Dear concerned mom,
I see that you have written to me about how you are concerned that your child is delayed in his/her language skills. Now i do not know what "stage" your child is at but i am sure that he/she is at the right level in his/her language skills. Every child learns at his/her pace. Just because you do not think he/she is at the right level does mean he/she is not.
There are many things that influence a childs ability to learn language. The first one I am going to talk about are your genes.Your genes design the mechanisms for your language and experiance modifies your childs brain. For example, if your child grew up in Paris your child will speak French (environment), but not if your child is a cat (genes matter).
Another example, is that i have kind of disscued is the environment or social-cultural. Social-cultural for example, is your spoken language heard. Spoken language provides input to the brain. The brains mechanisms for understanding and producing language are triggered during your child's critical period for language.
To help your child speak to him/her. A child that is not exposed to spoken or a signed language during their early years they lose their abilty to master any other language. When a young childs brain does not learn any language, its language learning ability capacity never fully develops. So to help your child you just need to surround your child with lanuage. Talk to you child as much as you can. Get your child into a language program. Like Hooked on Phonics. I was on that program and it helped me learn. When i was young my mother was in the same shoes as you. Just make sure your child is enjoying the program.
I hope that i have helped you with your delamia. If you need more information please write back and i will try to answer your question. Have a nice day and best wishes to you and your child.
Sincerly, Kendra Fischer