Language Development: What Licensing Staff Need to Know*
By Jodi Jungman, M.A.
Introduction
Language, both spoken and written, is a crucial tool, used by humans to communicate
information, express needs, and form relationships. Learning to use language effectively
opens the possibility for children to interact with and learn from their worlds in ways not
possible without words. When they reach school age, language allows children to acquire
knowledge and skills in academic areas such as math, science, and social studies.
From birth, infants start to build communication skills that will serve as the foundation
for learning to use language in all its forms. Much of children’s language development
takes place during infancy and toddlerhood. Infants’ and toddlers’ experiences,
environments, and interactions with others are highly influential when it comes to
language development. Given the importance of language, helping those who care for
infants and toddlers make intentional choices to support language development should be
a key focus of licensing staff. In this course, we will talk about the four major areas of
language development and how development occurs in each area. We will also give you
an idea of what you can expect caregivers to be doing to encourage optimal language
development.
Learning Objectives
When you have completed this course you will be able to:
 Identify the four major areas of language development and why each is important,
 Describe the typical pattern of language development in each area,
 Identify best practices in promoting language development in each area and make
suggestions to caregivers accordingly, and
 Recognize common issues in language development, and be prepared to offer technical
assistance related to these issues.
Early Communication
Babies are born fully equipped to communicate. At first, infants are only able to
communicate through crying and other non-verbal cues. Their communication is quite
non-specific. For example, an infant’s cries might signify that she is hungry, but they
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could also mean that she is wet. Their need to communicate specific ideas to their
caregivers leads to their rapid development of language skills during the first few years of
life.
Long before infants can speak, they understand words and are learning about the structure
of their native languages. This is apparent in that older infants, even those yet unable to
speak, are often able to listen to others having a conversation and respond with the
correct timing and emotional expression for the situation. Some infants even learn to use
sign language to communicate simple ideas with their caregivers before they can actually
form words. Still, it may sometimes be difficult for infants and toddlers to communicate
their ideas and emotions effectively. Some instances of challenging behavior exhibited by
very young children, such as biting, are attempts at communicating unmet needs.
Variation in Language Development
Later in this course we will discuss some common milestones in language development.
A milestone is a developmental marker that most children reach within a specific age
range. While many children will likely follow the developmental trajectories we’ll
describe, individual children may vary greatly in terms of their rates and patterns of
development. In a single peer group, one child may use words and simple sentences much
earlier than his peers, while another may show little interest in speaking until much later.
Let’s take a look at some of the factors that might cause variation in language
development.
 Age and maturation. Generally, older infants have had more experiences and can
remember and reason when associating an idea or a word.
 Gender. Girls often, but not always, acquire language skills more quickly than boys. In
fact, at all ages during childhood, girls tend to be ahead of boys in language
development.
 Intelligence. Usually, highly intelligent infants will learn to speak earlier and with
more skill.
 Hearing. Infants must be able to hear spoken language so they can learn to imitate
words and sounds. Hearing defects can lead to delays or difficulties in language
development.
 Models. Infants raised by adults who do not speak, or who speak very little, may fall
behind other children in speech development. An adult who can provide language
stimulation can be a huge benefit to a child when language stimulation is not available
via parents.
 Affection. Research indicates that loving relationships might be a requirement for
strong language abilities. Children who do not feel loved might lag behind in verbal
abilities.
 Variety of experience. Having a variety of experiences provides children with both the
desire to speak and with new ideas, knowledge, and perceptions to talk about.
 Tension. Anxiety can hinder the quantity and quality of language a child produces.
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Each child is unique, so developmental variations are usually not a cause for concern. As
we discuss each area of language development, we will highlight some common concerns
caregivers may express related to infant and toddler language development and give you
the information you need in order to offer technical assistance in these areas.
A Note on “No”
Research shows that children who hear the word “no” more often may have poorer
language skills than children who receive positive feedback, redirection, and explanation
of limits. While providers are still responsible for teaching socially acceptable behavior
and keeping children safe, saying “no” may not be the best way to end unwanted
behavior. Caregivers might need help finding new ways to respond to children’s
unacceptable behavior. Here are some strategies you can recommend:
 Providers can say “yes,” and then explain to the child the appropriate context for the
behavior. For example, if an infant is attempting to grab a toy from another child, the
caregiver might say, “You can use that toy as soon as Joey’s finished with it,” instead
of saying, “No, you cannot have that toy,” or “No, don’t grab.”
