conversational partner
Language Development Beyond Age 5
emphasis shifts from syntax to content and use
overall language development is less obvious, but rich
development of narratives, discourse skills, pragmatics
language development continues throughout the lifespan
The Expert
Physical School-Aged
better coordination of both fine and gross motor skills
individuals vary greatly in skill levels in specific areas
Social Development
social relationships are very important
many use slang or “gang talk”
less egocentric-develops ability to take the perspective of others
Cognitive Development
brain nearly adult-sized by age 8, but cognitive development is still incomplete
develops ability to attend to specific stimuli (selective attention)
moves from concrete problem solving to abstract thought
Communication
rate of language development slows but child continues to expand existing forms and
acquire new forms
sentences “grow” about 1 word/year between 3rd -12th grade
written language becomes a viable method of communication
new vocabulary can be acquired independently
comprehension vocab approximately 80,000 by graduation. Most learned by reading.
growth is both horizontal and vertical.
Horizontal-multiple meanings for a single word. Vertical-broader understanding of one word.
definitions become more socially shared-less egocentric
metalinguistic skills develop
figurative language skills develop
simile-explicit comparisons
proverbs-short popular sayings that embody accepted truth, useful thought, advice
idioms-have both liter and figurative meaning
metaphor-resemblance or comparison in implied
Pragmatic Development
most important area of linguistic growth during school-age period
presuppositional skills-ability to adjust message to needs of listeners
perspective taking
style shifting-change language styles according to situation
Conversational maintenance/repair
adverbial conjuncts
topic shading
stacked repair sequences
Communication and Aging
Changes in Hearing (presbycusis)
about half of American adults over the age of 50 will experience some degree of hearing
loss
men more affected than women
most are sensorineural
often a cumulative effect of noise exposure, disease, medications, genetics
typically affects higher frequencies first and most significantly
Changes in Speech
most significant changes occur in the larynx
less elastic
vocal folds may atrophy
results in speech that is often higher-pitched, tremulous, breathy
reduced lung capacity
Changes in Language
language is generally durable
area least affected by aging is syntax
most common semantic changes are related to word finding
pragmatic skills sometimes decline (“grumpy old men” syndrome)
conversational and narrative skills have been reported to be excellent (storytelling masters)
Notes from Dr. Shari Robinson's Language Development class at IUP.
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