Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Language Development and Communication (LDC)

Subdomain: Learning to Communicate

Goal: Children use most grammatical constructions of their home language well.

Skill Progression: Use most grammatical constructions of home language well

Age: 27-30 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 27-30 Months.

Observe adult reading a book to a child and during daily routines.

Elicit present progressives by asking, “What is he doing?” Elicit prepositions by asking, “Where did she hide the doll?” Elicit plurals by asking, “What are those?” (trucks, animals, etc.)

The child tells what is happening, where, and to whom by adding the –ing ending, using prepositions and plurals.

Encourage early childhood educators and parents to play and read with the child. Explain that this is a great way to model new grammatical structures and help the child use them in appropriate ways within a meaningful context. Encourage adults to be aware of the use of plurals and present progressive endings. They should model the use of such endings (e.g., “You are building a tower. I built a tower. Now we have two towers.”) Adults can also ask questions that require the child to use them (“What is the girl in this picture doing?”)