FW: an onomatopoeic toddler

[Lorraine McCune]

I agree. In a prospective study of 20 children beginning at 8 months 
of age only about 2/3 were using referential words by 16 months. 
Following 10 until they were using "sentences", one made this 
transition at 19 months, one at 31 months with the rest strung out in between.

Lorraine McCune

At 03:15 PM 8/29/2007, Margaret M. Fleck wrote:
>Nelson, Katherine wrote:
>>   ....  However, individual differences and idiosyncratic 
>> approaches to learning to talk are far more prevalent than the 
>> current literature would lead you to believe, and most children 
>> settle on conventional sounds as well as meanings during the third year.
>On the one hand, I'm not sure anyone really believes stories about 
>the extent of the differences until they
>actually have personal experience of a kid talking in full sentences 
>at two years and a comparable kid who is nearly mute at the same age.
>
>To put this in perspective, however, there's about a 6-month spread 
>in when fairly normal kids learn to walk.
>Probably a wider spread in when they learn how to come down a ladder.
>And a multi-year spread in potty training
>and learning standard preschool manual coordination tasks, e.g. 
>holding a pencil effectively, cutting food with a
>knife and fork.   For the non-language tasks, there seem to be 
>differences in inherent ability and also differences
>in what the kid feels inclined to put effort into.
>
>Perhaps we shouldn't be all that surprised by similar variation in 
>language learning.
>
>As a parent, I think there's a disconnect between printed 
>discussions of skill timing and the information that's
>passed around the mommy and teacher network, with the manuals 
>tending to understate the extent of the variation.
>In fact, it's a common topic of discussion among parents, because 
>they all want to reassure themselves that
>their kid isn't the only one who is mute at 2, not toilet trained at 
>3, can't hold a pencil properly at 5, or whatever.
>
>Margaret
>
>