Language acquisition article or parents help your child!

What can you as parents to give your children the best start in life, a question you will no doubt ask yourselves, in outlying the basis of your child’s early speech and understanding we’ll attempt to inform of the important role you play, not some new fad but the natural process of learning a language. As a parent you will be waiting for your child’s first words, it will usually happen between 9 months and year, from two years the child should be able to use simple phrases, by three full sentences and by four able to talk fully if still making some grammatical errors.
The level of vocabulary that your child achieves has an effect on the language acquisition and communication ability of your child, in the first 20 months expect your child to use a vocabulary of roughly 50 words, at this stage they will understand a many more, this is known as passive knowledge or receptive language, the words they are able to use in speech are known as active or expressive language. The average child will need to hear the same word 500 times before it becomes part of their active vocabulary yet it takes far less repetition before it enters the passive vocabulary, emphasising the need for parents to interact and continually talk when around the child, repeating words and phrases and when reading to your child read the same stories again and again to strengthen their development on those word and sentences.
Much of your child’s future social interaction and intellectual development can be affected by the speed of language acquisition, a language delay can lead to isolation and withdrawal which in turn can lead to learning difficulties, again this is about being aware of the role communication and conversation during the early months and years of language development. Your child’s language education begins the day they are born as parents it is your responsibility to aid them by laying a proper foundation that allows them to acquire adequate language skills. Linguistic research shows the early years of childhood are the critical period in learning languages after which the brain actually loses some of its ability for assimilating new languages, although it is possible to be fluent in a second language it is rare that the speaker will be as fluent as with their first language.
Newborns are able to distinguish speech from non-speech and between speech sounds within their first few months and infants can distinguish their own native language all of which is due to the interaction linguistically at an early stage with mothers, fathers and other family members to help consolidate and establish the early language abilities. The most important thing to remember in all of this it the importance of encouraging speech from your child throughout their development, speaking to and reading to them to aid the passive and expressive language memories, most of all allowing them to express themselves with words and phrases they have learnt from your constant interaction with them.