Supporting Language Development in Young Children

National Center on Improving Literacy
Jun 23
2 min read

Updated: Jul 2

It is important for parents and teachers to understand how they can support a child’s development. This includes properly assessing all key components of language skills and engaging in interactive activities early in the child’s life.

Two parents watching their child write at a table.

This study looked at how kids from different family backgrounds learn language in preschool. They found that children from families with less money had a harder time with words, grammar, and learning new words compared to kids from wealthier families by the time they were 3 years old. The research shows that the way adults talk to kids at home and in school can make a big difference in how well they learn language. It suggests that we should start helping kids with language skills when they are very young and make sure parents and teachers use lots of different words and sentences when talking to kids. Overall, the study highlights the importance of early language support for all kids to do well in school.

Substantial income gaps may be present in preschoolers’ vocabulary, syntax, and language processing skills as early as age 3. The current study provides tips for how teachers and caregivers can support language development in all children and showed that the Quick Interactive Language Screener (QUILS) can help track language growth.

Assess Appropriately: Learning new words is just one part of language development. Use tools that measure vocabulary as well as syntax and language processing, such as the QUILS.

Begin Early: Gaps in language abilities are present by age 3. It is never too early to start supporting language development in children!

Create Conversation: Engage in high quality back-and-forth interactions with children. Try to use various types of words and sentence patterns to expand on what they say.

Daily Discussion: Reading books together, asking engaging questions, and sparking conversation about the story are all great ways to support language skills.