STAGE

Babbling

Canonical Babbling

Single Words

Combination Words

Phrases

Aphasic Sentences

"Tourist" Sentences

Fluent Language

DESCRIPTION

Child experiments with their ability to make sounds, babbling consists of noises or vowel sounds

Consonant-vowel combinations called canonical syllables begin to appear in a child's babbling (e.g. baaa, dadadada, goo)

As adults attach meaning to certain canonical syllables (e.g. dada, bow-wow, go, etc.), the child discovers that a certain sound (word) is consistently associated with a particular person, object, or action 

The child discovers that words can be combined to add meaning and obtain a more predictable response (e.g. "more juice" is more likely to produce a drink of juice than "more")

The child combines nouns and verbs in short phrases; grammar and syntax may be incorrect or incomplete (e.g. "give book me" or "where go?")

The child combines multiple words into a sentence but aphasia is often present (e.g. difficulty finding a word, jargoning, pantomiming instead of using a word, difficulty speaking, combining words without syntax or grammar, etc.); consonant production is often poor.

Examples: "to the …… and house;" or  "Table on sit dog Mary."
    

The child may have occasional symptoms of aphasia but sentences are usually grammatically correct; vocabulary is limited and the child does not use complex verb tenses (e.g. "might go" or "will have seen") or colloquial expressions.

The child has fluent conversational speech, grammar and syntax are usually correct, colloquial expressions are used, and the child can express themselves in a flexible and creative manner.