Understand a wide variety of everyday words. Listen and pay attention to short stories, songs, and rhymes. Respond to simple questions. Use words to identify objects. Ask questions and give information.
Children develop language skills from their interactions with others.
Parents' use of language and their responses to children's attempts to communicate guide language learning. For example, caregivers who talk to babies help them recognize that sounds and words are important, even if babies cannot yet understand what is being said. When caregivers respond to babies' babbling and speech-like sounds, they are preparing them to communicate with others. By talking with infants and toddlers, adults help them connect sounds with meanings. Being a can-do kid means being able to talk about what you can do.