Two word sentences child development

Language development in children 2-3 years

Vocabulary and language development in children at 2-3 years

At this age, your child’s vocabulary expands quickly – they might even learn new words each day. In general, your child understands more words than they can use.

Your child will use a lot of nouns – for example, ‘baby’, ‘friend’ or ‘car’. You’ll hear other word types too, including:

• verbs – for example, ‘play’, ‘go’
• adjectives – for example, ‘wet’, ‘sore’
• pronouns – for example, ‘I’, ‘you’
• location words – for example, ‘in’, ‘on’.

Your child will start using words like ‘more’ and ‘most’, as well as words that make questions, like ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘where’.

And your child will start to say ‘me’, ‘mine’ and ‘you’. By three years, you child will understand the difference between ‘mine’ and ‘yours’.

Sentences and grammar in language development

As part of language development, your child will begin to use two-word sentences at around two years. By age three, they’ll be able to use sentences with three or more words – for example, ‘Mummy get in car’ or ‘Me go too’.

You’ll start to hear grammar and more structured sentences. For example, instead of ‘I go’, your child might say ‘I’m going’. You’ll also hear your child use the past tense – for example, ‘walked’, ‘jumped’. And they’ll start using plurals like ‘cats’ or ‘horses’.

Your child might not always get it right when they use plurals and past tense. For example, your child might say ‘foots’ for ‘feet’, or ‘goed’ instead of ‘went’.

Understanding and language development

Language development includes your child understanding more of what’s said to them and how it’s said. Your child will understand a lot more than they can say.

Your child will understand one-step and two-step instructions, as long as they’re about things they already know – for example, ‘Pick up your toys and put them in the box’. They might still find it hard to follow instructions about unfamiliar objects or tasks.

Your child will begin to answer questions from adults about ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘where’, but they might not yet understand how to answer ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions.

Your child can tell from the tone of your voice if you’re happy, affectionate or angry.

Pronunciation in language development

By three, your child will use most of the speech sounds in their words, but they might still pronounce words differently from adults. For example, even though your child can say the sounds ‘b’ and ‘l’, they might have trouble combining them together in ‘blue’. Some difficult sounds, like ‘z’, ‘sh’, ‘f’, ‘v’, ‘r’, and ‘th’, might still be hard for your child to say.

When your child is two years old, unfamiliar people can usually understand about half of what your child says. By the time your child is three years old, unfamiliar people can usually understand about three-quarters of what they’re saying.

Developing conversation skills

Your child will start to get the hang of speaking in turn, and might be able to have a short conversation with you.

Your child will talk about things that have happened during the day. With your help, they might be able to put together a simple story – for example, your toddler might say ‘I go shop’. You might respond, ‘And what did you do at the shop?’ They’ll reply ‘Buy bread’. By age three, they might be able to tell a simple ‘made-up’ story based on experiences they’ve had, but they’ll probably leave out a lot of detail.

Your child will talk about people and objects not present – for example, ‘Grandma at the shops’, ‘My ball in tree’.

And your child will start talking the same way you or other close adults talk. You might even hear your child say certain things the way you do.

At this age, your toddler might cry less than they used to when they can’t do something or feel frustrated. That’s because your child can use their words to explain the problem and ask for help.

Play and language development

Your child will be able to play and talk by age three. For example, they might give voices to the toys they’re playing with. They’ll also begin to play in groups with other children, sharing toys and taking turns.

You might hear your child playing with language through rhyming, singing and listening to stories. They’ll also talk to themselves and might use a very loud or soft voice when speaking.

Growing up in a bilingual or multilingual family doesn’t affect how early or quickly children learn to use language. Sometimes multilingual or bilingual children mix their languages for a while, but this stops once they understand that they’re using more than one language.

When to get help for language development

If you notice any of the following signs in your child, or you’re worried about your child’s language development, it’s a very good idea to see your child and family health nurse, GP or paediatrician.

Your child:

• isn’t using words to communicate
• is often hard to understand when they’re talking to you, family or friends
• has stopped using a language skill they once had.

Your health professional might refer you to a speech pathologist.

Children learn new skills over time and at different ages. Most children develop skills in the same order, and each new skill they learn builds on the last. Small differences in when children develop skills are usually nothing to worry about.

Child Development: Combine Words | Speech Blubs

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Feb 6, 2022 This blog explores when typical children combine words, and provides some activities to do at home to help your child perform this skill.

One of the most worried about concerns for parents regarding child development is to know when their child will be able to communicate effectively. It’s so much easier when they can tell you what they want, need, or if anything is wrong. Please remember, especially in their early years, kids develop at different times depending on their hereditary and environmental situations.

