Resources

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Online resources

Title/link Description
UNSW Embryology Embryology online education and research website

Glossary

  • Bilingualism - this is when person understands ands/or uses two or more languages as their ‘mother tongue’. ‘Home’ language or ‘First’ language refers to the language a child hears in the home environment. Both ‘Additional’ language and ‘Second’ language are labels applied to the language a child hears in addition to their first language.

  • Critical periods - like a sensitive period, this is the term used to describe a point in the child’s development where the child is more able and responsive to learning a specific skill and/or ability.

  • Echolalia - this is the repetition of phrases, words or parts of words.

  • Expressive speech/language - this means being able to put thoughts into words and sentences in a way that makes sense. It refers to production, spoken output and how language is decoded.

  • Grammar - this refers to the rules about combining words in phrases and sentences.

  • Graphemes - the written representation of a phoneme. It is a letter of group of letters representing a sound so elephant and bread have the sound or phoneme /e/ but the written pattern or grapheme ea.

  • Holophrastic speech - stage of language acquisition where one word used to convey a more complex idea.

  • Language - is our system of using words to communicate. It includes using words and gestures to say what we mean, and understanding what others say.

  • Memory - short term memory is the ability to hold information for a limited period of time (e.g. a face or a spoken telephone number).

  • Morphemes - smallest units of meanings; prefixes and suffixes.

  • Phonemes - a phoneme is the smallest possible unit of sound we can distinguish. Vowels and consonants are phonemes.

  • Phonology - this is the sound system of the language.

  • Receptive speech/language - this is the ability to understand language heard or read.

  • Semantics - the study of how phonemes and morphemes produce meaning. It refers to the meaning and interpretation of words and sentence structure. It also refers to how we understand meaning.

  • Speech - is making the sounds that become words - the physical act of talking.

  • Syntax - how words combine to form meanings in larger groups like sentences of phrases.

  • Telegraphic speech - this is a short sentence usually following a subject verb object rule (e.g. What you want?)

Books

Leman, P. Bremner, A. Parke, R.D. (2012) Developmental Psychology. McGraw-Hill Education – Europe.
Newcombe, N. (1996) Child Development: change over time. 8th ed HarperCollins College.

Personal print summary

Infants' earliest communication occurs through a dialogue of smiles, crying, sounds, movements and facial expression. Over time the use of gestures and facial expression becomes more sophisticated. The use of language starts with cying, cooing then babbling and eventually the development of patterned speech. First words are uttered between 12 and 15 months and over the next few years the use of language becomes more complex and words are placed together into longer sentences and the use of grammatical devices and tenses helps to elaborate speech. Children begin to follow these rules, but also to interpret them effectively.

By completing this resource you will be able to:

  • Describe the development of language and communication from conception to 5 years old.

This resource was developed by:

Name: Mary Y Brown

Role in Project: Content Author

Qualifications: MMSci Ed, PGCertPT, BSc (Hons), RNCB, RNT.

Previous experience: Mary is an Assistant Professor with the School of Health Sciences teaching communication skills, innovation and recognising culture and diversity through experiential learning. She is a Registered Nurse Child Branch with a specialty in Paediatric Oncology and supporting children with complex needs and their families.


Name: Louise Clarke

Role in Project: Content Author

Qualifications: PGCHE, BSc (Hons) Psychology and Sociology, Diploma in Nursing, RN Child, FHEA.

Previous experience: Louise's clinical career involved a variety of medical and surgical settings and a specialisation in paediatric plastics and cleft lip and palate care. She is currently employed as a Child Health Lecturer at the University of Nottingham involved in teaching communication, interpersonal and leadership skills alongside facilitating the development of clinical practical skills in undergraduate children's nurses.


Name: Carol Hall

Role in Project: Content Author

Qualifications: PhD, RSCN, RGN, RNT, PFHEA.

Previous experience: Carol is an experienced nurse teacher and children's nurse, who worked across a range of children's acute healthcare settings before becoming a ward manager on a teenage care ward for young people with both physical and mental health concerns. Carol is currently an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Education within the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham.


Name: Liz Hilton

Role in Project: Technical Developer

Qualifications: BA (Hons) Graphic Design, BSc (Hons) Biology,

Previous experience: Liz has a wide background in design and E-learning in a wide range of sectors, including industry, the NHS and academic.


Name: Laura Holliday

Role in Project: Content Author

Qualifications: MNursSci, RN Child.

Previous experience: Laura's clinical experience includes children's cardiology, medicine and respiratory. She has previously led a hospital wide preceptorship programme, working within a practice development team. She is currently employed as a Teaching Associate in Child Health at the University of Nottingham.


Name: Lydia Jones

Role in Project: Technical Support and audio manager

Qualifications: BA (Hons) Media Production.

Previous experience: Lydia has worked in the HELM team at the University of Nottingham for 7 years and is currently the e-learning and project development officer. She has many years' experience in project management and audio and video production.


Name: Gill Langmack

Role in Project: Lead Content Author

Qualifications: MSc, PGCHE, BSc (Hons) Nursing, RSCN, RGN, FHEA.

