The period from birth to age three is considered the most critical developmental stage in Montessori education. We discussed language development during this period from a more scientific perspective.
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share your comments!
Profile
Yati Obara
Editor-in-Chief, Scientific Montessori
Based in Japan, born in 1989. CEO of Motherhand and Co-Director of the nonprofit think tank Polymath Research. Holds an M.Eng. and is an AMI-certified teacher. Focused on Montessori developmental theory and AI. Mother of two.
Hiro Obara
Publisher, Scientific Montessori
Based in Japan, born in 1990. CEO of StudyX and Co-Director of the nonprofit think tank Polymath Research. Works as a software developer and game designer. Father of two.
A bold hypothesis regarding the history of human language development, the brain, the relationship between apes and birds, and ASD.
Yati
Today’s topic is “language development.” In Montessori education, brain development and language development are understood as connected. The basic idea is to prepare the environment according to this development. For example, the “sensitive period for spoken language” introduced in the previous issue begins at 7 months of fetal age, around 26 to 28 weeks of pregnancy, and the basis for this is that myelination progresses in the brainstem during this period and the fetus’s auditory function begins to work in earnest. That’s why we’re encouraged to talk to the baby in the womb.
Hiro
Right. What’s the most important thing for language development in ages 0 to 3?
Yati
What I realized when learning Montessori education is that the sensitive period for order forms the foundation for language acquisition. Around age 2, children become sensitive to set ways of doing things, routines, and things being in their designated places. I think these become the foundation for naturally understanding and using the rules in language too.
Hiro
So what is language for humans?
Yati
It’s what we speak and write.
Hiro
For ages 0 to 3, very few children communicate through writing, so I think body language and spoken language are what we mean by “language” during this period.
Yati
That’s true. Crying, laughing, pointing. Even babies try to communicate their intentions. And while they look at picture books, they don’t focus on the text.
Hiro
Right. When we talk about language, it can actually be divided into body language, spoken language, and written language. Body language is something we become able to use somewhat instinctively. After that, we acquire spoken language, then written language. Language ability develops in that order. This order probably doesn’t change for any language.
Yati
I see. So you can listen and speak before you can write and read.
Hiro
It’s so obvious that no one thinks about it, but I think understanding this is fundamental to language development. Spoken language is acquired first, then written language.
Yati
Right. What changes when you’re aware of this?
Hiro
For example, during the 3 to 6 age period when written language is being acquired, children make mistakes like spelling “said” as “sed” or “night” as “nite,” writing words exactly as they sound. If you understand that written language is acquired after spoken language, you don’t need to correct these mistakes.
Yati
What do you mean?
Hiro
They’re just writing down spoken language. They’re in the middle of acquiring written language, so you can leave it alone. For example, even if a child says “pasghetti” instead of “spaghetti,” it will naturally become “spaghetti” without adults correcting them. Correcting them each time only damages the child’s self-esteem, so I’d like to leave them be until they self-correct.
Yati
Right. In Montessori education principles too, the idea is that “all errors should be noticed and corrected by oneself.” However, there is the point that adults shouldn’t imitate “pasghetti” just because it’s cute. They should speak correctly.
Hiro
So serious! [laughs] Don’t think about it so seriously. Just try to make conversations more fun, right? It’s a one-time thing. That period.
Yati
I didn’t talk much with my parents, and at school I had little time to talk freely, so my vocabulary is poor and I can’t make my stories interesting.
Hiro
So, about human language acquisition. When we look at Homo habilis fossil skulls, we can see that Broca’s area is prominent. Broca’s area is the part of the brain that controls speech production, located in the left frontal lobe. It’s called the motor speech center. It’s named after the French neurologist Broca, who reported cases of aphasia in patients with damage to this area. When Broca’s area is damaged, you can understand the meaning of spoken language and have an idea of what you want to say in response, but you cannot put what you want to say into words. Speech isn’t very fluent, and rhythm and stress become inaccurate.
Yati
How is this relevant?
Hiro
We know that Broca’s area is a brain region related to language, speaking and writing, but interestingly, as the term “motor” suggests, it’s also activated when moving the hands with intention.
Yati
So it activates even when doing craftwork silently, without using language?
