|
Courses >
Courses for Teaching Professionals > Enhancing Language Development in Childhood
 Follow your child's lead and have fun while enhancing language development! In this fun and user-friendly course for parents, teachers, and caregivers, you will discover how children learn to process language and how they become proficient speakers and thinkers. This course will help you enrich your child's life by stimulating his or her continued speech, brain, and language development in an enjoyable, age-appropriate, and natural way.
This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Kt Paxton.
 After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Child Development with high honors, Kt Paxton completed a fifth year of study and holds a California Teaching Credential. She managed a pre-school and has more than a decade of experience teaching elementary schoolchildren. Kt is also the published author of the book "More Adventures With Kids in San Diego."
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
How do children learn language? Play! And not with flash cards, or anything else that you can buy. Children are born with a complete package of language-learning tools. The only accessory they need is you, helping them unlock their natural instincts for language. After reading this first section, you'll be using play and instinct to communicate soundlessly with a newborn, to help him fill his language-building toolbox, and to create a stimulating environment for language development.
|
| Friday - Lesson 02 |
Imagine a database of sounds in your child’s brain. Where do these sounds come from? How does she file, sort, and choose to use these sounds to communicate? In today's lesson, we'll look at why her mind is made for these remarkable tasks, and you'll learn straightforward ways you can lend a hand (even in the form of sign language!). This lesson also includes a fascinating overview of brain and mouth anatomy.
|
| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
You say, “Shelly just said, ‘ball’!” But your friend says, “Nah, that was just babbling.” Who's right? Does something count as a real word if it isn’t pronounced perfectly? In this lesson, we'll explore what makes a word real and how to interpret your child’s patterns of simplifying early language. You'll also start using a journal to uncover the rich potential in your child’s one- and two-word phrases.
|
| Friday - Lesson 04 |
Once you understand the mechanics of hearing and understanding, your role in encouraging language can be powerful, simple, and fun! Many caregivers ask at this stage when they should start to worry about language delays. In today's lesson, we'll soothe your concerns by discussing what to watch for, when to seek assistance (and from which type of specialist), and when to stop worrying and keep playing! We'll look through a list of typical first words that you can use to trace your child’s communication explosion.
|
| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
Can you guess when a baby’s brain grows the most? How do you facilitate this growth? Again, the answer is play! In this lesson, we'll match favorite infant-caregiver games to the neurological functions they stimulate. You'll also learn how language affects the development of thinking skills, just as the function of thinking affects language development. Today we'll explore how to keep this circle of growth cycling.
|
| Friday - Lesson 06 |
Your kiddo is talking, but you’re not done yet! Although two-word phrases, such as “get ball” certainly communicate an idea, your child will keep refining his sentences as he grows. Today you'll find out how to help him progress to past tense, contractions, pronouns, and conjunctions. You'll also learn about the fascinating thought processes behind questions. Don’t forget your journal!
|
| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
Wow–now we have listening, speaking, sounds, words, and sentences. What more is there? Lots! Is it still fun? Does she still need you? Of course! In today's lesson, we'll continue with a few more do's and don'ts for caregivers, emphasizing our favorite learning tool: games!
|
| Friday - Lesson 08 |
Expanding on our earlier anatomy lesson, today you'll learn how sounds depend on strong, agile mouth muscles. Before you start thinking about tongue push-ups, remember we always focus on maximizing the opportunities within natural interactions. A discussion of feeding—including your choices of bottles, cups, and straws—is key. We'll answer complex and controversial questions about pacifiers, sippy cups, and thumb sucking, and I'll provide some great tips for easing necessary transitions.
|
| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
Some sounds sound fun (like boing!), and some sounds feel fun (like zzzzzz). What does this kind of fun teach if it doesn't use precise words? In today's lesson, you'll find out what you're teaching when you encourage your little one to play with sounds. You'll also learn which speech games will help you make the connection from speech to reading.
|
| Friday - Lesson 10 |
Now you know that speech, language, and communication are different, but related, topics. Using your knowledge of how sounds make language, in this lesson, you'll learn how language is used to communicate and connect with others. We call this social use of language. Today you'll learn how to help your talker become a conversationalist!
|
| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
Although children follow similar development processes, no two walk the same path. As more is discovered about learning, the lines between different, delayed, and disability grow foggier. Demystifying these terms is easier when you learn about different learning styles, and when you understand the styles used by you and your child. While you can’t eavesdrop on your child’s thoughts, what you learn in today's lesson will help you help her connect her learning style and her use of language.
|
| Friday - Lesson 12 |
Teaching a child the alphabet tends to be our first step toward reading, but is it where literacy begins? While this skill can be gratifying for adults to see, literacy begins in the brain and is nurtured with fun and games. As you've learned about language skills, literacy doesn’t come in a box from the store. When you understand instincts and use them in fun and play, they come from you.
|
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Student Reviews:
"A good course. I loved how the instructor kept emphasizing that we do not need paper and pencil activities to create language enhancing opportunities with young children."
"As a parent of a child with a speech delay and a child care provider I thought the course was terrific! The instructor provided excellent material to use for all levels of speech development. She provided the development "basics" as well as information to enhance speech from infancy on."
"As a preschool teacher, I found this course to be very informative and educational. I know that it will help me in my everyday interactions with my students."
"Extremely rewarding information and on-line ease. My knowledge has expanded and my family life did not suffer. Thank You."
"I found this class full of useful information that I have and will use in my classroom. I work with teen moms and there is so much great information here to share with them."
"I have a 3 year old that has a speech delay and has been seeing a speech therapist for almost 6 months now. I wasn't seeing a lot of improvement but since taking this course I have been able to improve my communications skills with her. She has improved tremendously in the last month. I would highly recommend this course. Thank you so much."
"I have been a special ed teacher for 15 years and I got so much out of this course!!"
"I really enjoyed this course. I have 4 daughters, from age 16 mos. to 9yrs. I saw so many things first hand as I was reading about them in your lessons. Sometimes my 16 mo. old even "helped" with my lessons. Very enjoyable!!"
"I thought that this was one of the best continuing education classes that I have taken in a long time. I felt like all that I was exposed to was useful to me as an educator, as well as a mother. The instructor has a very thorough knowledge of her subject and a great sense of humor that makes her lessons enjoyable to read. I hope that I come across lessons by this same instructor in the future. I thank the school for offering such worthwhile courses!"
"This is a wonderful and useful course for parents, teachers and other caregivers! It is amazing how much children are learning and developing!! The information will be very useful to me!"
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Recommended Courses:
Students who enrolled in Enhancing Language Development in Childhood were also interested in the following courses:
The Classroom Computer
Solving Classroom Discipline Problems
Caring for Children
Parenting: The First Five Years
Guiding Kids on the Internet
Enhancing Language Development in Childhood
Ready, Set, Read!
Writing for Children
|
