Pointing at communicative, cognitive, linguistic, and motor skills in preterm and full-term infants at 18 months

Caterina Verganti1, Chiara Suttora2, Verena Frank3

  • 1Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari", University of Bologna, Italy; Chair of Special Education and Therapy in Language and Communication Disorders, University of Würzburg, Germany.

Brain and Language
|October 22, 2026
PubMed

Related Concept Videos

Gestures During Infancy and Toddlerhood01:29

Gestures During Infancy and Toddlerhood

Gestures are nonverbal movements of the hands, arms, or face that allow infants and toddlers to communicate emotions, needs, and intentions before speech develops. Gesture use generally appears before spoken language and decreases as vocabulary expands. For example, an 11-month-old may raise their arms to request being picked up, whereas an 18-month-old may say “up.”Types of GesturesChildren mainly use deictic and representational gestures. Deictic gestures emerge around six months and include...
Hand Control During Infancy and Toddlerhood01:31

Hand Control During Infancy and Toddlerhood

Hand movements during infancy and toddlerhood develop from broad, relatively uncontrolled actions into increasingly precise fine motor skills. This progression depends on nervous system maturation, improved muscle control, and repeated interaction with objects. Early reflexive movements gradually give way to intentional reaching, grasping, object manipulation, and tool use.Early Grasping SkillsNewborns show a strong palmar grasp reflex, automatically closing their fingers when the palm is...
Early Vocalization During Infancy01:24

Early Vocalization During Infancy

Communication in infancy begins with crying, a reflexive and adaptive behavior that signals needs such as hunger, discomfort, or anger. Variations in pitch, pattern, and intensity help caregivers interpret these states, making crying an important survival mechanism during the neonatal period.Emergence of VocalizationsBy about six weeks, infants begin cooing, producing vowel-like sounds, squeals, and gurgles that often indicate contentment. Between six and ten months, cooing develops into...
First Words During Infancy and Toddlerhood: Part 101:26

First Words During Infancy and Toddlerhood: Part 1

Language development in infancy progresses from understanding words to producing meaningful speech. Infants use contextual and social cues to connect sounds with meanings and gradually expand their vocabulary.Word Recognition Before SpeechInfants understand words before they can say them. By about six months, they may look toward a familiar object, such as a banana, when hearing its name. This receptive vocabulary provides a foundation for later speech.First Words and Linguistic SpeechMost...
Motor Skills Development During Early Childhood01:30

Motor Skills Development During Early Childhood

Early childhood is a period of rapid motor development in which children refine gross and fine motor skills. These abilities increase independence and support social interaction, play, and learning.Gross Motor SkillsGross motor skills involve coordinated movements of large muscle groups, including running, jumping, and climbing. By about 2.5 years, most children can jump with both feet. Hopping, which requires greater balance and strength, usually emerges around age 4.Stair climbing also...
Perceiving Language Sounds and Structure During Infancy01:20

Perceiving Language Sounds and Structure During Infancy

Infants are born with a predisposition to perceive and categorize basic linguistic sounds. Early in development, they can discriminate sounds from many languages and detect differences in rhythm and pattern. This sensitivity may begin before birth. Newborns exposed to two languages prenatally can recognize both, indicating that fetal language exposure influences later auditory discrimination.Recognition of Familiar SoundsBy five months, infants show preferences for familiar auditory stimuli,...