Language is power; it is not just the mechanism by which we communicate, think and express our emotions and ideas; it shapes us into the culture we are born into. It goes without saying that language delay affects holistic development, leading to isolation, social withdrawal and poor academic performance. Children develop language in stages, the prelinguistic stage or the age from birth to 1 year is the stage where babies communicate by crying, cooing. and when making gestures, babies aged 2 months will pause as if to imitate a “conversation”. The second stage is the one-word stage aged 1 year to 18 months; This is usually where children say their first word, but they will continue to babble throughout this stage. They also learn how to answer questions and at the end of this stage they should have a vocabulary of around 50 words. The third stage covers the age range of 18 months to 3 years, where children use short, simple sentences known as telegraphic speech; they may speak in a grammatical context, for example "mommy juice", but they oversimplify words such as using the word "dog" for cats and dogs or using the word "feet" instead of feet. Two- or three-word sentences are usually formed around age two. By age 5, children are able to use more complex adult-like conversations, such as conjunctions, and their vocabulary should be around 2,000 words and they should be able to make up nursery rhymes , songs and jokes. .By age six, they should also be able to change their speech depending on who they are talking to. (Mukherji et al 2000)During the pre-linguistic phase, Isabelle's language was interrupted because she was hidden from society and her mother was "both deaf and mute", so Isabelle...... middle of paper.....linguistic therapist. Available: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/default.aspx?id=288. Last accessed February 13, 2012. Hobday, R. (1999). How sunlight can prevent serious health problems. Available: http://lifestylelaboratory.com/articles/hobday/sunlight-prevent-problems.html. Last accessed February 16, 2012. Mukherji, P et al (2000). Understanding children's language and literacy. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes. 44-54. Trevarthen, C. (2011). Video bank: Professor Colwyn Trevarthen: Relations. Available: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/video/p/video_tcm4637506.asp?strReferringChannel=search&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-615801-64. Last accessed February 10, 2012. Trevarthen, C et al. (2003). Infantile intersubjectivity: research, theory and clinical applications. Available: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1469-7610.00701/pdf. Last seen on February 16 2012.