THE EARLY LANGUAGE STAGE IN VARIOUS AREAS OF

DEVELOPMENT
BY: BUTAWAN, DEANE BIANCA S.3
Cebu Doctors University Department of Rehabilitative
Sciences: Speech and Language Pathology
Authors note:
The Early Language stage is the primary point wherein
changes and obvious development can already be visible. In
this study, the various areas of development along with
anecdotes from the experience of direct observation and
bidirectional socialization with the participants will be
tackled separately for ease of reading. Participants names
are in initials in line with the agreement of confidentiality of
the study. For ease of reference, AR is 6 months, JB is 1 and
months and EY is 2 years old, all of which they befall
under the Early Language level.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Motor activity at this year is vital to the childs
competent development. Independence allows children at
this stage to explore their environment more extensively and
to initiate iteration with others, which will in turn shape other
aspects of development. One way to look at this initial stage
is through Jean Piagets Sensorimotor Stage that lasts from
birth to about age 2. It is in here that the child in Early
Language stage constructs an understanding of the world by
coordinating sensory experiences with physical motor
actions
In terms of developing motor skills, infants must
perceive something in the environment that motivates them
to act and use their perceptions to fine-tune their
movements. This can be readily observed by the two infants
I observed, AR & JB aged 6 months and 1 year and 6 months
respectively, wherein they explore their world via the use of
their hands and mouth most of the time. In terms of Freuds
Psychosexual Stage, this can be seen as the Oral stage

wherein the infant tries to discover items around him by

putting it in his mouth. In comparison to the older participant
I observed, EY aged 2 years old, his motor skills were rather
reflective of the Dynamic Systems Theory wherein action
and perception are coupled to create a new motor behavior
or to achieve a goal within. It was observed when EY would
be more mobile and would climb up the bed by stacking stif
pillows, to name a few instances wherein he wanted to
achieve a goal.
It has been established that gross motor skills develops
first before fine motor skills. Upon testing each participant
being observed, it is indeed apparent that gross motor
develops foremost. Especially for participant EY, he is
evidently more mobile and is capable of navigating about in
his environment. It is expected at this stage that a child
during 18-24 months years old is able to walk quickly or run
stiffly for a short distance, balance their feet in a squatting
position, stand and kick or throw a ball, jump in place. All
these were in fact observed with participant EY through his
playing. It is an apparent contrast to participants AR & JB
wherein their gross motor skills are still developing since AR
cannot even sit upright just yet and JB who can rather sit
upright, but still needs support to cruise around.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
As early as this stage, children already actively construct
their own cognitive worlds; information are not just poured into
their minds from the environment through Assimilation and
Accommodation. All 3 participants observed performed
assimilation by pretend play and accommodation by applying
new play schemas. These can be tied to Piagets Preoperational
Stage Symbolic sub stage. Egocentrism, the inability to
distinguish between ones own perspective & someone elses.
and Animism the belief that inanimate objects have life-like
qualities was also observed quite well in participant EY. As
observers, we applied Lev Vgotskys Zone of Proximal
Development. It postulates that childs knowledge can expand

with the help of an adult and this was made possible by how we
interacted with participant EY by correcting a few of his
pronunciations without necessarily pointing out he pronounced
the word incorrectly.
Through interaction with the child,
Information Processing executive attention (decision making)
and sustained attention is being honed. Also, OBJECT
PERMANENCE, the understanding that objects still exist even
when it is not seen, heard, or touched was also observed with EY.
When one of his toys is hidden behind my back and is asked
where it is, hed say tago, meaning its hidden.
For younger observed participants AR & JB, infants could
learn through B.F Skinners Oerant Conditioning. If an infants
behaviour is followed by a rewarding stimulus, the behaviour is
likely to recur. Infants can retain information from the
experience of being conditioned (Rovie-Collier, 1987). This was
evident in the way AR & JB would continuously make sounds
with their toys if they are given wide smiles and shown more
toys to play with. The way they play with toys and any object
for that matter, wherein they bang it with tables and hard
surface to make a sound is somehow related to Ivan Pavlovs
Classical conditioning in which a stimulus elicits a response.
The response would usually be in the form of a coo or a laugh
as they play with their toys.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
This age is where infants start to make babbles,
vocalizations and explore throughout consonant and vowel
syllables. This was evident in the way JB and AR interacted,
along with eye gaze with gestures. Eventually, there is more
preference for words rather than gestures exhibited by EY. EY
is able to speak in more than single words but not yet in
sentences. He has phonological processes and at times a mix
of jargons as well. In line with Chomskys Infinite Generativity,
the child operates as a mini linguist with the ability to
produce endless number of meaningful sentences. This notion
backs up the ability of children at this stage to be able to
explore throughout diferent words at almost without

seemingly any limit. To note EY has shown most visible

Language development as expected of his age range.
Locutionary words were evident as it was accompanied by
gestures as an experience to communication. Throughout
interacting with EY there was also an obvious sign of Symbolic
Interaction, an interaction between infant & observer/caregiver
with Joint Referencing, Joint Action, Turn Taking as the
highlights of the encounter. At the age of EY, 2 years old, its
expected that they would have a higher frequency of
communication with verbal intent from 2 to 3 words they hear
& express. Vocabulary is also said to be in the size of 312
words and CVCV in 2 syllable words
In relation also to the previous mention of Object
permanence, EY Locates objects and understand words for
absent objects (Oh no, No more) indicating Nonexistence.
He would also say more and please as if to state
Recurrence based on Laheys Grid.
SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
If one were to base the Socioemotional development of the
child at the Early Language stage, it would be Erik Eriksons
Psychosocial Model in the Stage: Autonomy VS Shame & Doubt.
At this stage, autonomy is built upon the childs way of
interacting with his surroundings via crawling around for those
younger than a year old and running & bouncing around for
those who are older than 1. It is through their playing that they
feel accomplished and thereby autonomy is increased as they
feel the need to do things by themselves. This was exhibited by
younger participants JB & AR by grabbing toys on their own,
pulling clothes or items & eliciting sounds with almost anything
they could hold on to. For the older participant EY, it is when he
walks independently without feeling the need to be held, in fact
he tends to brush anyones hands out of the way when he jumps
from the bed to the ground. Shame & Doubt arises when the
caregiver may scold or become impatient. In relation to that,

children use Social Referencing as a means to read emotional

cues from the adult so they may base their actions in a particular
situation. Older participant EY is particularly fond of doing this by
watching our reaction if he stumbles and tries to see if we would
help him up or not. EY would also look at the observers face
before throwing things to see how would they react to it. Also in
addition to his moral development, EY shows the most signs of
Empathy through his reactions when his father shows him an
upset or angry face when he disturbs his baby sister. This helps
make the conclusion that as early as this age, EY is able to start
shaping his Theory of Mind and is aware of the feelings of others.
When it comes to emotional expressions, the younger
participant AH who is only 6 months old was expected to elicit a
reflexive smile, one without stimulus as he sleeps. For older
participant EY, his social smile was evident upon any stimulus
elicited. In the aspect of emotion regulation and coping, EY does
not demonstrate tantrums during observations, further implying
that his temperament is not that easily driven upward.
According Chess & Thomas Classification (3 types), EY was
thought to be a was a slow-to-warm-up child (low activity &
mood) but was actually eventually an Easy Child and exhibits
generally positive mood and quickly adapts to new experiences.
In addition to that, Kagans Concept of Behavioral Inhibition
relates to EYs behavior of the transition from shy/timid/subdued
into becoming social/extroverted and bold.
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