 Providers can explain the rationale behind limits and tell the child what they should do
instead. These explanations should be simple and age appropriate. For instance, if a
toddler is climbing on a bookshelf, the caregiver might say, “Keep your feet on the
floor so you don’t fall and get hurt,” instead of saying, “No climbing.”
 Providers can offer appropriate choices during redirection. Instead of telling a toddler,
“No yelling,” a caregiver can say, “Yelling is for outside. Would you like to whisper to
me what you want, or would you rather sing it?” Choices work best when there are
only two, easily understood options.
Hearing explanations, making choices, and learning more appropriate behaviors to
replace the old, unacceptable ones all help children learn to connect cause and effect, and
to begin to understand the impact of their actions on others. These extended redirections
also allow infants and toddlers to hear many more words than just “no”. All of these
benefits will serve to make children better communicators as they learn to master the use
of language.
Areas of Language Development
There are four main areas of language development – listening, speaking, writing, and
reading. These areas are highly interrelated. For example, infants learn listening and
speaking skills simultaneously by hearing and imitating the speech of others. Because
there is so much overlap between the different areas of language development, there are
some themes that will run throughout the strategies used to promote skill growth in the
different areas.
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Themes in Promoting Language Development
The first theme in promoting language development is that children learn all types of
language skills best in what researchers call a language rich environment. Language rich
environments are those that truly immerse children in experiences involving the various
uses of language. Caregivers in these environments spend large amounts of time talking
and reading with children throughout the day. Ideally, all children would have home and
child care settings that provide such an environment. The reality, however, is that many
children miss out on this influence which is so crucial to optimal language development.
It is important for licensing staff to recognize the characteristics of language rich
environments and be prepared to offer technical assistance to caregivers seeking to
improve the quality of language development among children in their care. Throughout
the rest of this course, we will discuss strategies caregivers can use to help children build
strong language skills in all areas. Each of these strategies is one small step toward
creating a language rich environment. Taken together, they form a clear picture of what
language rich environments look like. By encouraging providers to take these small steps,
you will help them along the road to creating language rich environments for children in
care.
Very young children learn by watching and imitating the important people in their lives.
This process of learning is called modeling, and it is the second theme in promoting
children’s language development. Providers should take care to demonstrate those
behaviors they want children to learn for themselves. When caregivers model proper
reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, children are more likely to develop strong
skills in each area.
[Activity: Language Rich Environments]
Listening
Listening is an important skill because it allows individuals to gather information from
the world around them. Listening is also important for building relationships with others.
In this section, we will discuss how infants and toddlers develop listening skills, and what
providers can do to encourage this growth.
By the time they are 4 months old, most babies respond to familiar voices. Even very
young infants tend to prefer voices over the sounds of objects, because they learn to
associate voices with the adults who care for them. After a few months, infants are able to
look around for the source of familiar voices and sounds. Within the first year, babies
will start to pay attention to other people’s conversations and respond with appropriate
non-verbal cues.
Before toddlers reach 18 months of age, they typically look at a person speaking to them.
Often, toddlers can understand and follow simple, one-step instructions. A 24-month-old
toddler will typically echo single words spoken by someone else, and can point to
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specific facial features, such as her nose, if asked. As she approaches 3 years old, she will
also enjoy listening to simple finger plays, rhymes, and stories.
The best way for providers to promote strong listening skills is to engage children in lots
of interactions. The interactions that lead to the strongest oral language skills allow
children to practice both hearing rich and abstract vocabulary, and hearing increasingly
more complex sentences.
Even preverbal infants benefit from interactions with caregivers. When babies make
sounds, such as coos or babbles, providers can respond either by mimicking the sound or
talking, and then waiting for a response. This lets infants know that their attempts to
communicate are important, and helps them begin to understand the back-and-forth flow
of a conversation.
Interactions between providers and infants or toddlers should include the child’s
participation at least half the time. Caregivers should make a conscious effort to talk with
children, rather than always talking to or at them.
Conversations should be warm and pleasant whenever possible, and providers should
strive to model appropriate listening skills at all times. Even when children struggle to
express their ideas, caregivers should listen respectfully to what they have to say.
