Language Development and Communication (LDC)

Other North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development sets

• Approaches to Play and Learning (APL)
• Cognitive Development (CD)
• Emotional and Social Development (ESD)
• Health and Physical Development (HPD)

Show understanding of increasingly complex sentences.LDC-1k

With prompting and support, respond to requests for information or action.LDC-1l

Follow simple multistep directions with visual cues if needed.LDC-1m

Show understanding of increasingly complex sentences. LDC-1n

Respond to requests for information or action.LDC-1o

Follow more detailed multistep directions.LDC-1p

Demonstrate an understanding that people communicate in many ways (gestures, facial expressions, multiple spoken languages, sign language, augmentative communication).LDC-2i

Initiate and carry on conversations, and ask questions about things that interest them.LDC-2j

With prompting and support, make comments and ask questions related to the topic of discussion.LDC-2k

Express an understanding that people communicate in many ways (gestures, facial expressions, multiple spoken languages, sign language, and augmentative communication).LDC-2l

Initiate and carry on conversations that involve multiple back and forth communications or turns between the persons involved in the conversation. LDC-2m

Initiate and participate in conversations related to interests of their own or the persons they are communicating with. LDC-2n

Participate in a group discussion, making comments and asking questions related to the topic.LDC-2o

Appreciate and use humor.LDC-2p

Answer longer questions using more detail.LDC-3d

Use sentences or questions to ask for things (people, actions, objects, pets) or gain information.LDC-3e

Answer more complex questions with more explanation (“I didn’t like camping out because it rained.” “Emily is my friend because she’s nice to me.”). LDC-3f

Ask specific questions to learn more about their world, understand tasks, and solve problems.LDC-3g

Communicate messages with expression, tone, and inflection appropriate to the situation.LDC-4h

Speak clearly enough to be understood by familiar adults and children.LDC-4i

Use language and nonverbal cues to communicate thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and intentions.LDC-4j

Adapt their communication to meet social expectations (speak quietly in library, speak politely to older relative).LDC-4k

Speak clearly enough to be understood by most people. LDC-4l

Talk to themselves and others about what they are “working on,” what they are doing, routines, and events of the day. LDC-5d

Describe experiences and create or retell short narratives.LDC-5e

Describe experiences and create and/or retell longer narratives.LDC-5f

Communicate in longer sentences and use more conventional grammar in their home language (plurals, tenses, prepositions).LDC-6g

Make grammatical errors that follow language rules (say, “mouses” instead of “mice”). LDC-6h

Speak in full sentences that are grammatically correct most of the time.LDC-6i

Repeat familiar songs, chants, or rhymes.LDC-7k

Use more than one word for the same object and use words for parts of objects (e.g., dog, beagle, Rover; arm, leg).LDC-7l

Make up names for things using words they know (e.g., dog doctor for veterinarian).LDC-7m

Use many kinds of cues in the environment to figure out what words mean.LDC-7n

Repeat familiar songs, chants, or rhymes.LDC-7o

Use a growing vocabulary that includes many different kinds of words to express ideas clearly. LDC-7p

Infer the meaning of different kinds of new words from the context in which they are used (for example, hear “sandals” and “boots” used to describe two pairs of shoes, and infer that the unfamiliar shoes must be sandals because they know that the other pair of shoes are boots).LDC-7q

Engage in reading behaviors independently (choose books, turn pages but not always in order, tell the story).  LDC-8j

Show an interest in books, other print, and readingrelated activities.LDC-8k

Listen to and discuss storybooks, simple information books, and poetry.LDC-8l

Engage in reading behaviors independently with increased focus for longer periods of time.LDC-8m

Use and share books and print in their play.LDC-8n

Listen to and discuss increasingly complex storybooks, information books, and poetry.LDC-8o

Imitate the special language in storybooks and story dialogue with some accuracy and detail. LDC-9i

With prompting and support, use books and other media that communicate information to learn about the world by looking at pictures, asking questions, and talking about the information.LDC-9j

Use their knowledge of the world (what things are, how things work) to make sense of stories and information texts. LDC-9k

Relate personal experiences to events described in familiar books, with prompting and support.LDC-9l

Ask questions about a story or the information in a book.LDC-9m

With prompting and support, discuss storybooks by responding to questions about what is happening and predicting what will happen next.LDC-9n

Imitate the special language in storybooks and story dialogue with accuracy and detail.LDC-9o

Use informational texts and other media to learn about the world, and infer from illustrations, ask questions and talk about the information. LDC-9p

