Language Adquisition

The Thirteenth Month:
-Vocabulary of 3 - 4 words in addition to "mama"and "dada".
-Say "tata"for thank you.
-Gives toy on request or gesture.
-Looks in appropiate place when asked. "where is daddy? -ball,- kitty"etc?
-May use sounds to indicate specific objects that are understood by the parents.
-Responds to own name.
-Jabbers with expresions.
-Understands gestures.
-Obeys comand: "Give it to me"
-Attempts new words.
-Has begun to understand the name of people, objects, and animals that are important to him.
-Will listen for 3 minutes or so to rhymes and jingles.
-Comes when beckoned.
-Has learned to respond to speech by acts.
-Indicates wants other than by crying.

The Fourteenth Month:-Likes rhymes and jingles.
-Indicates wants in some other way than by crying.
-Is putting all kinds of sounds together.
-Brings coat to indicate desire to be taken out.
-May bring parent a cd to have it played.
-Tries hard to make self understood.
-Amuses self with vocal play.
-Attempts to say any word he or she hears.
-Knows through words or signs names of objects she or he uses: chair, cup, teddy bear, kitty, doll etc.
-Knows names of family members.
-Speaking vocabulary of 3 - 5 words.
-Repeats sounds of words without indication of understanding the meaning.

The Fifteenth Month:-Speaking vocabulary of 4 - 6 words including names.
-May also say "there"and "bye-bye".
-Uses jargon and gestures.
-Says "ta-ta"or equivalent for thank you.
-Points to shoes or clothes on command.
-Vocalizes and gestures to indicate wants.
-Points to familliar persons, toys and animals on request.
-Follows simple commands: "Give me the ball", "Get the teddy bear"etc.
-Combines jargon and words in conversation.
-Asks for objects by pointing.
-Understands such directions as "no", "come", "show me", "look".
-Delights in dogs and often says "bow-wow".
-Recognizes names of major body parts.
-Identifies pictures of a few named objects or the objects themselves by pointing or vocalizing.
-Can respond to a few key words and phrases.
-Points to one named body part.

The Sixteenth Month:
-Uses 6 - 7 clear words.
-Brings a familiar object from another room upon request.
-Points and gestures to indicate desires and call attention to events.
-Responds to "Give me that"when accompanied by gestures.
Indicates wants assertively; will use one word to make want known; e.g "Üp".
-Combines 2 different words.
-Points to one named body part.
-Most toddlers at this age do no like having a whole story read to them; they prefer to pick out and point to pictures or listen to adult talk about pictures.
-Responds to verbal directions, but must still be managed mostly by actions.
-Interested in watching children's shows on tv, cartoons and singing commercials.

The Seventeenth Month:
-Long, babbled conversations with some clear words.
-Enjoys picture books.
-Points to one named body part.
-Says 6 words in addition to "Mama"and "dada".
-Ability to imitate words become more precise.
-Words used rather than gestures to express some wants and needs.
-Understands more words than able to say, but even this understanding is extremely limited.
-Combines 2 different words.
-Extensive vocalization and echoing.

The Eighteeth Month:
-Follows one step direction.
-Can point to own body part; hair, eyes, nose, mouth, on request.
-Asks for some wants by naming object; milk, cookie etc.
-Attempts to sign.
-Refers to self by name.
-Gets coat or hat and says "bye bye".
-Enjoys songs as öld Mc Donald had a farm".
-Imitates simple sounds on request.
-Identifies objects by pointing.
-Names or points to familiar pictures in a book.
-Speaking vocabulary of about 10 words, including names.
-Understands simple questions.
-Uses 2 word phrases, "telegraphic" versions of adult sentence (and, at, the, are lacking)
-Favorite words may be "all gone" "thank you" "bye bye" öh my" All of which register completions.
-May hum spontaneously.
-Is now on the threshold of speech.
-"No"is chief word.
-Chatters in imitation of conversation, verbally or nonverbally.
-Enjoys playing the question - and- answer game with parent.

The Nineteenth Month:
-Touches 3 or more body parts or items of clothing on command.
-Still much bubbling, but now of several syllabes with intricate entonations.
-Speaking vocabulary of more than 10 words but less than 50.
-A favourite game is attaching a name to a thing (labeling)
likes to be read to.
-Responds appropriately to requests for bodily action.
-Points to most pictures of familiar objects named by parents.
-Uses speech as a means of securing action from another person, usually the mother.
-Beginning to respond to speech by speech; the remark of another person evokes his or her spoken response.
-Combines 2 different words.
-Responds to "Where is your nose?" by correctly indicating nose; also to "Where are your eyes?".

The Twentieth Month:-Speaking vocabulary of 12, 15, or more words.
-Is learning to label actions or qualities: up when he or she wants to be picked up, or ON when she or he wants the light on.
-Enjoys hearing nursery rhymes.
-Attempts to talk in sentences, combines 2 different words.
-Points to several named body parts.
-Constantly asks "What is that?"is discovering that everything has a name.
-Is beginning to use rudimentary questioning as a substitute for physical, nonlinguistic behavior.
-Enjoys playing a simple lotto game with parent.