Maintaining eye contact, demonstrating interest in what toddlers have to say, focusing on
and giving full attention to the child who is speaking, and kneeling or sitting in order to
be eye-to-eye with the child are all ways providers can show children what good listening
skills look like.
Common Concerns Related to Listening
There are a few common concerns many caregivers share related to infants’ and toddlers’
development of listening skills. You might encounter providers who have questions or
need guidance pertaining to these concerns.
One issue caregivers might face related to listening is the question of appropriate
response time or “think time.” Toddlers sometimes need a lot of time to process what
they hear and formulate a response. Providers should give children plenty of time to
respond in back-and-forth interactions, rather than assuming that a child is not responding
because he did not hear or was not listening.
If, however, a normally responsive child develops a pattern of not responding, she may
be having problems hearing. Hearing problems are the second common concern you
might encounter among those who care for infants and toddlers. If providers have
concerns about a child’s hearing, they should consult with parents immediately, so that
parents can seek out necessary evaluations and services from their licensed healthcare
provider.
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According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, some additional warning signs of
potential infant or toddler hearing loss include:
 A 1-month-old who does not startle at loud noises,
 A 3- to 4-month-old child who does not turn to the source of sound,
 An infant or toddler who does not seem to notice others until she sees them,
 An infant or toddler who experiments mostly with gargling and other vibrations,
instead of with a variety of vowel and consonant sounds,
 Delays in speaking, including a 12- to 15-month-old who does not yet speak in single
words,
 A child who seems to hear some sounds but not others, varying by pitch or where the
sound is coming from relative to the child, and
 A child who seems to hear poorly and also has trouble holding up her head steadily or
sitting or walking unsupported.
The last common issue that might come up in infant and toddler care is the question of
the effects on children’s development from using constant background music. While
research has not yet shown whether hearing music directly affects the development of
infants’ and toddlers’ brains the way other sensory experiences tend to do, and no studies
have examined the effects of playing constant music on brain development, there is
support among experts for the idea that exposure to music can be an enriching part of an
infant’s or toddler’s care. Music, especially soft, rhythmic tones like a lullaby, can be
very soothing.
When music is played constantly, however, it can be overstimulating for some infants
and toddlers, making them feel uncomfortable and less free to explore and learn from
their environments. Children might miss out on other important sources of stimulation,
like caregivers’ voices talking, when music is constantly playing in the care setting.
Playing music constantly might also cause some infants and toddlers to become less
attuned to music in the long run, because children learn to “tune out” the background
noise. No matter how music is used in care, it should be played at a low volume to avoid
damaging infants’ and toddlers’ hearing.
Speaking
People use spoken language in many ways that vary across the life-cycle. For toddlers,
speaking is a tool used to communicate their needs to others, to seek information or
clarification, to think aloud, to secure things they want or need, to reason, and to share
stories and thoughts. Let’s look at how children learn to speak, and what you can expect
caregivers to do to encourage their growth in this critical area of language development.
Most infants will have begun making cooing sounds by the time they reach 4 months of
age. By 8 months, they will use sounds to express their feelings of happiness or
unhappiness, and will babble expressively as if they are talking. Most babies will have
spoken their first word within the first year of life. Soon, they will have words to refer to
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their parents and other important adults. They may also follow along with conversations
taking place around them, and can respond with the appropriate timing and emotion.
At around 18 months, most toddlers can say between eight and 20 understandable words,
and may ask for things by pointing at objects and naming them. Before they reach age 2,
most have a vocabulary of several hundred words, can use two- to three-word sentences,
and may enjoy jabbering to themselves during play. They will also repeat a word spoken
by another person. Before they turn 3 years old, most toddlers enjoy repeating and
experimenting with words and sounds. They may also ask questions about who, what,
where, and why. Usually by this age, about 75 percent of their 200 to 800 spoken words
are understandable, and they can use simple, three to five word sentences to convey their
ideas.
As we mentioned earlier, there is a lot of overlap between the various areas of language
development. Listening and speaking are particularly interrelated sets of skills. As such,
many of the recommendations for best practices in promoting listening development are
also applicable in promoting the development of speech skills.
