So, what is the difference between language and speech? Part 1: Language

In our experience, many parents, healthcare professionals, and daycare workers do not know that there is a difference between language skills and speech skills or what that difference looks like.

Language is made up of socially shared rules which communicate a message.  Language involves:

1. Knowing the meaning of words
• Example:  Someone asks a child, "Where do you go to school?" and the child begins naming students in her class.  The child knows that they are supposed to respond, but they answer the question incorrectly.
2. Using/combining words to communicate a message effectively and clearly
• Example:  A toddler points to an out of reach item and requests "want," but the parent is unsure of what the toddler is requesting exactly because the child does not have the vocabulary to label the object.
• Example:   Labeling all four-legged animals with a tail a "dog."
3. Understanding the social rules (i.e., pragmatics) of language.

• Example:  A child is talking to another classmate about his favorite subject, dinosaurs.  The classmate is not interested in talking about dinosaurs, but the child does not pick up on social cues (i.e., classmate glances around the room, attempts to engage the child in another topic are unsuccessful, sighs, rolls his eyes).

The examples listed above are just a small pieces of language.  Language can be broken down into many areas including semantics (meaning/vocabulary), syntax (sentence structure), morphology (word structure/ word endings), phonology (the sounds within a language), and pragmatics (social rules of language).  A child may have a deficit in one language area or deficits across several areas.

Language can be both verbal and nonverbal.  For example: a child can request a cookie by pointing and saying the label "cookie."  The child's pointing is nonverbal communication and the child's word is verbal communication.  If you remove either part of the communication, you would most likely still understand the child's request.  

Below is a chart from the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.  It contains both speech and language milestones.  If you have any questions about your child's speech or language, do not hesitate to contact Bright Beginnings at 615-898-7461 or info@brightbeginningsptc.com.

Age-Appropriate Speech and Language Milestones

Age-Appropriate Speech and Language Milestones

The ability to hear is essential for proper speech and language development. Hearing problems may be suspected in children who are not responding to sounds or who are not developing their language skills appropriately. The following are some age-related guidelines that may help to decide if your child is experiencing hearing problems.

It is important to remember that not every child is the same, and children reach milestones at different ages. Consult your child's physician if you are suspicious that your child is not developing speech and language skills correctly. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and other experts list the following age-appropriate speech and language milestones for babies and young children.

Milestones related to speech and language:

Birth to 5 months	coos vocalizes pleasure and displeasure sounds (laughs, giggles, cries, or fusses) makes noise when talked to
6 to 11 months	understands "no-no" babbles (says "ba-ba-ba") says ma-ma or da-da without meaning tries to communicate by actions or gestures tries to repeat your sounds says first word
12 to 17 months	answers simple questions nonverbally says two to three words to label a person or object (pronunciation may not be clear) tries to imitate simple words vocabulary of four to six words
18 to 23 months	correctly pronounces most vowels and n, m, p, h, especially in the beginning of syllables and short words - also begins to use other speech sounds vocabulary of 50 words, pronunciation is often unclear asks for common foods by name makes animal sounds such as "moo" starting to combine words such as "more milk" begins to use pronouns such as "mine" uses two word phrases
2 to 3 years	knows some spatial concepts such as "in," "on" knows pronouns such as "you," "me," "her" knows descriptive words such as "big," "happy" vocabulary of 250 to 900 words uses three word sentences speech is becoming more accurate but may still leave off ending sounds - strangers may not be able to understand much of what is said answers simple questions begins to use more pronouns such as "you," "I" uses question inflection to ask for something such as "my ball?" begins to use plurals such as "shoes" or "socks" and regular past tense verbs such as "jumped"
3 to 4 years	groups objects such as foods, clothes, etc. identifies colors uses most speech sounds but may distort some of the more difficult sounds such as l, r, s, sh, ch, y, v, z, th - these sounds may not be fully mastered until age 7 or 8 uses consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words - some of the more difficult consonants may be distorted, but attempts to say them strangers are able to understand much of what is said able to describe the use of objects such as "fork," "car," etc. has fun with language - enjoys poems and recognizes language absurdities such as, "is that an elephant on your head?" expresses ideas and feelings rather than just talking about the world around him/ her uses verbs that end in "ing," such as "walking" and "talking" answers simple questions such as "What do you do when you are hungry?" repeats sentences
4 to 5 years	understands spatial concepts such as "behind," "next to" understands complex questions speech is understandable but makes mistakes pronouncing long, difficult, or complex words such as "hippopotamus" vocabulary of about 1500 words uses some irregular past tense verbs such as "ran," "fell" describes how to do things such as painting a picture defines words lists items that belong in a category such as animals, vehicles, etc. answers "why" questions
5 years	understands more than 2,000 words understands time sequences (what happened first, second, third, etc.) carries out a series of three directions understands rhyming engages in conversation sentences can be eight or more words in length uses compound and complex sentences describes objects uses imagination to create stories

From Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh http://www.chp.edu/CHP/P02170