Now that your child is using some very important words, it’s time to learn more about them. As we discussed in the previous blog, children usually have about 10 words by about 15 months. Remember, every child is different, and the 10 words at 15 months is an average, so don’t panic if your child is a little off this number-, word-, or age-wise.
The first words are usually names for objects or people that are most important in his or her world. And, the first words are usually labels for objects or people that your child can manipulate in a good way! Your child’s first words will probably be words that get him or her what he or she wants or needs. At this point, in your child’s mind, it is ALL about ME and getting what I want.
EARLY CATEGORIES
Even before your child speaks words, he or she has probably begun to categorize objects (more than people at this point) in his or her world. Your child will probably indicate by his or her actions that objects are categorized by function. For example, he or she understands that you roll a ball, not eat it, or that you push a toy truck, not throw it (hopefully.) This shows that your child understands that objects have common features, and, therefore, are members of a category (e.g., food, toys, clothing, etc.) He understands that you eat food and play with toys. Of course, he doesn’t have the slightest idea or care about what a category is—he is doing this sorting naturally.
Your child’s early category knowledge may be overextended or underextended, which is sometimes concerning to parents. So, let’s talk more about extensions.
OVEREXTENSIONS
When your child recognizes not just one, but many, features of an object, he or she may use a word to mean other objects that share some of the same features. For example, your child may say “dog” when looking at a dog, a horse, or any other animal! Your child might call all men “Daddy” or refer to all round things as "ball." This is overextending.
Because your child's vocabulary is still very small and his knowledge of categories is still very limited, he will probably use the only word he knows to identify the thing or person he wants to talk about, even if it’s the wrong word. Even though he may actually know it’s not the right word, it’s still the only one he has to use right now. The good news is that this is a golden opportunity for you, as a parent, to use your excellent modeling skills to introduce new words to your child. It will probably take many presentations of the new word before your child incorporates it into his speaking vocabulary, so be patient but persistent in helping your child build his vocabulary!
UNDEREXTENSIONS
You guessed it! Underextensions are the opposite of overextensions. Sometimes, it is hard for a child to grasp that a particular word can apply to more than one thing or person. Let’s use “dog” as an example again. Your child might refer to the family pet as dog, but not associate that label with any other dog. Not the neighbor’s dog, grandma’s dog, or the dog in his favorite book.
But with repeated, repeated, repeated experiences with dogs and exposure to the word in different contexts, he will eventually recognize that the word “dog” has many applications. This shows that now he has a concept of what a dog is, or dogs are, and that he has developed a category for dogs!
ONE WORD FITS ALL
While your child has only a few words to express himself or herself, those few words will probably be very multi-purpose. He or she may use one word in lieu of a whole sentence to express his or her thoughts or, perhaps, to describe or request an event. For example, the world “go” could mean, “I want to go home (to the park, with Daddy, etc.).”
During this time, much like during the period of conversational babbling, you are challenged to know what your child is saying by interpreting his or her gestures and the context of the situation. But, unlike conversational babbling, in which your child is “talking” just to hear himself talk (pretty much), the use of all-encompassing words means he or she is probably trying to specifically tell you something or ask for something. So, there’s more pressure on you, as the parent, to correctly interpret the meaning of your child’s utterance.
POSTSCRIPT
The acquisition of real words is an exciting time for you and your child. If you are concerned that your child is not using words or not using words appropriately, an early language evaluation may be needed.
For more information, call me at 940-704-4324 or email me at barbarahill@thespeechdoc.com.