More Than Just Talk
Preschool Communication
By age three, children have acquired more than half the language they will use throughout their lives, (1995 National Education Goals Report Executive Summary).
At birth, children have all the brain cells they will ever need. Between birth and their third birthday, millions of brain cells are either put to work or discarded forever, (Learning Now).
All infants are born with certain innate capabilities and predispositions to learn language.
Brain stimulation, including talking, touching and engaging activities can reduce mental retardation by 50%.
By 7 1/2 months, a baby can consistently tell the difference between sound alike words, such as “cut” and “cup”.
The more words an infant hears, the larger his/her vocabulary will grow.
At the age of 18 months, babies learn roughly one word every three days.
Skill in language is the major component in most IQ tests and of successful learning in school.
Language is the root of all our knowledge and social interaction. Children learn about the world in a large part through parents and teachers explaining things or reading about things, processes which are both rooted heavily in language. Children also learn from doing things on their own, but without comments and explanations to guide them, they don’t learn nearly as well or as easily, (Dr. William Fowler).
Spoken language is one form of communication which also includes facial expressions, gestural usage and pointing, reading, listening and writing.
Many behavior problems that children are experiencing are actually a form of nonverbal communication.
