This document contains the content of an online seminar discussion for a course on language development in young children. It discusses topics like sharing books with infants, using symbolic gestures with toddlers, and applying sign language. It provides learning objectives, key terms, discussion questions, and references for students to review language development milestones and caregiver strategies to support early language acquisition.

1. CE320
Language Development in the Young Child
Unit 3 Seminar:
Language Development for Infants and Toddlers
1
Shout out!!!!
Shelley Guess & Jackielou Camba
did a TERRIFIC job of answering the discussion questions for
Unit 3 **as required.** They responded early in the week to
advance the discussion, used their own **original** work, and
cited their references, including course materials.
Way to go,
ladies!!
Unit 3 Seminar

2. In this week’s seminar, we will discuss the role of the early
childhood professional in developing language in infants and
toddlers.
Tonight we will be discussing…
Sharing books with infants
Symbolic gestures with toddlers
Applying sign language with infants/toddlers
Home-to-School connections that foster language development
Unit Outcomes and Expectations
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
Differentiate between the five aspects of language knowledge
(phonetic, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic).
Identify the interaction patterns needed to create an
environment conducive to language development in infants and
toddlers.
You will find the definitions for these words in your Key Terms
this week.
Prosody
Reflexive vocalizations
Nonreflexive vocalizations
Cooing
Verbal play

3. Babbling
Echolalic babbling
Jargon
Intonated babble
Selective reinforcement
Emergent literacy
Direct experience
Vicarious experience
Referent
Symbol formation
Protowords
Idiomorphs
Holophrasic stage
Fast mapping
Telegraphic speech
Homesign
Representational/symbolic gesture
*Key Terms may be located by clicking the Readings icon each
week*
Field Trip Time!
The link for the field trip will open up for you in the
“Information” box under the chat window.
Echolalic babbling is a term that we can use to describe baby’s
babbling that resembles the rhythm and phonation of adult
speech.
When you return from watching the video (in about 6 minutes),
simply type “back” in the chat box.

4. Caregivers’ Interactions with Baby
What do you do when reading to an infant?
What is the grandmother doing right when reading to the baby?
How is language development impacted by caregivers’
interactions in sharing books with infants and toddlers?
How can you apply this information to your own work with
infants and toddlers?
What can we do to encourage emergent literacy in infants and
toddlers?
Make books accessible to infants and toddlers.
Talk to and read to infants.
Learning language begins with hearing language in infants.
The brain builds structures to organize language that is heard
Allow infants to explore and to hold books.
Infants may chew on a cover in their exploration
Use books for transitions.
If going outside, a book about an outside event would be
appropriate.
If a new baby is coming home, then read about being a big
brother or sister.
Read every day; make it part of the regular routine.
Label things at eye level of the child.
Use magnetic letters to reinforce the relationship between
letters and sounds.
Pick out books with colorful pictures, rhythmic writing, and

5. engaging stories.
(Zero To Three, 2014)
8
Phonological Knowledge
Infants learn about phonemes as well intonation in their
language
Phonemes = smallest linguistic units; when combined, make
words
Intonation = pitch and accent
Infants should be exposed to animal sounds, rhyming text,
songs, and environmental sounds.
Emergent literacy begins in infancy.
Children typically begin to pay more attention to phoneme-
sound contrasts that exist in their own language and less
attention to phoneme-sound contrasts found in other languages
around 8-10 months.
Toddlers begin to associate sounds and sound patterns with
print in their environment.
(Otto, 2014)
Semantic Knowledge
Infants learn shared reference (attendance of infant and adult to
same object or stimulus).
Adults name and label items often found in the child’s
environment.

6. Children who have been included in storybook sharing from
early infancy often can predict upcoming text demonstrated by
verbal and nonverbal behavior.
Toddlers become aware of print on logos and labels.
Toddlers will expand their concept knowledge and vocabulary.
A child’s listening vocabulary will be larger than their
expressive vocabulary.
Talk with the child about what you are doing throughout the day
and explore drawing and writing even at the earliest ages.
(Otto, 2014)
Syntactic Knowledge
Infants and toddlers who are involved in storybook interactions
are exposed to more complex syntactic structures.
An understanding of syntax can facilitate toddlers’ use of
phrases and short sentences in questions that they are asked
Telegraphic speech is a child’s use of two or three content
words with no regard for grammar / function in the sentence.
(Otto, 2014)
Give an example of telegraphic speech one might hear from a
toddler.
Morphemic Knowledge
Infants and toddlers are exposed to grammatical morphemes
such as prepositions and verb tense

7. “Look the man is running.”
“See the cat fell asleep.”
“The man ran and ran.”
“The tired baby closed his eyes.”
(Otto, 2014)
Pragmatic Knowledge
Toddlers become aware of ways that print is used to
communicate intent or purpose: “Wha dat say?”
Toddlers learn how to correctly hold a book and turn pages.
Caregivers employ the Zone of Proximal Development to teach
meaning.
Toddlers’ knowledge of written language begins with making
marks on paper.
Toddlers learn about communicative intent when they “read”
printed text (cards, brochures, books, mail).
Toddlers begin to learn print awareness.
(Otto, 2014)
Symbolic Gestures for Toddlers
What are symbolic gestures and what are some of the benefits in
using them with toddlers?

