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: 54-60 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 54-60 Months.

Listen to the child’s conversation with adults or peers during play. Record or write down the conversation for later analysis.

No elicitation needed to hear sentence structures if the conversation is about a topic of interest to the child. To elicit indefinite negatives, the adult can create a ‘Who and how much?’ game in a center. Children and adults take turns asking each other questions – first a “who” question, then a “how much” question. Children get to ask the adult a question requiring them to answer ‘Who did X?’ The adult asks a question requiring a response of “nobody” or “no one.” For example, “Who in the room is seven feet tall?” During another turn the adult asks a question requiring a response of “nothing.” For instance, “If there are two apples in a bowl and I eat them both, what’s left in the bowl?” This game also allows the adult to assess other concepts.

The child formulates statements and questions using both simple and complex sentences.

Children love discussing topics of interest. Encourage early childhood educators and parents to talk to the child about what they see, what events are occurring, and how and why events occur. These discussions provide opportunities to model all types of grammatical structures.