Use knowledge of the world to make sense of more challenging texts. LDC-9q

Relate personal experiences to an increasing variety of events described in familiar and new books.LDC-9r

Ask more focused and detailed questions about a story or the information in a book. LDC-9s

Discuss storybooks by responding to questions about what is happening and predicting what will happen next.LDC-9t

Hold a book upright while turning pages one by one front to back, but not always in order.LDC-10h

With prompting and support, recognize print occurs in different forms and is used for a variety of functions (sign naming block structure, “message” on card for family member).LDC-10i

Demonstrate an understanding that print can tell people what to do (such as print and symbols to organize classroom activities—where to store things, when they will have a turn).LDC-10j

Hold a book upright while turning pages one by one from front to back.LDC-10k

Recognize print in different forms for a variety of functions (writing message to friend, pointing to print and saying, “Those words tell the story.”). LDC-10l

Recognize print and symbols used to organize classroom activities and show understanding of their meaning (put toys in box with correct symbol and name; check sign-up sheet for popular activity; check schedule to learn next activity).LDC-10m

With prompting and support, run their finger under or over print as they pretend to read text.LDC-10n

Demonstrate understanding of some basic print conventions (the concept of what a letter is, the concept of words, directionality of print).LDC-10o

Identify their name and the names of some friends when they see them in print.LDC-10p

Participate in experiences with songs, poems, and books that have rhyme and wordplay, and learn words well enough to complete refrains and fill in missing words and sounds.LDC-11f

Repeat rhythmic patterns in poems and songs using words, clapping, marching, and/or using instruments.LDC-11g

Play with the sounds of language and begin to identify rhymes (make up silly-sounding words, repeat rhyming words). LDC-11h

Enjoy rhymes and wordplay, and sometimes add their own variations.LDC-11i

Repeat a variety of rhythmic patterns in poems and songs using words, clapping, marching, and/or instruments to repeat the rhythm or beat syllables.LDC-11j

Play with the sounds of language, identify a variety of rhymes, create some rhymes, and recognize the first sounds in some words.LDC-11k

Associate sounds with specific words, such as awareness that different words begin with the same sound LDC-11l

Demonstrate an interest in learning the alphabet. LDC-12b

Recognize letters of the alphabet as a special category of print, different from pictures, shapes, and numerals.LDC-12c

Recognize and name some letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.LDC-12d

Demonstrate an interest in learning the alphabet.LDC-12e

Show they know that letters function to represent sounds in spoken words.LDC-12f

Recognize and name several letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name and in the names of others who are important to them. LDC-12g

Make some sound-to-letter matches, using letter name knowledge (notice the letter B with picture of ball and say, “Ball”; say, “ A-a-apple.”).LDC-12h

Associate sounds with the letters at the beginning of some words, such as awareness that two words begin with the same letter and the same sound.LDC-12i

Represent thoughts and ideas through marks, scribbles, drawings, and paintings (draw a picture of something they did during the day, indicate what they want for lunch with a mark under the picture of the food they want).LDC-13c

With prompting and support, communicate their thoughts for an adult to write.LDC-13d

Engage in writing behaviors that imitate real-life situations (e.g., make marks to take food order during pretend restaurant play).LDC-13e

Represent thoughts and ideas in drawings and by writing letters or letter-like forms.LDC-13f

Communicate their thoughts for an adult to write.LDC-13g

Independently engage in writing behaviors for various purposes (e.g., write symbols or letters for names, use materials at writing center, write lists with symbols/letters in pretend play, write messages that include letters or symbols).LDC-13h

Begin to use letters and approximations of letters to write their name.LC-14a

Show they know that written words are made up of particular letters (point to the first letter of their own name, find the first letter of their own name in a list of letters).LC-14b

Use known letters and approximations of letters to write their own name and some familiar words.LC-14c

Try to connect the sounds in a spoken word with letters in the written word (write “M” and say, “This is Mommy.”). LC-14d

Use a variety of writing tools and materials with purpose and control (pencils, chalk, markers, crayons, paintbrushes, finger paint, computers). LC-15f

Make marks they call “writing” that look different from drawings (vertical series of marks for a “grocery list,” horizontal line of marks for a “story”). LC-15g

Play with writing letters and make letter-like forms.LC-15h

Use a variety of writing tools and materials with increasing precision.LC-15i

Imitate adult writing conventions that they have observed (write groups of letter-like forms separated by spaces, try to write on a line, press Enter key on computer after typing a series of “words”).LC-15j

Use some conventional letters in their writing.LC-15k