The Twenty First Month:-Speaking vocabulary of 20 or more words.
-Joins 2 words ("All gone"etc.)
-Uses word combinations.
-Echoes 2 or more last words.
-Names 3 pictures of common objects.
-Listens to short rhymes with interesting sounds, especially when they are accompanied by actions or pictures.
-Likes to have lilting rhymes sung.
-Enjoys tactile books.
-Needs supervision while looking at books because often tears them at this age.
-Spontaneous humming or singing of syllabes.
-Imitates 2 or 3 word sentence.
-Understands some personal pronouns; can distinguish "Give it to her", "Give it to him".
-Tries to follow directions.
-Can point to 5 body parts.


The Twenty Second Month:
-Can point to 5 body parts of self or doll.
-Asks for things at table by name.
-Enjoys listening to simple stories.
-Uses simple 1 or 2 words questions to secure the names of objects or persons in his or her enviroment.
-Combines 2 words in speech.
-In response to "where is your month?"correctly indicates either by pointing to or opening mouth.
-Is interested in sound and repetition (as in book, Ask Mr. Bear)
-Calls all women and men mommies and daddies.
-Echoes adults words and inflections.

The Twenty Third Month:
-Speaking vocabulary of 20 clear words.
-Ask for food when hungry and water when thirsty.
-Enjoys hearing rhymes in Mother Goose book, etc.
-Is substituting words for some physical acts.
-Knows 3 to 5 body parts.
-Understand more words than able to use.
-Has learned to form some sentences of 2 words, but still relies on gestures, facial expressions, and total body movement, as well as grunts, squeals, and shrieks for communication.
-Answer "What is your name"? "What does the doggy say?" "What does the kitty say?".
-Can name familiar objects; ball, car, chair, bed, baby etc.
-Increase in communicative behavior and interest in language.
-Discards jargon.

The Twenty Four Month:-Can name almost everything she or he has daily contact with at home or on walks.
-Can associate names with most familiar objects.
-Understand and ask for "another", "more".
-Shows and imitates names for hair, hands, feet, nose, eyes, mouth, shoes.
-Actively imitates words.
-Expressive vocabulary of 50 or more words.
- Listens to and enjoys simple stories.
-Responds to: "Show me a dog" "Show me a hat" etc.
-Names 3 or more pictures in a book.
-Echoes adult's words and inflections.
-Is beginning to discover that everything has a name.
-May be able to give first and last names.

Sleeping pattern in babies

As a rule, an infant sleeps a lot, but as he gets older he will develop a sleeping pattern. Regularity in his sleeping as well as in his eating and playing habits is most important. The baby who is fed his meals at the same hours is more likely to fall asleep at the same time than the baby whose routine is interrupted for one reason or another.

Gradually baby will stay awake a little longer at each feeding, and soon will discover the joys of sociability. Usually babies have their own "play hour"late in the afternoon; then they will create another in the morning. At 6 months, they may sleep 12 hours at night, and 3 to 5 hours during the day. By the time he is a year old, the average baby takes two comparatively short naps during the day, and sleeps a good 12 hours at night.

It is important to realize that babies vary in the amount of sleep they need. Your baby may be an energetic, sociable type who gets along fine on much less sleep than a more placid, dreamy type of child.
During the first year do not be concerned about how much sleep your baby gets. If his sleeping conditions are good, he will take as much sleep as he needs. If however, he appears to be irritable when not getting much sleep, or on the other hand if he seems to be drowsy and sleepy most of the time, your doctor may suggest a change in his feeding or improvement in the stimulation being provided.

Never give the baby medicine to make him sleep. Provide him with good sleeping conditions including a comfortable room temperature of 21 - 22 C (69.8 - 71.6 F) especially for the first few weeks. As he becomes older, the room may be cooler, provided he is sleeping and well covered. Do not excite him before going to bed. If you hear him talking to himself and wiggling around after you put him down, do not worry; he has just decided to play a little longer, and will go to sleep in due time. One should avoid the tendency to allow an infant to get over stimulated and over fatigued, thereby exhausted before he gets a chance to go to sleep.

Toilet Habits in a baby

A baby may have 3 or 4 bowel movements a day. Some babies have only one movement every 2 or 3 days. It is not the frecuency or even the regularity that matters, it is the consistency of the stool. It should be yellow or brownish and soft. If the movement is hard, take steps to relieve constipation before the child becomes antagonistic to bowel movement. If baby is on formula your health consellor may suggest a change, specially in the kind and amount of sugar. Give him more water and, depending on his age, more vegetables and fruits, such as pureed cooked prunes. Do not become worried if you notice changes in the color and consistency of the stool when you start baby on solid foods. (When the baby starts to eat solid food there may be something call transitional poo -heces- the baby can stay without soil his diaper for over a week and this is normal, he doesn't feel anything, he is not fuzzy or anything, if it goes for more than 10 days or if he cries a lot you must take him to the doctor)

Concious bowel and bladder control is not well developed until far into the second or even the third year. It is impossible to "train" a child under one year in the use of the toilet. Trying to observe the baby's rhythm and putting him on the pot at the right time does not help the toilet training of the baby as much as training the mother to anticipate the movement. Effective training begins at a time when muscle and nerve control is being stablished, usually in the early months of the second year. At first a warmed potty is used, and later the toilet. Never leave him more than 5 minutes, and if, as often happens you take him off the toilet whereupon he promptly soils his diaper, do not make any fuss. Never show you are disappointed, but give praise if he succeds.

Bladder control is slow and may not come before the child is between 2 and 2 1/2, although many children continue to wet their beds at night for even longer.

To help in the formation of good toilet habits, parents should not "start" training a very young baby, and they should always attend to his bowel movement in a casual and friendly manner.