8. Library Article (Unit 3 Readings):
Motluk, A. (2004). Babies Get Hands-on with Language. New
Scientist, 183(2456), 8.
TAKE 5 – Sign Language
Take 5 minutes to review “Using Symbolic Gestures with
Toddlers” in Chapter 5 (pp. 148-150*) and/or investigate the
online resources listed in your text below. When you return,
please respond to this question:
Is sign language a tool that you might consider using with an
infant or toddler? Why or why not?
“Have you ever wondered?” @ www.babysigns.com
http://sproutingnewbeginnings.com/teach/training-videos/why-
we-use-asl-in-the-classroom/

9. Home-School Connections
How might you create positive home-school connections
that will foster language development in the
children in your care throughout your career?
(Review p. 231 in your text)
To-Do List / Unit 3
Complete your readings
Post your initial response to the Discussion Board
Participate throughout the week (not just on Tuesday)
Attend Seminar (Thanks for coming tonight!)
Review concepts in the “Learning Activities”
Complete the Unit 3 Quiz
Unit 3 References
NOTE: You should use these references in
your written assignments. If you use the source, then you need
an in-text citation within the body of the paper or post, too.

10. Review my initial DB response for the correct in-text citations
for each source.
References
California Department of Education. (2013). Foundation:
Receptive Language. Retrieved from
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09landevfdrl.asp
Motluk, A. (2004). Babies Get Hands-On with Language. New
Scientist, 183(2456), 8.
Otto, B. (2014). Language Development in Early Childhood
Education (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education.
Reading Rockets. (2013). Activities to Encourage Your Toddler.
Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/27877/
Unit 4 DB ~~ A look ahead…
In the Unit 4 reading, you will learn about conflict resolution
and its value in working with young children. In addition, you
will read about how children learn through exploratory
activities and investigative play. Based on your reading, please
respond to the following:
Again this week…
THERE ARE FOUR (4) SEPARATE COMPONENTS TO
THE UNIT 4 DISCUSSION. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!
Part 1: Create a scenario outlining the steps in conflict
resolution and in appointing a problem solver as found in this

11. week’s reading, “The Problem Solver Job: Peer-mediated
Conflict Resolution” by Shanna Whitchurch and Jackie Sprague.
Appraise each step for its value in teaching conversation skills
to preschool aged children.
What does this mean? What should I do?
Read the article by Whitchurch & Sprague (2011).
Describe a fictional (or real) classroom scenario in which a
teacher identifies a conflict between two young children,
appoints a problem solver, and observes the children progress
through the steps of conflict resolution.
Using dialogue and narration to present the scenario, identify
the steps in conflict resolution within the scenario, citing the
article in the text of your response (Whitchurch & Sprague,
2011) to support your statements. (A scenario is in presented in
the article to illustrate what is needed.)
Explain how each step of the process is valuable as it relates to
developing conversational skills in preschool-aged children.
Unit 4 DB ~~ A look ahead…
Part 2: Create a learning station (learning center) that promotes
exploratory activities that builds language competencies for
preschool children.
What does this mean? What should I do?
Describe a learning center for the preschool classroom
(ages 3- 5) that focuses on building language competencies
and includes activities that engage children in exploratory
play.
Review pp. 205-219 of your textbook for help.
Part 3: Revise this learning station for one that promotes
investigative play and tell why the change fits the definition of
investigative play.

12. What does this mean? What should I do?
Review “investigative play” on p. 311 of your textbook.
Describe the adjustments you would make to the learning
center from Part 2 that would include investigative play.
Explain how the change(s) illustrate investigative play as
described in your textbook, using in-text citations and
information from the text (Otto, 2014) to support your response.
Unit 4 DB ~~ A look ahead…
Part 4: Examine the advantages and disadvantages for teacher
guidance in the learning stations (centers). Keep in mind that
the goal is to promote language acquisition in the preschooler.
Please be sure to support your answer with research and
references.
What does this mean? What should I do?
Review Chapters 6 and 7 of your textbook.
Present both positive and negative effects of teacher
interaction and guidance with children during learning
center activities. Focus on the effects relating to language
acquisition with preschool-aged children. Use information
from your textbook (Otto, 2014) to support your statements.
Unit 4 DB ~~ A look ahead…
Unit 4 References
NOTE: You should use these references in
your written assignments. If you use the source, then you need

13. an in-text citation within the body of the paper or post, too.
Review my initial DB response for the correct in-text citations
for each source.
References
Brereton, A. (2009). Alana: How One Hearing Child Used Sign
Language to Move from ‘Disruptive’ Student to a Classroom
Expert. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(6), 461–465.
doi 10.1007/s10643-008-0297-5.
Otto, B. (2014). Language Development in Early Childhood
Education (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education.
Whitchurch, S., & Sprague, J. (2011). The Problem-Solver Job:
Peer-Mediated Conflict Resolution. Teaching Young Children,
5(2), 8-9.
Thank you for joining me!
Remember, as your instructor,
I view your success as my success.
If you need anything, please email me, meet me on Google
Chat, or post your question(s) on the Course Questions
Discussion Board
in our classroom.
Have a super week.
I’ll see you on the Discussion Board!
The following slides will describe these.

14. 24
Kaplan’s Student Assistance Program
For more information, visit:
https://kucampus.kaplan.edu/CommunityCenter/StudentAssistan
ceProgram.aspx
You may also
download the .PDF file below
(also located in Doc Sharing)
for Kaplan’s Student Assistance Program.
https://kucampus.kaplan.edu/DocumentStore/Docs11/pdf/KU/St
udentAssist_F_120608.pdf
Unit 3 Seminar References
Motluk, A. (2004). Babies Get Hands-on with Language. New
Scientist,
183(2456), 8.
Otto, B. (2010). Language Development in Early Childhood
(4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
ZerotoThree.org. (2014). Key Language Literacy Tips.
Retreived from
http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_key_
language_literacytips

15. Enjoy Your Break!
:o) See you on the DB! :o)