Noting that the early years of a child's life are the most critical for speech and language development and that parents are the child's primary language role model, this book is designed to help parents become knowledgeable on the topic of child language development during their first six years. Chapter 1 covers the infant's first year and the skills being developed to prepare for the first spoken words. Chapter 2 discusses the baby's first words during the second year of life, identified as a critical period of development for children and one that depicts the complex skill of language in many ways. Chapter 3 provides a wealth of information about the toddler's movement from one-word sentences to multi-word sentences. Chapter 4 discusses the language development of five- and six-year-olds, focusing on the completion of the major developmental portion of learning about spoken language and learning the foundation skills for written language. Chapters 5 through 8 present information on various influences on language development: gender, birth order, culture, media, and child care. Chapter 9 provides suggestions for parents if they suspect their child has a language delay. (Contains 85 references.) (KB)