Intended for parents and others caring for young children, this viewer's guide and videotape leads adults along the path of child's language acquisition and demonstrates how to use a language-rich environment to communicate with infants, toddlers, and preschool children in ways to foster language development. The first half of the guide presents an overview of the videotape and specific viewing objectives. Suggested discussion questions and research activities are also given. The remainder of the guide highlights stages in language development, elements of child-directed speech or "baby talk," and potential problems in language development. The accompanying videotape elaborates on 6 stages of language development, from early sound and babbling to core grammatical and vocabulary development, and discusses factors that may influence this development, such as personality or parenting styles. The remainder of the videotape demonstrates several ways parents and caregivers can help young children develop language: child-directed speech or "baby talk"; indirect correction of child's grammatical errors; language tour guide (e.g., naming articles in the grocery store or while dressing); language play; interactive reading; attention to environmental print; rhyming; and word games; moderate use of television; improving interactions, and most importantly, making time to talk with the child. (HTH)