Children learn and develop so rapidly in their early years that it is incredible! At times, children may anyway have some delays in development that are better to check out - the earlier the better.

A developmental delay means that a child has not reached the developmental stages or skills that most children of the same age have. Children can have developmental delays in several areas, but language and speech problems are the common types.

A child's speaking skills and understanding of speech develop only in interaction with other people. It changes a lot between individuals when a child says his/her first word and how fast the child's vocabulary grows. There are checklists and ways to assess children's language development, and here we take a look at one of the assessment tools.

See the Infant-Toddler Checklist to identify language delays

Early intervention has a greater impact

There is scientific evidence that intervention starting during infancy or preschool age has a greater impact on outcomes for children and families than providing special education only at school age. So, the earlier children get their language problems identified and special education organized, the better.

Language development is one of the most critical school readiness skills. A child’s capacity to talk and the scope of their vocabulary when they enter kindergarten are predictive of success in school.

Children with language problems in preschool are likely to face poor educational achievement at school age. They also have a bigger risk to develop emotional and behavioral disorders. Having a delay in language development in childhood might still affect a person's life in adulthood, by making social interaction, studying and good performance in work life more difficult.

When should a child get a referral to speech therapy or another professional?

A toddler may have language delay if she/he:

• does not babble by 7 months
• does not react to speech or never looks at the person talking to him/her
• does not understand speech by 18 months
• does not talk at all at 2 years
• speech is very unclear (the closest people do not understand)
• is not interested in the surroundings
• does not use facial expressions or gestures in self-expression
• the child clearly prefers soft baby food over rough food

An older child might have a language delay if he/she:

• does not understand given instructions
• cannot concentrate on guided activities
• has aggressive behavior daily
• cannot get into play with peers
• speech is unclear and missing many sounds
• speaks only very little, or cannot express him/herself how would like to
• learning to write or read at school age is very slow despite teacher's support

About the Checklist

The Infant-Toddler Checklist is the first step in routine developmental screening for children aged 6 to 24 months to decide if a further evaluation is needed. It is designed for use in pediatricians’ offices during check-ups, routine visits, in childcare centers, or in other facilities serving infants and toddlers and their families.

Language development is an important part of child development. Language development starts very early on, first with sounds and gestures, and later on with words and sentences.

Language development supports many other aspects of development, for example child’s ability to:

• communicate
• express feelings
• understand feelings
• think, imagine
• learn
• solve problems
• develop and maintain friendships/relationships
• read
• write

How to support language development?

Language development can be supported by talking a lot with the child, starting from infancy. No baby is too little for cuddly words, little rhymes, and sweet talk.

Responding when a child communicates also supports the child's communication skills and taking turns in talking/babbling gives the child a turn to react and a feeling that his contribution has meaning!

Also, reading books and storytelling is good for language development and imagination.

Sometimes, a child's communication skills do not develop as expected and then it might be a case of developmental delay, language disorder, or speech disorder. The earlier any language development challenges are found, the better it is for the child's performance in school.

What kind of learning environment supports language development?

The environment has the greatest potential to influence the child’s developing brain during a child’s first few years of life.

Early experiences affect brain structure because the brain operates on a “use it or lose it” principle. If a child does not have adequate emotional, physical, cognitive, and language stimulation, neurons can be lost permanently.

The learning environment, which for many children is the early learning center/classroom, affects greatly children's language development. The physical environment, available activities as well as the culture how language is used, and how people communicate with each other can either support or diminish children's interest and opportunities in language learning.

Communication Checklist

A better communication research program in the UK produced a Communication Supporting Classroom Observation Tool in 2012. The tool is designed to profile the oral language environment of the classroom in the early years.

By observing the language used in the classroom, you can find valuable information and get practical tips on how to improve the setting in order to support language development.

The observation tool includes points like:

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights agreement in history. Up to 196 countries have signed the agreement and promised to protect children’s rights. 

The Convention says childhood is a special, protected time, in which children must be allowed to grow, learn, play, develop and flourish with dignity.

The list is written in simple language so these points can be also discussed with children. Let's make children's rights more visible to everyone.

The Convention on the Rights of the child - 14 picked by UNICEF

2. No discrimination

World Children’s Day is celebrated every year on the 20th of November. The theme this year is inclusion.

The UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child on the 20th of November 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the same date in 1989.

Children have the right for example to:

• Personal views. Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously.

• Own thoughts and share them freely. Children have the right to share freely with others what they learn, think and feel, by talking, drawing, writing, or in any other way unless it harms other people.

• Access to information. Children have the right to get information from the Internet, radio, television, newspapers, books, and other sources. Adults should make sure the information they are getting is not harmful.

• A full life with disabilities. Every child with a disability should enjoy the best possible life in society.

• Food, clothing, and a safe home. Children have the right to food, clothing, and a safe place to live so they can develop in the best possible way. The government should help families and children who cannot afford this.

• Proper education. Children’s education should help them fully develop their personalities, talents, and abilities. It should teach them to understand their own rights and to respect other people’s rights, cultures, and differences. It should help them to live peacefully and protect the environment.

• Rest, play, culture, arts. Every child has the right to rest, relax, play, and take part in cultural and creative activities.

See the full list of the Rights of the Child from here.

How to celebrate World Children's Day?

Experiencing bullying can have tremendous negative effects on a child's life even into adulthood.

It is important to learn about misunderstandings, conflicts, and problem-solving in childhood, but not through bullying. Bullying should not be tolerated at any point.

Bullying among small children has not been researched greatly, but some studies show that even two-year-old children are able to bully others.

So, as bullying happens in a group, group rules define how everyone should act in that specific group.

In some groups, bullying is socially rewarding and therefore it encourages some children to bully others. For example, not all overweight children are bullied, but in some groups, they might get bullied, unfortunately.

ABA: Bullying in Early Years

How to teach children NOT to bully?