Explore how spoken language skills develop.
​​Children​​​​​ communicate using verbal and nonverbal language from birth.
Children communicate with sounds and vocalisations from birth.
Children​ learn new words at an incredibly fast rate.
​​Think of grammar as the tool to make our language more complex.
​Children communicate from birth, and social interaction is a key purpose of language learning.​
Children’s engagement with stories are an important focus of oral language development.
Children learn to make meaning and express ideas through explanations of different concepts and topics.
From 30 months onwards, many children begin to develop more complex language abilities, such as understanding how language works and figurative and humorous language.
Reviewed 14 April 2023