# Language Explosion



## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

My DD has gone from saying maybe 50 words to literally impossible to count in a little over 2 months. We are now having full blown conversations. She is telling me what she did today, etc. *This is only 2 months after communication solely derived from signing, pointing, whining, and a few words grunted.*

Although she still uses a couple word phrases here and there she is consistently using 4 word sentences and I have counted up to 10 words in a sentence.

But, probably most remarkable is the grammar she has acquired so quickly. I won't bore you with the details, but for example she just walked up to me with a second shirt over her eyes and said, "I don't see mama". A couple weeks ago it might have been, "[DD's name] no see mama". (still not, "I don't see you" though.) 2 months ago, it would have been <grunt> "hat"...

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So, yeah. This was definitely an explosion of language acquisition. This fascinates me to no end. I don't think this is uncommon. I have heard the phrase a bunch. But I'd love to hear other stories and details. I would like to add that DD was not an early early talker. She had only a couple of words before her first birthday and slowly added to that for the next 6 months or so. Then we skipped into the hundreds (thousands?). It was not gradual to say the least.

This also might be encouraging for those discouraged about their DC's current language trajectory.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

That's so cool. And so interesting that it happened so quickly. I'm really looking forward to having conversations that don't feel like reading vocabulary lists.









Here are somethings I've been wondering might mean she's getting close to the language explosion, mind telling me if you noticed them with your dd?

Actually caring about stories
Enjoying hearing stories about her day
Responding to "first we'll do X, then Y, then it's time for Z"
Having small conversations like "where's daddy?" "Daddy's at work." "daddy work?"


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## bluejaunte (Dec 1, 2007)




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## nelson (Aug 12, 2008)

I am curious ellemenope, how old is your dd? My ds is 23 months, and has gone from not saying hardly anything to a lot more single words and maybe sometimes "More, baby," and "bye, bye, Mamma" but I still am wondering if he'll have an "explosion" or just slowly build into sentences. I guess we will see...


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## katmann (Oct 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nelson* 
I am curious ellemenope, how old is your dd?

Me, too. My DS is 14 mos, and signing a lot (maybe 10 gestures or so), so we communicate fairly well. He also evidently understands much of what we say, based on his reactions. For example, we can say, "What are we going to do after dinner?" and he'll make the sign for bath. He's only done that once or twice, but we were really impressed, since it's not like we had been practicing it. But he has no oral language at all. He says "Ba" for mama and that's about it. Oh, and "Ca" for both cat and car, we think.

Good thread.


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## Thalia (Apr 9, 2003)

Yup, it's very common. For lots of kids it happens between 18 and 24 months. We'd been writing down all of DD's words and suddenly, it became impossible to keep track because they were coming so fast. Enjoy it!


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

DS (22.5 mos) has been a bit...um... unconventional in his language acquisition. He had a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE vocabulary (uncountable) before he even started combining two words into little mini-sentences. He also used both the plural and possessive "-s" before combining things into sentences. I didn't believe it myself, but "tested" him and he could identify "doggie" and "doggies," and would answer "Whose toys is this?" with "Isaac's!" And yet... no sentences. It didn't much matter because his vocab was so extensive he could get most simple points across without combining words







.

His recent 'explosion' has been from using a large, varied, and specific (could differentiate between cars and trucks at the age of 14 months and knew all colors by 19 months) vocabulary in isolation or in two-word phrases, to using a large, varied, and specific vocabulary in complex sentences.

He's still not one to trouble himself with "rules," though. You know how some kids think things out and wait until they can say it "correctly?" Not so much this one. He'll talk around in long, complex, not-too-thought-out circles to get his point across. Example: "Want one. Cracker, big brown circle cracker. Peanut butter on it. Want peanut butter on it. Isaac sit the chair eat it."

Now, if you look, he actually has the makings of two concise, almost-grammatically correct sentences (omissions in parentheses): "(I) Want a big brown circle cracker (with) peanut butter on it. Isaac sit (on) the chair (and) eat it." But he's not one to sit and think about how things should come out so he just goes on and on and on until he's gotten out everything he wants to say







.

Perhaps it's because I'm a language geek by nature, but I find the whole thing just fascinating. I want to record his language patterns and study them in detail.


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## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Thalia* 
Yup, it's very common. For lots of kids it happens between 18 and 24 months. We'd been writing down all of DD's words and suddenly, it became impossible to keep track because they were coming so fast. Enjoy it!

Well, DD is 21 months. But, I would broaden that range to at least 30 months. But, I am not so much concerned with age at which language explodes, although that is interesting, too.

I find the speed of language acquisition once this explosion occurs to be just awesome, whatever age the child is. (This from someone who has studied 3 foreign languages as an adult.) And, yes it is so fun. I am totally enjoying it.

As for signals of impending language explosion. That is hard. I really did not see this coming. She started to learn more and more words right as she started putting words together. Curiously, she learned nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and prepositions simultaneously. This might be important. Sentences were just overnight.


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## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Here are somethings I've been wondering might mean she's getting close to the language explosion, mind telling me if you noticed them with your dd?