Just as for listening skills, the best way for providers to encourage strong speaking skills
is through the right kinds of interactions with children. Interactions that do the most to
build children’s skill in speaking are, not surprisingly, those which allow children to
practice speech. Specifically, children need the chance to practice using rich and abstract
vocabulary, using increasingly more complex sentences, using words to express ideas and
to ask questions, and using words to answer questions about things outside their
immediate experience. The best interactions for developing children’s speaking skills will
also involve turn-taking between the provider and the child. Again, like we said for
listening skills, all conversations should be warm and pleasant, and caregivers should be
talking with rather than at or to children. Conversations should still include the child’s
participation at least half the time.
Some caregivers may not be aware of the importance of talking with infants, including
preverbal infants. Talking with infants helps their brains develop in ways that allow them
to understand and, eventually, produce speech in their native languages. If providers need
help getting started talking with infants, you might suggest they think of themselves as
the narrator in the story of the child’s day. Narrating the day means talking with the child
about what he is doing, what others around him are doing, and what emotions he appears
to be conveying. The same game of listening to infants’ sounds, mimicking them, and
then waiting for the infant to reply with another sound serves not only to build babies’
listening skills, but also makes it clear to them that what they have to say is important to
others. This can be a powerful motivator toward learning to speak.
Narrating the day is a powerful tool for toddler caregivers as well. Caregivers who work
with toddlers should also talk with children about what is going on in the child’s
environment throughout the day. In order to learn to use words, toddlers have to be able
to connect each word with its meaning. When providers label objects, places, actions, and
feelings as the child experiences them, the child is able to create these connections
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between the word and the meaning. Through providers’ narration, toddlers can acquire
new vocabulary and learn to label objects, actions, and experiences they encounter as a
part of daily care.
The speech infants and toddlers hear should include a wide variety of sentence structures.
In this way, providers can model for very young children the many uses of spoken
language. Showing children how statements, questions, exclamations, and other types of
sentences are used through natural interactions helps children learn to use speech in many
ways. Reading with children is a great way to incorporate a number of different sentence
structures and types into the day.
Providers should also reinforce children’s attempts at using new and more complex
structures. When toddlers ask questions, which they inevitably will, caregivers should
respond by giving simple, direct, accurate answers. This lets toddlers know that asking
questions is a good way to seek out information. To extend these interactions, caregivers
can then ask toddlers open-ended follow up questions. For example, if a toddler asks,
“What birds doing?” the provider might respond by saying, “What are those birds doing?
They’re flying! Where do you think they might be going?”
When a provider asks a toddler an open-ended question, she should listen respectfully to
the child’s response and then respond in a positive manner. The beauty of an open-ended
question is that there is no right or wrong answer! Positive responses act as reinforcement
of the toddler’s attempts at using speech to convey ideas.
When toddlers speak, caregivers can extend or expand upon what the child is
communicating while modeling slightly more complex ways to express the ideas. For
older toddlers who speak in simple sentences, one way to do this is to repeat children’s
ideas, but include adjectives or adverbs to modify words from the child’s original
statement. For younger toddlers and older infants, it might mean expanding one- or twoword phrases into complete sentences. For young infants, it might mean interpreting the
child’s non-verbal response and creating sentences related to the emotions or ideas the
child is communicating. For example, a provider might say, “You are kicking your legs
and smiling because you’re so happy!” All of these types of extension and expansion
should be incorporated into the back-and-forth structure of a conversation with the child.
Common Concerns Related to Speaking
Mispronunciations and grammar mistakes are common concerns among infant and,
especially, toddler caregivers. Providers may feel the need to constantly correct toddlers’
mistakes as they learn to use more complex patterns of speech. Caregivers may need
reassurance that children will learn to speak properly simply by being exposed to positive
role models in speech.
Encourage caregivers to be conscientious when speaking with infants and toddlers. It can
be tempting to use “baby talk” or to adopt children’s idiosyncratic patterns of
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mispronouncing words or misusing grammar. However, infants and toddlers will only
grow in their abilities to use spoken language if they hear properly spoken language
regularly. Providers should strive to use simple but correct grammar and pronunciation at
all times when speaking to children. It is okay, however, if caregivers use a higher
pitched, sing-song style of speech when talking with infants. This change in the sound of
an adult’s voice actually makes it more likely the infant will attend to what the caregiver
is saying.
