Mental health articles

From 18 months, most toddlers use a number of single words, although they
may not be spoken clearly. They understand a lot of what is said to them, and start using two- to three-word sentences. Between two and three years of age the quantity of speech increases. At this age, toddlers can talk about events in
the ‘here and now’, becoming quite skilled at conversation. Now the toddler
takes turns, speaking and listening, and responds to directions and questions. By
three years, people unfamiliar with the child can understand the child most of
the time, although errors are still made with sounds. During this fourth year, the child makes sentences, tells stories and has a vocabulary of 1500 words.
Between 18 months and two years toddlers begin to use pronouns—‘I’, ‘me’,‘mine’—to refer to the self. They know their own name and can point to themselves when their names are called. For example:
Harper, at 18 months, when asked ‘where is Harper?’ would point to herself with
a huge smile on her face, and imitate, ‘Harper’.
Perhaps more importantly, even before 18 months, toddlers have learnt ‘no’ and can use it effectively, often when their behaviour means ‘yes’. Stern (1985)
discusses the meaning and acquisition of language as new ways of ‘being-with’. Meaning results from interpersonal negotiation between the toddler
and the parent, around what can be agreed upon as shared. ‘And such mutually
negotiated meanings (the relation of thought to word) grow, change, develop
and are struggled over by two people and thus ultimately owned by us’.
In conceptualising the toddler’s acquisition of language as a new way of
being with the parent, rather than solely a major step in the direction of
separation and individuation, the acquisition of language is powerful in
facilitating togetherness (Stern, 1985). Developmentally, the thought or
knowledge is already in the toddler’s mind ready to be linked to a word given to
the child by the parent. Thus, language provides new experiences in
togetherness, a mental relatedness through shared meaning.
Having language means feelings can be labelled and identified. Words acting
as symbols for objects and activities are a means of sharing one’s experience with others.