Inquiry: Are Late Talkers Early Walkers (& vice versa)?

[John D. Bonvillian]

Dear Jussi Niemi,
	This information may not be precisely what you
need, but I have examined the onset of language and motor
milestones in children (hearing and deaf)learning American
Sign Language as their first language from their deaf
parents.  In general, those children who achieved early
language milestones at a younger age were those children
who attained subsequent milestones at a younger age.
Similarly, those children who attained early motor
milestones at a younger age typically were those children
who achieved subsequent motor milestones at a younger age.
There was no discernible relationship between achievement
of motor milestones and attainment of language milestones.
Thus, early language development predicted later language
development and early motor development predicted
subsequent motor development, but motor and language
development were not related.
	If you will send me your address, I will be happy
to send you a copy of this paper.
                          Sincerely,
                          John Bonvillian
On Tue, 09 Apr 2002 13:25:46 +0300 Jussi Niemi
<Jussi.Niemi at joensuu.fi> wrote:
>
> Dear Recipients of the Info-Childes List:
>
> An old "wisdom" claims that children with a relatively early onset (and
> subsequent fast pace?) of L1 acquisition are less skilled in their bodily
> motor functions (e.g. in standing upright, walking) than children with a
> more balanced language and motor path of development, not to speak of the
> mirror images of these "early talkers", viz., the "early walkers", who are
> claimed to be linguistically delayed. This type of "dissociation" would --
> I think -- run counter to Piagetian views of language development in
> ontogeny, but this type of thinking does prevail outside the academic world.
>
> In order to say anything more definite about this to the person who
> specifically asked me about this asymmetry, do any of the members of the
> Info-Childes List know a systematic study of this topic? (if not, somebody
> should check the files of the infant and maternity care clinics in
> countries where pregnant women and their eventual offspring have for
> decades been systematically monitored for these variables, e.g. in the
> Nordic Countries).
>
> I would be grateful for any hint of a study on this issue, and I will post
> on our List -- as is the custom -- the synopsis of the results of my inquiry.
>
>
> --Jussi Niemi
>
> jussi.niemi at joensuu.fi
>
>
> Jussi Niemi, PhD
> Professor
> Linguistics
> University of Joensuu
> FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland
> Phones:	+358-13-251 4306 (office)
> 	+358-13-251 3198 (Linguistics Lab), +358-50-3034337 (Linguistics mobile)
> 	+358-13-228723 (home), +358-40-5477382 (home mobile)
> Fax:	+358-13-251 4211
> jussi.niemi at joensuu.fi
> http://cc.joensuu.fi/linguistics
>
>