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Language and Literacy Development Journey

Section 4- Tyler as a Preschooler

Tyler’s parents continued to offer him sufficient care as a preschooler as they did him when he was in the womb, as an infant, and as a toddler. The mother offered primary care during the week and the father took over during the weekend. During the weekends, Tyler’s family spent time together with the father having introduced game nights whenever they could get the chance. At this point, Tyler’s parents had bought him more toys including a xylophone. His parents had already started making plans for him to start preschool by the time he turned three and he started at three and a half years at the same school as his brother Carl. Starting preschool gave Tyler a chance to interact with more people, play more, and expand his language abilities.

On the other hand, Tyler’s interaction with extended family and family friends had reduced since these individuals were visiting less and less. Tyler’s parents ensured that he ate sufficiently and healthy and as a result, the state of his other developmental domains was as good as his language development. The child’s cognitive abilities were developing well and they complemented other developmental domains such as socio-emotional and physical domains. As a preschooler, life was easier for Tyler than as an infant or as a toddler in terms of communication; however, at this point, English was the only language he used. Tyler had moved past using two or three words in a sentence and his grammar knowledge had increased significantly. When he needed something, it was easier for the people around him to understand and respond quickly.

At the age of four, Tyler could describe the emotions he was experiencing ranging from happiness, sadness, to anger. Furthermore, he could explain complicated emotions like confusion, being upset, and being delighted. The child had grasped and could use connecting words in his sentences like ‘when’ and ‘but’. As a preschooler, Tyler could also describe the thoughts in his head. For instance, he would respond “I do not know” if he could not remember something. Another language ability that the child had at this stage was the sense of direction in that he could tell where things were using words like ‘between, below, above, and top. At this stage, Tyler could name colors, objects, and categorize objects correctly. At 5 years old, the child could use contrasting concepts in his sentences to explain himself with proof of grasp of words like ‘longer’ and ‘bigger’.

Not only had Tyler’s semantics improved, but also his phonology and pragmatics. As mentioned earlier, the child could use more than three words in a sentence. On top of this, he could use different types of sentences to communicate and had consideration for turn-taking during conversations. When talking about other people, Tyler had started giving useful background information about them and this demonstrated that he could see things from other people’s perspectives better at the age of 5. For instance, he would describe who his friends were when talking about his interaction with them allowing the hearer to know how they came to interact. Although his stories were often incomplete or filled with too many details, Tyler was telling more stories than before.

The fact that he was getting better at storytelling means that Tyler was meeting the typical language developmental milestones for a preschooler. Song et al. (2015) indicate that telling stories is a common characteristic among children aged 4-5; however, it is normal for them to have issues with ending their stories meaningfully or recalling who or what they were talking about. Another common language and literacy development issue in children is finding it hard to say things in order when making long or many sentences and when telling stories. Tyler had issues with some speech sounds and sometimes mispronounced complex words like ‘spaghetti’ calling it ‘paghetti’ instead. However, these issues were not a cause for concern for Tyler’s parents because they knew that they were normal for children Tyler’s age. Indeed, a child may not fully grasp speech sounds like sh, h, th, v, and z until they are 7 or 8 (Rowe, 2013). Other than using language, Tyler could recognize language use by others better as a preschooler.

For instance, the child paid more attention during his designated watching time and could hear the TV, radio, and/or any other sound source at normal volumes. Tyler could hear and respond when someone was calling him in the same or from another room. The child could understand what was spoken to him and could follow given directions accordingly. Tyler could also recognize rhyming words and had started to demonstrate enjoyment when listening to music by the time he was four. The child would dance in front of the TV when there was music playing or anywhere he was and enjoying music. Additionally, he would sing along to familiar songs or to nursery rhymes he enjoyed.

Given that Tyler’s language use, recognition, and response had improved and were in line with the typical developmental milestones, the child no longer had to cry to communicate his needs. Tyler’s parents no longer had to be around him around the clock and this afforded them the time to go out for dinners or events when they could get a caretaker. The father was going on with his work as he had resumed when Tyler was an infant; however, the mother does not go to work and had a lot of free time now that Tyler was older and more grown. The free time is why Tyler’s mother considered and went ahead to adopt Jayson: however, she soon got pregnant with Tracy. The new addition to the family worked to increase Tyler’s interaction and play and promote his language and literacy development.

Although Jayson was from another racial background, his first language is English and this means that his presence in the household did not serve to introduce Tyler to a new language. As a preschooler, Tyler had not yet been exposed to a second language and consequently was yet to develop an interest in the same. Despite his reducing needs and demands, Tyler’s parents did not neglect him. The parents promoted Tyler’s language development by starting to address him clearly and correctly. As a preschooler, Tyler’s parents no longer spoke to him like a baby and paid attention to him when he was speaking. The mother increased Tyler’s TV time slightly and she encouraged Tyler to use language more to communicate his needs. The parents read and told stories to Tyler and the mother sang nursery rhymes with her when she could.

References

Rowe, M. L. (2013, November). Decontextualized language input and preschoolers' vocabulary development. In Seminars in speech and language (Vol. 34, No. 04, pp. 260-266). Thieme Medical Publishers.

Song, S., Su, M., Kang, C., Liu, H., Zhang, Y., McBride‐Chang, C., ... & Shu, H. (2015). Tracing children's vocabulary development from preschool through the school‐age years: An 8‐year longitudinal study. Developmental science, 18(1), 119-131.