How do children construct language? In this episode of Beyond Words, Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, welcomes Michael Tomasello, PhD, to discuss the social and cognitive foundations of language development. Drawing from his latest book, Agency and Cognitive Development, Dr. Tomasello explains why children are active participants in their own learning, building language through shared experiences, communicative intentions, joint attention, and meaningful interactions with others.
Together, they explore the concepts of agency, joint attention, shared intentionality, imitation, gesture, and usage-based language acquisition, examining how these processes shape cognitive and language development from infancy through early childhood. The discussion highlights key developmental transitions, including the emergence of joint attention and collaborative communication around 9 months of age and the growing understanding of social conventions, norms, and collective agency around age 3. SLPs will gain valuable insights into how these developmental principles can inform speech-language assessment, intervention, and our understanding of how children construct language through everyday social experiences.
Together, they explore the concepts of agency, joint attention, shared intentionality, imitation, gesture, and usage-based language acquisition, examining how these processes shape cognitive and language development from infancy through early childhood. The discussion highlights key developmental transitions, including the emergence of joint attention and collaborative communication around 9 months of age and the growing understanding of social conventions, norms, and collective agency around age 3. SLPs will gain valuable insights into how these developmental principles can inform speech-language assessment, intervention, and our understanding of how children construct language through everyday social experiences.
