Communication & Speaking

I Said That?

Language development incorporates an ever-growing vocabulary. Four year olds will understand how sounds and words can be married to create sentences and communicate with others.

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Listen

Activity

Robert goes to the park with his older sister. At the park he gets really excited because in the distance he sees something really big. He cannot figure it out at first. Robert says to his sister, “A bear! I see a bear on the grass, by the tree!” His sister looks up and says, “Oh Robert, it’s a deer not a bear. We don’t have bears here!” When Robert arrives back home, he runs into the living room where his mom and dad are sit ting. Robert says, “Guess what? I saw a bear at the park! Oh, no, not a bear. What did we see?” His sister replies, “A deer.” Robert says, “Yes, I saw a deer, and it was huge like the size of a bear!”

Insight

Robert comes home and tells a short story about his experience during the day. He demonstrates his ability to communicate using descriptive words (huge) and complete sentences; he even uses connecting words (by the tree).

A rich language environment has an essential impact on the rapid development of your child’s cognitive abilities (brain development). Communication and language support personal, social, and emotional development because your four year old can communicate feelings, needs, and ideas, as well as develop a strong sense of self-awareness.

At four, your child uses more than 1,500 different words, knows about 4,000 words, and understands even more.

Words four year olds speak and understand fall into four categories:

1. Connecting words, such as when and but—“When I grow up, I am going to play soccer.”

2. Words that explain emotions, such as upset and angry—“I am angry at you.”

3. Words that explain something that is on his mind, such as remember—“Remember, Mom took us to the park? We played on the rocket slide.”

4. Words that explain where things are, such as on top of and below — “The cat is on top of the car.”

Connecting words come from your child’s increased language development. He now has the ability to connect words and make a sentence or statement using those words.

Emotion words come from your four year old’s social-emotional development. Your four year old is showing you how he uses words to express feelings as opposed to acting out those feelings.

Words about things on his mind come from having a better understanding of what he recalls and how well he can remember events from the past.

Using words about where objects or people are shows your four year old’s growth in spatial development and his ability to see the location of objects around him.

Retell Stories

For your child to retell stories, he must tap into his creative and imaginative skillsets to recreate the story.

Children are taking everything that they have learned in the past and applying it to present skills they are developing, which prepares them for learning new skills in the future.

Remember to give yourself praise and encouragement for supporting your child’s language growth.

A child’s growth in language is one of the most obvious manifestations of cognitive development, and it provides great joy to parents as they watch it progress.

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