From gurgling to gregarious Babies can't feed or clean themselves, and they can't walk or talk at birth, Hirsh-Pasek points out. Yet, they're so primed to language, children in many regions pick up two or three different languages with no difficulty. We don't trust them alone. They can't cross the street. We don't let them have sharp objects.
Little ones are helpless in so many ways.
She suggests charting the timing of these words to learn whether Junior is naming his parents, or simply experimenting with arbitrary sounds. Research suggests that this spurt occurs after children have accumulated anywhere from 30 to 100 words. As toddlers begin manipulating grammatical rules, they initiate conversations on the telephone, in the kitchen, with parents or with anyone else who will listen. The simplest answer will do. By age 3, children are language specialists, ready to tackle virtually any social situation.