This book is a practical, easy-to-read guide that shows professionals and parents how to talk to and play with young children in ways that directly support their emerging language skills. With passion, warmth, and wisdom, early education expert Betty Bardige takes readers on a fascinating tour through six stages in a young child's language development--starting with the "baby babbles" of infancy and ending with the early literacy skills of the preschool and kindergarten years. For each stage, readers will boost language skills with fun and easy activities that build on children's natural curiosity; get specific, research-based tips on how to talk to children of diverse backgrounds and temperaments, from encouraging their first words to answering their questions; tune into the questions children ask and the stories they tell--with and without words; understand the typical milestones of language development explore the language challenges children might encounter and how to help.