expands through exposure to reading, which also helps children to learn more difficult grammatical forms, including plurals and pronouns. They also begin to develop metalinguistic awareness which allows them to reflect and more clearly understand the language they use. They therefore start to understand jokes and riddles. Reading is a gateway for learning new vernacular and having confidence in complex word choices while talking with adults. This is an important developmental stage socially and physiologically for the child. School-aged children can easily be influenced through communication and gestures. As children continue to learn communication, they realize the difference between forms of intentions and understand that there are numerous different ways to express the same intent, with different meaning. 10–18 years of age: By the age of 10, the child's cognitive potential has matured and they can participate fully and understand the purpose of their conversations. During this time, the sophistication and effectiveness of communication skills increase and understanding of vocabulary and grammar increases as a result of education. Adolescents go through changes in social interactions and cognitive development that influence the way they communicate. They often use colloquial speech (slang), however, which can increase confusion and misunderstandings. An individual's style of interpersonal communication depends on who they are communicating with. Their relationships change influencing how they communicate with others. During this period, adolescents tend to communicate less with their parents and more with their friends. When discussions are initiated in different channels of communication, attitude and predispositions are key factors that drive the individual to discuss their feelings. This also shows that respect in communication is a trait in interpersonal communication that is built on throughout development. The end of this adolescent stage is the basis for communication in the adult stage. Gender differences Children versus adults Language development and processing begins before birth. Evidence has shown that there is language development occurring antepartum. DeCasper and Spence performed a study in 1986 by having mothers read aloud during the last few weeks of pregnancy. When the infants were born, they were then tested. They were read aloud a story while sucking on a pacifier; the story was either the story read by the mother when the infant was in utero or a new story. The pacifier used was able to determine the rate of sucking that the infant was performing. When the story that the mother had read before was