Guidelines for your child's first words
. The first words that children use describe their own experiences and motivations. Ordinarily they do not first talk about adult or school ideas. They have their own first language and appear to develop language best if they are helped to develop that special language before they learn adult or school words. Children learn words and use them in communication best when those words do the following things: 1. Describe what the child is doing and thinking. The people and actions that directly engage the child and the objects and events he genuinely cares about are most likely to be reflected in first words. These words, which represent the child's own opinions and thoughts, are more likely to become a part of his natural vocabulary than are abstract concepts like numbers, letters, colors or other experiences that are primarily important to adults. 2. Describe things he knows. Think of words as things that tell us what the child knows. He is more likely to begin talking, especially on