The Two Year-Old Vocabulary and Established Standards

SAN DIEGO - Aug. 31, 2022 - PRLog -- A private preschool in Santaluz determines each student's developmental growth by assessing their two year-old vocabulary and comparing it with established standards.

During the first year of life, your child is absorbing, assimilating and growing at an astounding rate. As your infant grows from the first 12-month period into the second toddler year, their learning is based on the senses: seeing, hearing, and touching.

By observing their parents and the world around them, they learn how to develop and use their senses; followed by the composition of words and sentences to describe it all.

Language Development From Infant to Toddler

Gestures, sounds and tones are all part of an infant's first foray toward using speech and vocabulary to identify people, places and things. Although they may start saying nouns like 'dog, cat, car' and 'eat,' verbs like 'go, run, see' quickly follow.

Soon, they'll:

• Point at objects and ask you its name
• Know their name.
• Use the word 'I' to describe themselves
• Put words together and
• Starting sentences!

The Beauty of Vocabulary and Communication

Children understand more than they can say. Often, if you have difficulty understanding them, they'll try again via sounds, gestures and word combinations.

Interestingly, bilingual or multilingual families have little effect on how quickly and early children learn to use language. However, children who learn two languages as 18 month-old toddlers open neural pathways that spur their overall language growth and comprehension.

Determining Growth By Tracking Toddler's Milestones

Although every child grows and develops at his or her own pace, toddler speech development tends to follow a fairly predictable path. According to the Mayo Clinic (https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-t...), by 24 months of age, most children can:

• use simple phrases, such as 'more milk'
• ask one- or two-word questions, such as "Go bye-bye?'
• follow simple commands and understand simple questions
• speak 50 or more words, and
• be understood at least half the time by parents or other primary caregivers.

Summary

Given the research defining infant and toddler development and corresponding language skills, parents can make an assessment concerning their child's speech and language growth. Feel free to discuss your child's milestones with your child's teacher and family pediatrician to see if your two year-old's vocabulary is on track.

Lifetime Montessori School, a private preschool in Santaluz, an inland community in San Diego County, serves 180 children in toddler, primary and Kindergarten programs.

For more information, please visit: https://lifetimemontessorischool.com/free-tours.