To further extend children’s early grasp of grammar, providers can work with children’s
own ideas. When a child makes a statement using incorrect grammar, the caregiver can
respond by repeating the child’s idea with slight modifications to make it grammatically
correct. For example, if a child says, “Me do it,” as toddlers often do, the caregiver can
respond by saying, “Okay, you can do it, and I’ll be here to help if you need it.” If an
older toddler says, “Then we goed to the store,” the provider might respond by asking,
“You went to the store? What did you buy there?”
Another concern providers might express is the need to identify potential delays in the
development of speaking skills. With such a wide range of typical development, it can be
difficult for providers to identify potential delays in speech development. Often, shy
children may be suspected of having delays simply because they choose not to use speech
as frequently as their peers. Having a calm, quiet temperament, or being slightly afraid of
speaking to others in certain situations do not constitute a speech delay. According to the
Nemours Foundation, some true warning signs of a potential speech delay include:
 A 12-month-old who does not use gestures, such as pointing, to communicate.
 An 18-month-old who prefers gestures over vocalizations,
 An 18-month-old who struggles with imitating sounds,
 A 2- to 3-year-old who imitates speech but does not produce words independently,
 A 2- to 3-year-old who struggles with using spoken language to express anything
besides his immediate needs,
 A 2- to 3-year-old who has an extremely unusual sounding voice, including raspy or
nasal voices, or
 A 2- to 3-year-old who produces speech that is unusually difficult to understand.
If providers suspect a potential speech delay, they should respectfully discuss their
concerns with the child’s parents, who can seek assessments and services from their
licensed healthcare provider.
Early intervention services are available to parents with questions or concerns about their
child’s development. If providers are not already aware of this information, you can refer
them, in Texas, to the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS).
Providers can find more information by visiting the DARS website at
www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis
In the following video, you will see an interaction between a caregiver and a child.
Notice how the adult models appropriate listening and speaking skills, and take note of
other strategies she uses for promoting strong speaking and listening skill development.
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[VIDEO: Interaction]
Pre-Writing Skill Development
Like speaking, writing is a form of expressive communication used to convey ideas to
others. As children grow into adulthood, they will learn to use writing with increasingly
more precision to achieve any number of communication goals. While infants and
toddlers may not be capable of writing in the same sense as older children, they are
acquiring important skills that lay the foundations for writing. Now we will discuss how
children develop these pre-writing skills and what providers can do to help.
While many of an infant’s experiences with language are, in a way, preparation for later
writing development, the bulk of pre-writing skill acquisition takes place after a child’s
first birthday. Between 1- and 2-years old, children begin to scribble. Scribbling usually
starts when children are able to connect the cause-and-effect process of moving a crayon
or paintbrush and creating marks on paper. These scribbles are usually random, with
children simply enjoying the process of creating something by their actions. Between 2and 3-years old, toddlers’ scribbles become more organized and intentional. As young
children approach their fourth birthday, they may begin to name their creations, saying
that a specific scribble represents a certain picture or word.
In the earliest stages, writing development is integrally related to children’s experiences
with art. Art is particularly useful in refining children’s fine-motor skills, or the skills
related to using the small muscles which control their hands and fingers. These are the
skills children will need in order to utilize writing utensils. By providing a wide variety of
age-appropriate art materials for infants and toddlers to explore and allowing them to
enjoy the process, rather than focusing on the products children create, caregivers can
motivate the children they care for to strengthen their fine-motor abilities. Exposing
children to lots of spoken and written words in a language-rich environment also helps
prepare them for writing by giving their brains a chance to connect written words to
objects, places, and ideas.
Common Concerns Related to Pre-Writing
Did you know that dramatic play is a precursor to children’s development of writing
skills? You may encounter many caregivers who are unaware of this connection. As it
turns out, dramatic play can help infants and toddlers begin to understand that symbols
can be used to represent something else. When an infant or toddler pretends to eat a toy
banana, she is demonstrating an understanding that the toy banana represents a real
banana. When she later puts the banana to her ear and pretends to talk as if it’s a phone,
she is showing an extended grasp of this concept, which experts call “symbolic
representation.”
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To encourage children’s grasp of symbolic representation, caregivers should provide a
variety of age-appropriate dramatic play materials. For infants, this can mean hats or
simple cooking utensils, such as a wooden spoon. For toddlers, the possibilities for
dramatic play themes are practically endless. Toddlers enjoy dramatic play themes that
relate to something they have encountered in their lives. Themes can be centered around
different places, such as the grocery store or the post office, different occupations, such
as fire fighters or doctors, or any other experience children might be interested in
exploring. Encourage providers to pay attention to children’s stories and ideas and select
rotating themes accordingly in order to gain the maximum amount of involvement and
interest from children.