Previous experience: As an experienced Children's Nurse and educator, Gill has extensive experience of nursing children and their families in both acute and critical care areas. Gill is currently lecturing as an Assistant Professor within the University of Nottingham, School of Health Sciences.


Name: Helen Laverty

Role in Project: Principal Content Reviewer

Qualifications: MSc. (Human Development), Cert Ed (FE), RNLD, SFHEA

Previous experience: Helen is an Assistant Professor with the School of Health Sciences & Professional Lead for learning Disability Nursing. Her teaching specialities relate to the concept of ordinariness, human development, and person centred philosophies. She has extensive experience in the development of RLOs. She is a Registered Nurse Learning Disabilities specialising in promoting an ordinary life for children and young people and leadership.


Name: Andrew Lee

Role in Project: Technical Developer

Qualifications: BSc (Hons) Economics.

Previous experience: Andrew has 5 years web development experience working with small businesses, consultancy and app. creation. Twelve years game design experience as senior designer and design lead with oversight of design scripting, level design, scheduling and game mechanics.


Name: Liz Maslen

Role in Project: Project Lead (NCC)

Qualifications: BSc (Hons) Psychology, CMI PGDip.

Previous experience: Liz currently works as the Children's Workforce Development Manager at Nottinghamshire County Council. She has 17 years' experience within the childcare sector, and during this time has worked within voluntary, statutory and private organisations. She has also been involved with the management and delivery of regional and national training programmes aimed at multi-agency frontline practitioners and parent groups.


Name: Roz McCormick

Role in Project: Content Initiator

Qualifications: BA (Hons)

Previous experience: Roz is a qualified probation officer. She has worked in education, criminal justice and training since 1995, and has initiated, developed and delivered a variety of developmental projects with the intention of enabling professionals to work in partnership with service users. She initiated contact with University of Nottingham in pursuit of a rock solid knowledge base upon which to create a robust child development learning platform.


Name: Sally Melling

Role in Project: Content Author

Qualifications: EdD, MPhil, BA (Hons) Nursing, RN (Adult), RN Child, RNT

Previous experience: Sally is an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. She has over 30 years' experience as a children's nurse and educator. She is currently the Professional Lead for children's nursing.


Name: Elisabeth O'Brien

Role in Project: Lead Content Author

Qualifications: MEd, PGCHE, BSc (Hons), RGN, RHV, Obs Cert, FHEA.

Previous experience: Elisabeth worked in neonatal intensive care and a Bone Marrow Transplant unit . After working as Health Visitor in the U.K and abroad she joined the Child Health Team at the University of Nottingham.


Name: Cherry Poussa

Role in Project: Technical team manager

Qualifications: MSc, BSc.

Previous experience: Cherry is Head of Digital Learning Support Services in the School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham with responsibility for IT systems, e-learning and online services and managing the integration of technical platforms to support the processes within these areas. She plays a key part in implementing the HELM strategy and supporting the technical and budgetary aspects of e-learning and digital media research projects.


Name: Mike Taylor

Role in Project: Technical Lead

Qualifications: MSc in Information Technology, PGC in Multi-Media design, BA (Hons) Media and cultural studies.

Previous experience: Mike has worked as a learning technologist for over 10 years at the University of Nottingham. He is currently the Project Development Lead for the HELM team and is working on the development of reusable learning objects (RLOs) both for the school of health sciences and for external projects.


Name: Richard Warr

Role in Project: Technical Implementer

Qualifications: MCIPD.

Previous experience: Originally an Optician, Richard moved into training, initially clinical support and then as a professional examiner. Over the next 25 years he became CIPD qualified and a member of the British Psychological Society. He has supported learners in: personal development, leadership and management, psychometric profiling, customer service and bespoke systems training amongst others. Over the last 4 years Richard has focussed on eLearning design and learning systems management within Nottinghamshire County Council.


Name: Richard Windle

Role in Project: Project Lead and Instructional Designer

Qualifications: PhD, PGCAP, BSc (Hon), PFHEA

Previous experience: Richard is an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. He is currently co-academic lead for the HELM team. As well as leading online curriculum development, his research and development interests include open multimedia learning content pedagogy and reuse, stakeholder involvement in content development and student generated content.


With thanks to the following who reviewed the content of the resources:


University of Nottingham Nursing students (Child field):

Ryan Clarke, Clare Cribdon, Aoife Fehilly, Rosanna Jones, Ruth Jones, Kelly Parker, Simone Portman and Molly Wright


University of Nottingham Lecturers in Health Sciences:

Paula Dawson, Damion McCormick, Alexandra Lewandowska-Smith and Heather Wharrad


Nottingham County Council Family Workers:

Helen Bingley, Susan Bird, Debbie Jesson, Meena Sharma, Dina Vitelli and Sharon Warman


With Thanks to:

The young people their families and colleagues who have provided audio and visual resources.

James Henderson, Thomas Stackpoole and Stathis Konstantinidis who provided additional audio narration for these resources.

Kirstie Coolin, Simon Riley and Nicholas Whiting for additional technical support.

Learning outcomes

By completing this resource you will be able to:

  • Describe the development of language and communication from conception to 5 years old.

Copyright statement

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