Ronald Reagan Language Analysis

Language/literacy development "is often defined as a system of symbols, spoken, written, and gestural that enables us to communicate with one another" (Martoz pg. 40). There are two types of language used, receptive and expressive language. Receptive language is defined as "understanding words that are heard" (Martoz pg. 40). Although young children often understand concepts, relationships of actions and words, and words themselves doesn 't mean that the young child has the words and vocabulary to communicate those concepts and words. Expressive language is defined as "words used to verbalize thoughts and feelings" (Martoz pg. 40). This language is closely related to social and cognitive skills. The use of language in a child 's vocabulary often reflect the language that

Reagan’s language/literacy development based on the textbook and checklist suited to his age depicts that Reagan is also in the developmental norm within language. Reagan often uses gestures intentionally, and correctly, more so than words themselves. Reagan says words such as “hi” and “bye”, “yay” and “uhhh ohhh”, and “ball” and “blocks”. Although Reagan communicates more so in gestures does not mean that Reagan does not understand the words that he is told. He responds to conversations by communicating understanding through some words, gestures, and jargon. Reagan often uses jargon, “unintelligible speech; in young children, usually [including] sounds and inflections” (Martoz pg. 26), and nonsense phrases to respond although he understands many words and directions that he cannot express himself. He uses the correct gesture of a wave when saying hi and bye. Reagan also uses sign language in the form of “please”, “more”, and “all done”. At the beginning of the observations Reagan’s words, such as ball blocks, started out as “bbaaaahhhh”, using a sound to stand for more than one object. Through time and development Reagan has started using more sounds and words to communicate and engage in