Another common concern caregivers might express is the issue of hand-preference in
toddlerhood. When it comes to selecting a dominant hand, most children will not have a
definitive preference until after they turn 3 years old. They might enjoy switching a
crayon from one hand to the other and back again all during one session at the art center.
Some children, though, show a clear preference or experiment with hand-preference
before their third birthdays. If a caregiver expresses concern about a child’s use of one
hand over the other, assure her that this preference should be respected. In some cases,
the child might be imitating adults or older siblings who tend to use a dominant hand, and
sometimes the child might simply have identified his dominant hand earlier than other
children. Remind providers that there is a wide range of normal when it comes to infant
and toddler development, and that variations are generally not a cause for concern.
Pre-Reading Skill Development
Reading is crucial as a tool for obtaining information from the world. It is perhaps the
most common skill set that comes to mind when talking about language development.
Literacy is a widespread concern among educators at all levels, and research has clearly
demonstrated that the foundations for reading are well-established during the first few
years of life. As with writing, infants’ and toddlers’ reading skills may not approximate
those of older children, but they are already learning many of the concepts necessary to
become competent and avid readers. For the rest of this course, we will discuss preliteracy skills in infancy and toddlerhood, looking first at how children gain these skills,
and then at how providers can encourage optimal development in this area.
During the first year of life, infants may show interest in simple picture books that depict
familiar items. They may begin to point at the pictures in the book. By around 18 months
old, most toddlers can identify objects within illustrations in a simple book. Before they
reach 3 years old, most children enjoy hearing familiar stories over and over without any
changes.
It may seem like a small thing, but one of the best things providers can do to promote
strong pre-literacy skills is to create a comfortable, pleasant area for reading with
children. How children experience reading stories with adults very early in life impacts
their attitudes about reading all the way through adulthood. Reading areas should be
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somewhat quiet, separated from active play areas. Even very young infants can benefit
from short interactions with books guided by a trusted caregiver.
Another important element of building children’s pre-literacy skills is for providers to
create opportunities for infants and toddlers to engage with books. This can be done by
reinforcing children’s natural interest, and by interacting with children while reading in
ways that capture and maintain their attention.
Infants and toddlers often have a strong natural interest in books and stories. Books
should be available and accessible to children as a regular part of free play times. When
children express interest in reading with a caregiver, the caregiver should take the time to
read with the child if at all possible. If reading is not immediately possible due to routines
or circumstances, the provider can let the child know that they will read the book together
at a specific later time. It is important that providers follow up by actually reading with
children if they make these commitments.
During reading, caregivers can utilize children’s natural interest by allowing the infant or
toddler to direct the reading activity. This helps foster each child’s growing sense of
independence and confidence. One way they can do this is by maintaining familiarity
with all books available to children at a given time, and being prepared to answer
children’s questions and respond to their thoughts about the book. For one-on-one
reading, the provider should usually allow the child to select the book. Infants and
toddlers should be allowed to handle and even mouth books if they choose, as these are
part of children’s process of learning to handle books. Of course, mouthed books should
be disinfected before returning to circulation where other children can access them.
Infants and toddlers should also be allowed to turn the pages of the book if they are
interested in doing so. If a child turns the page while the caregiver is reading, the adult
can simply read the print on the page the child turns to. This helps the child learn that
there is a structure to books, and that the story goes with the pages. If a child loses
interest in reading and moves on to another activity, providers should respect this choice.
Capturing and maintaining children’s attention through interactions requires some
thought on the part of the provider. For infants, caregivers can vary the tone and pace of
their voices along with the story, or even do different voices for different characters or
insert children’s names into the story. For toddlers, caregivers can create open-ended
questions to extend children’s thinking about the story. These can include predictions
about future events in the story, questions about what characters might be thinking or
feeling, or questions about children’s experiences with objects or settings like those in the
book. Providers should respond positively to children’s responses, and, if necessary, offer
gentle correction or redirection.
Another strategy for capturing and maintaining infants’ and toddlers’ attention is for
providers to talk with children about things from the story. This might mean naming
objects, colors, actions, and characters’ feelings, or talking about directions – up, down,
and so forth – in illustrations. Caregivers can ask children to count objects in the pictures.
