Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Variability in early communicative development

L Fenson1, P S Dale, J S Reznick

  • 1Developmental Psychology Lab, San Diego State University, San Diego 92182.

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development
|January 1, 1994
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Systematic review of the effectiveness of community-based self-management interventions among primary care COPD patients.

NPJ primary care respiratory medicine·2018
Same author

Predicting educational achievement from DNA.

Molecular psychiatry·2017
Same author

Multi-polygenic score approach to trait prediction.

Molecular psychiatry·2017
Same author

Predicting educational achievement from DNA.

Molecular psychiatry·2016
Same author

How specific is second language-learning ability? A twin study exploring the contributions of first language achievement and intelligence to second language achievement.

Translational psychiatry·2015
Same author

Phenome-wide analysis of genome-wide polygenic scores.

Molecular psychiatry·2015
Same journal

Stability and Change in Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Across Childhood and Adolescence.

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development·2025
Same journal

Dynamic Field Theory of Executive Function: Identifying Early Neurocognitive Markers.

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development·2024
Same journal

Fostering Prosociality in Refugee Children: An Intervention With Rohingya Children.

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development·2024
Same journal

Place-Based Developmental Research: Conceptual and Methodological Advances in Studying Youth Development in Context.

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development·2023
Same journal

Mindset × Context: Schools, Classrooms, and the Unequal Translation of Expectations into Math Achievement.

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development·2023
Same journal

Understanding Heterogeneity in the Impact of Public Preschool Programs.

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development·2023
See all related articles

Child language development shows extensive variability in vocabulary, gestures, and grammar between 8 and 30 months. This study highlights individual differences, challenging the idea of a

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Child Development

Background:

  • Understanding typical communicative development in infants and toddlers is crucial for identifying developmental trajectories.
  • Parental reports are a valuable tool for assessing child development, particularly for large-scale normative studies.
  • The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) provide a standardized method for measuring early language skills.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe the typical course and variability of communicative development in children aged 8 to 30 months.
  • To analyze growth trends in receptive and expressive vocabulary, actions, gestures, morphology, and syntax.
  • To examine intercorrelations among different communicative skills and identify factors influencing development.

Main Methods:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Utilized data from parent reports of 1,803 children using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs).
  • Employed two CDI instruments tailored for infants (8-16 months) and toddlers (16-30 months).
  • Analyzed growth trends across various percentile levels (10th-90th) for key developmental features.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated extensive variability in the rate of lexical, gestural, and grammatical development among children.
  • Found moderate to high intercorrelations among different skills, both concurrently and predictively.
  • Observed small sex differences favoring females (1-2% variance); SES and birth order effects were even smaller.

Conclusions:

  • The wide variability in skill acquisition challenges the concept of a 'modal child'.
  • The CDIs offer reliable and valid criteria for assessing typicality and exceptionality in child language development.
  • Cross-linguistic adaptations of the CDIs enable further exploration of developmental sequences, rates, and variability.