Language development in the years before school: a comparison of developmental assets in home and child care settings

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the influences of two settings—home and child care—on the development of children’s speaking and listening skills before they begin formal schooling. We propose that a developmental assets approach, one that focuses on strengths of these settings, can help our understanding of the development of young children’s language skills and in the enrichment of those skills. In bringing together the research of others as well as our own work, we provide evidence of the contributions of the developmental assets in the home and child care settings alone, as well as combined, to preschool children’s language development. Furthermore, these contributions seem to have long‐term impacts. We conclude by discussing the contributions a developmental assets approach can offer to the study of the language development of young children.

Keywords:

• Child care influences
• Developmental assets
• Expressive language
• Home influences
• Receptive language