Giving children lots of time to enjoy the pictures helps them interact with the book and
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makes reading a fun experience. As adults read with infants and toddlers, they should
trace the words on the page with one finger. This models for children the left-to-right
pattern of reading. Providers can also encourage children to repeat words and phrases
from the story.
In this video clip, notice the strategies the adult uses while reading with the child. How
does this compare to the techniques we’ve been discussing in this section?
[Video: Reading with Toddler]
A Note on Selecting Appropriate Books
One very common issue caregivers have related to promoting children’s pre-reading
skills is concern about how to select appropriate books for infants and toddlers at various
stages of development. Book selection is a somewhat complex process, involving many
different factors that make a particular book more or less appropriate for use with a
particular child or group of children. No matter what selection criteria they use, providers
should be able to explain the rationale for selecting each book used in care. Books should
never be chosen haphazardly or simply because of providers’ own experiences with a
particular story.
One criterion that should be considered in selecting books for infants and toddlers is
children’s interest. As we discussed, most children have a natural interest in books and
stories. When children show interest in a particular theme or concept, providers can seek
out age-appropriate books with related subject matter. This will require caregivers to
constantly observe children and assess their interests. Correlating age-appropriate book
choices with curriculum themes is another way to connect with children’s experiences.
What does it mean to select age-appropriate books? Infants typically prefer books with
lots of colorful pictures. This is especially true of books with pictures of objects children
see on a daily basis. They also enjoy books with interesting textures and parts that can be
manipulated. Toddlers also like books with pictures, textures, and movable parts. In
addition, they may be prepared for simple stories with characters. Books with lots of
rhyme and repetition are popular with toddlers, as well.
Infant and toddler books should also be selected with a few practical considerations in
mind. Board, cloth, and plastic or vinyl books are easy for very young children to grasp
in order to practice turning pages, and they have the added benefit of being much easier
to clean than books with paper pages. Since infants and toddlers are likely to mouth
books, those that are easily disinfected are wise choices. Remind providers that if they
choose to use board books in care, children need to be carefully supervised so that pieces
of cardboard do not break off and become a choking hazard.
Common Concerns Related to Pre-Reading
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The most common pre-reading concerns providers might face center around typical
reading behaviors exhibited by very young children. Toddlers often request to read the
same stories over and over again, and may even appear to have certain stories
memorized. Caregivers might be concerned that this repetition will limit toddlers’
exposure to other books, but in actuality this process is an important part of how toddlers
learn. Repetition of the same books with only minor changes helps strengthen toddlers’
brains in areas related to reading, and taps into children’s natural interests, as we
discussed earlier.
Bringing it All Together
Language skills help children connect with and learn from the world around them.
Helping providers promote optimal language development should be a primary focus of
licensing staff, because of the life-long impact of children’s early language experiences.
In this course we have discussed how language development takes place and what you
can expect or suggest for caregivers to do in order to help infants and toddlers develop
the best possible language skills. Here are the major messages we’d like you to keep in
mind during your next inspection:
 Within the first three years of life, infants and toddlers acquire skills necessary for
successful development in the four highly interrelated areas of language – listening,
speaking, writing, and reading.
 Language rich environments afford children the best possible opportunity to develop
strong language skills. These are environments in which children are exposed to lots of
words, both spoken and in print, as a part of daily care.
 In order to develop optimal listening and speaking skills, infants and toddlers need lots
of opportunities to hear spoken language and to see role models who demonstrate
strong listening and speaking skills.
 Infants and toddlers may not write in the same sense as older children and adults, but
they are rapidly developing the foundational skills required for writing. For this
development to take place, they need chances to practice fine-motor skills and
symbolic representation, interactions with the written word, and role-models who
demonstrate strong writing skills.
 Infants and toddlers cannot yet read, but, as with writing, they are developing the skills
that lay the foundation for reading. This works best when they are read to frequently in
a manner that engages their natural interest and captures and maintains their attention,
and when they have positive experiences with reading guided by role models who
demonstrate the value of literacy.
Thank you for your attention, and for your commitment to ensuring that our most
vulnerable children receive the best possible care.
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* This course was developed and produced by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service
of the Texas A&M University System in cooperation with the Texas Department of
Family and Protective Services, Child Care Licensing Division, and using funds
provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
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