If there is a syndrome, disorder, or cognitive impairment, it will affect your child’s ability to learn and utilize language. 

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Language Development Process

Telegraphic speech refers to the two-word stage of early childhood language development. For example, your baby will say “Mommy See!” or “Baby Read!”

As far as developmental milestones go, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a child should say his first word by 15 months of age. Another milestone that gets less attention, but is also important, is when children start to string word combinations together. 

When a child first starts to attempt this milestone, their combinations will be nouns and actions, such as “mommy go,” or “daddy up.” As their language skills develop and improve, they will start to include things like verbs (actions).

An example of this might be, “car go.” These combinations that include verbs are important as they set the stage for the child’s grammar skills to develop.  Children should be combining two words together by 24 months of age (Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents (3rd ed.)). 

A recent study looked at children’s first words and first word combinations, and whether delays in either of these milestones predicted later language problems. Interestingly, children who were late combining words were more at risk for future problems with language than children who were late with their first words (Journal of Early Intervention, 38 (1) (41–58)). This means that if your child is delayed in speaking, it’s not as important as when your child starts combining words. 

As a speech pathologist, I get a lot of questions from parents as their child develops through these stages and enters toddlerhood. Here are some frequently asked questions answered about child development!

Are “thank you” and “night-night” examples of word combinations?

Many children use these words early on and parents think that they are using two-word combinations. However, these phrases are “chunked” and are memorized. This is different than learning two different words and combining them together. If your child is saying, “thank you, mom,” then that’s an example of combining two different words. 

My child uses a ton of single words.

This comes from SLP Lauren Lowry in her article “Combining Words Together: A Big Step in Language Development” where she says that before a child can combine two words together, he must be able to:

1.

Children need more than just nouns (names of people, places, and things) in their vocabulary to combine words. Once they can use some early verbs (action words like “go,” “pour,” or “give”), adjectives (words that describe like “hot,” “big,” or “fast”), and/or prepositions (location words like “on,” “in,” or “off”), they have the building blocks to combine words together. These words are typically developed by 18 months of age. 

2.

Before expressing two ideas with two-word combinations, children can usually express two ideas by using a word and a “supplementary” gesture, which adds additional information to the word that is spoken. For example, when a child points to the cookie jar and says “Mommy,” his message has two ideas: he wants Mommy to give him a cookie.

Or when a child does an action for “big” with his arms while pointing to a large teddy bear, his message has two ideas: the bear is big. This shouldn’t be confused with the child’s use of gestures that match the meaning of his word (e.g. pointing to a cookie and saying “cookie”), as this only expresses one idea.

When a parent tells me that their child is using more than just nouns, then their child is probably ready to start combining words into phrases. 

My child isn’t combining words, should I be concerned?

If your child is 24 months or older and  not combining words, it’s important to talk to your pediatrician and get a referral for a speech-language pathologist. They will assess your child’s skills and development to determine if speech therapy is warranted. 

5 Ways to Help Your Child Combine Words

1.

Children need practice and repetition when it comes to sending and receiving verbal messages. In order to encourage voluntary communication, you need to follow your child’s lead and see what he/she is doing.

Wait for him/her to send you a message and give them a chance to respond before jumping right in. Make sure you get down on his/her level and comment on everything he/she is doing. 

2.

When you play and interact with your child, emphasize new words that are based on his interests at that moment. Use actions and your voice to make these new words stand out.

Think about highlighting words other than just nouns, such as simple verbs (e.g. “stop,” “push,” or “wash”), adjectives (e.g. “small,” “soft,” or “cold”), and prepositions (e.g. “in,” “on,” “down,” or “up”).

Verbs are especially important for building early sentences and for the development of children’s grammar skills. Play with a teddy bear to model the words!

3.

Even though children’s first-word combinations lack proper grammar (e.g. “go car,” “want juice,” or “me up”), it’s important that you provide your child with models that are grammatically correct. This means you shouldn’t imitate his poor grammar and vocabulary.

Make sure you are talking to them in short, simple phrases, but using correct grammar. This helps your child understand how words are used together and what the words mean. For example, if your child says “go car” when he is getting in the car, you can say “You are going in the car.”

4.

You can expand your child’s language by using his single word in a short sentence. If your child says “fast” while pushing a car, you can turn that into a little sentence like “The car is fast!” Or, if he smiles while eating a cookie and says “cookie,” you can say “It’s a yummy cookie. ”

5.

When you use gestures while you speak, it shows your child how to use gestures and words at the same time. This will prepare your child for using supplementary gestures.

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