ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the normal development of expressive language, starting with the child’s production of their first words, to early combination of words into phrases, through to the use of complex sentences. It covers the function of language, its form in terms of syntax and morphology and its content. There are many factors that might affect the development of a child’s expressive language including: a sensory impairment, an underlying neurodevelopmental disorder, digital device use, and child-directed speech. The child must learn rules for initiating and maintaining conversation as well as how to modify what they say according to the listener and the situation. It is important that children with a language delay have the opportunity to practise all the types of speech act appropriate to their stage of development. The child starts by labelling the pictures as they are drawn, producing them like successive single-word utterances, and then reads the completed strip as a whole.
