Question

Sam's 8-month-old daughter, Miranda, is starting to learn several new words. Sam confides in you that he is worried that Miranda is struggling to learn certain action words, or verbs. What do you tell him to reassure him?

A) This is normal; children are rapidly learning new words in this stage. Just give Miranda time.
B) All babies are different. Don't be so hard on her, she's only 8 months old.
C) Maybe it's her school. Just try reading to her more after school.
D) This is not surprising because Miranda is normal in showing a noun-bias. Other words will be remembered relatively slower at this stage.

Answer 1

Sam's concerns about his 8-month-old daughter struggling to learn verbs are unfounded, as this is part of normal language development for infants, including a natural noun bias at this stage. Language acquisition rapidly progresses from nine months to three years, and a significant vocabulary spurt often occurs in early childhood where children can learn many new words quickly.

Step-by-step explanation:

You can reassure Sam that what he's observing with his 8-month-old daughter, Miranda, learning new words is quite typical for her age. Infants generally start to babble around 6 months and begin to say words like "mama" or "dada." At about 8 months, children like Miranda are expected to start understanding the concept of object permanence and may begin responding to simple verbal requests. Notably, children's early vocabulary often consists predominantly of nouns related to familiar objects or events.

Moreover, at this stage, they might not produce many action words or verbs, which is also normal. This phenomenon is often referred to as a "noun bias" and is observed nearly universally among young children learning language.

Language acquisition is a rapid process taking place roughly between the ages of nine months and three years, with children learning just by being exposed to spoken language. By the time toddlers reach two years of age, they may use up to 200 words, and by three, their vocabulary could grow to approximately 1,000 words, including action words.

By staying supportive and patient, Sam will likely see Miranda's vocabulary expand, including her use of verbs, as she grows older. Children often exhibit a significant vocabulary spurt during their early childhood years, which could involve learning up to 20 new words per week, but the rate can vary from child to child.