Hiro
Yes. Brain regions including Broca’s area are activated by hand movements during work and by observing one’s own hands. It’s not just a speech production center. It’s involved in understanding the meaning of hand movements and in verbalization without speech. For example, when observing piano playing hand movements, Broca’s area activates when viewing unfamiliar melodic movements.
Yati
How should we interpret this?
Hiro
Essentially, this is probably a region for understanding hand movements, and as this region develops, we become able to speak words as well.
Yati
I see.
Hiro
Anthropologically, Homo habilis was the first human species discovered with stone tools, called Oldowan tools, simply chipped stones. They’re said to have used these to scrape meat from animal carcasses. Besides stone tools, sticks have also been excavated, showing they made and used tools. By the way, “Homo habilis” means “handy man.”
Yati
So Homo habilis used tools and also spoke?
Hiro
It’s thought they couldn’t speak. There are various theories that speaking began with Homo erectus. Since sounds can’t be excavated, we can only estimate from archaeological evidence. When analyzing Homo habilis skull fossils, as I mentioned, the Broca’s area in the prefrontal cortex shows a bulge, so the beginning of human language development is thought to have started there. In any case, there’s a flow: hands develop, tools are made, speech becomes possible, hands develop further, tools develop, and speech becomes more refined.
Yati
We now know that birds also have language and grammar, but do birds have a brain region corresponding to Broca’s area? Birds don’t use hands, so how did their language develop to the point of having grammar?
Hiro
Bird wings are arms, right? So if we include arms as hands, I think a Broca’s area like region probably activates when flying. If birds learn to fly through observation and imitation, the logic of language development might be the same.
Yati
Looking into it, birds do acquire flight through observation and imitation. Also, regarding tools, New Caledonian crows use wooden sticks to get insects and combine parts to make tools. And it seems birds do have brain regions corresponding to Broca’s area. Broca’s area is included in what’s called mirror neurons. Those capable of learning through imitation include primates including humans, birds, and cetaceans, which have mirror neurons. It seems that if you have language, you definitely have mirror neurons, but having mirror neurons doesn’t necessarily mean you have language.
Hiro
I see. What I thought about with the mirror neuron discussion is that for humans, being able to “imitate hand movements” seems to have a major influence on acquiring spoken language.
Yati
Right.
Hiro
This is at the hypothesis stage, but there are research reports that ASD, Asperger syndrome, shows structural characteristics in Broca’s area that differ from neurotypical individuals. Personally, I suspect it’s a language area issue.
Yati
If we consider that mirror neurons don’t function well, the symptoms reported in ASD do make sense. Not being able to empathize, not being able to understand others’ emotions, and so on.
Hiro
Empathizing, understanding emotions, understanding intentions, motor imitation. These are gifts of mirror neurons.
Yati
I’m aware that I have ASD, and it’s interesting to start understanding where the problems might have been in my early childhood.
Hiro
Sesame Street, children’s TV shows, hand play songs. In a sense, they’re developing Broca’s area through imitation of hand movements.
Yati
There’s a photo of a baby macaque imitating a human sticking out its tongue, and apparently this is only seen for a few days. In other words, there’s a critical period. There might be a critical period for the human Broca’s area too.
Hiro
Right. That’s why the environment from ages 0 to 3 might influence one’s entire life.
Yati
In Montessori environments, we do what’s called a “presentation,” showing hand movements slowly so even small children can imitate them. By showing hand movements slowly, even 1 year olds can dress and undress, cook, clean, and do laundry.
Hiro
So moving your hands slowly is important. It’s activating the child’s Broca’s area. Also, Broca’s area is the region for verbal communication, located in the left prefrontal cortex. Symmetrically, brain science research has revealed that the right prefrontal cortex is involved in nonverbal communication, understanding emotions from facial expressions and such. It’s been found that children’s prefrontal cortex is highly activated when talking with parents, but when talking with unfamiliar people, the right prefrontal cortex isn’t activated as much. By the way, it’s known that in ASD, the left right network structure of the brain is asymmetric. From this, I infer that very early daycare use might contribute significantly to ASD.
Yati
I was put in daycare before age 1, so this hypothesis concerns me greatly. And the difference in prefrontal cortex activation between parents and strangers is shocking. This scientifically demonstrates the importance of time spent with parents and reading aloud to children.