Actually caring about stories
Enjoying hearing stories about her day
Responding to "first we'll do X, then Y, then it's time for Z"
Having small conversations like "where's daddy?" "Daddy's at work." "daddy work?"

I would say that these were definatley things DD was doing right before...

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nelson* 
I am curious ellemenope, how old is your dd? My ds is 23 months, and has gone from not saying hardly anything to a lot more single words and maybe sometimes "More, baby," and "bye, bye, Mamma" but I still am wondering if he'll have an "explosion" or just slowly build into sentences. I guess we will see...

He is just gonna keep you on your toes. I am also interested about stories of kids who bypass a language explosion for a slow and steady rate of acuisition.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *katmann* 
Me, too. My DS is 14 mos, and signing a lot (maybe 10 gestures or so), so we communicate fairly well. He also evidently understands much of what we say, based on his reactions. For example, we can say, "What are we going to do after dinner?" and he'll make the sign for bath. He's only done that once or twice, but we were really impressed, since it's not like we had been practicing it. But he has no oral language at all. He says "Ba" for mama and that's about it. Oh, and "Ca" for both cat and car, we think.

Good thread.









That is what DD did before she said anything. And, signing is great. DD started combining signs the same week she started combining words. In fact her first combo was a sign-word. That was shortly followed by a word-word-sign-word. She took off from there.


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## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blizzard_babe* 
DS (22.5 mos) has been a bit...um... unconventional in his language acquisition. He had a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE vocabulary (uncountable) before he even started combining two words into little mini-sentences. He also used both the plural and possessive "-s" before combining things into sentences. I didn't believe it myself, but "tested" him and he could identify "doggie" and "doggies," and would answer "Whose toys is this?" with "Isaac's!" And yet... no sentences. It didn't much matter because his vocab was so extensive he could get most simple points across without combining words







.

His recent 'explosion' has been from using a large, varied, and specific (could differentiate between cars and trucks at the age of 14 months and knew all colors by 19 months) vocabulary in isolation or in two-word phrases, to using a large, varied, and specific vocabulary in complex sentences.

He's still not one to trouble himself with "rules," though. You know how some kids think things out and wait until they can say it "correctly?" Not so much this one. He'll talk around in long, complex, not-too-thought-out circles to get his point across. Example: "Want one. Cracker, big brown circle cracker. Peanut butter on it. Want peanut butter on it. Isaac sit the chair eat it."

Now, if you look, he actually has the makings of two concise, almost-grammatically correct sentences (omissions in parentheses): "(I) Want a big brown circle cracker (with) peanut butter on it. Isaac sit (on) the chair (and) eat it." But he's not one to sit and think about how things should come out so he just goes on and on and on until he's gotten out everything he wants to say







.

Perhaps it's because I'm a language geek by nature, but I find the whole thing just fascinating. I want to record his language patterns and study them in detail.

Gosh, this is sooo interesting. DD started combining words at about the 50 word mark, which then was followed by a vocabulary explosion and speaking in grammatically correct sentences. (which are not that far off from your son's now)


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ellemenope* 
Gosh, this is sooo interesting. DD started combining words at about the 50 word mark, which then was followed by a vocabulary explosion and speaking in grammatically correct sentences. (which are not that far off from your son's now)

See, and we kept waiting for him to slow down on vocab acquisition and start working on combining things, and it just didn't happen (other than the plural and possessive '-s,' which I guess is a type of combining... kind of). He just got more and more and more specific with his vocab (exceeded our ability to even estimate at... oy... 16 months? I'm not very good at keeping track of dates







) and just kind of never got around to the whole "sentence" thing. I wasn't worried, because he was SO beyond milestones on vocabulary; I just figured he was putting his mental energy elsewhere. It was still kind of weird when a friend with a similarly-aged kid mentioned that her kid knew X number of words but was combining them, when I had absolutely no way of knowing how many words DS had (he'd shock us with random words all the time, and still continues to), but he was, for the most part, NOT combining them.

It's such a fun stage to watch







.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blizzard_babe* 
He'll talk around in long, complex, not-too-thought-out circles to get his point across. Example: "Want one. Cracker, big brown circle cracker. Peanut butter on it. Want peanut butter on it. Isaac sit the chair eat it."

Now, if you look, he actually has the makings of two concise, almost-grammatically correct sentences (omissions in parentheses): "(I) Want a big brown circle cracker (with) peanut butter on it. Isaac sit (on) the chair (and) eat it." But he's not one to sit and think about how things should come out so he just goes on and on and on until he's gotten out everything he wants to say







.

Perhaps it's because I'm a language geek by nature, but I find the whole thing just fascinating. I want to record his language patterns and study them in detail.

Being willing to do those sorts of circumlocutions (talking around a topic) is a sign of a person with a good potential for learning foreign languages.









Does he like stories? I'm asking because part of what is supposed to be helpful with reading aloud to kids is all the extra modeling of sentence structure. It's the language geek in me asking.


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Being willing to do those sorts of circumlocutions (talking around a topic) is a sign of a person with a good potential for learning foreign languages.









Does he like stories? I'm asking because part of what is supposed to be helpful with reading aloud to kids is all the extra modeling of sentence structure. It's the language geek in me asking.

I learn languages pretty easily, so DS might have gotten that from my end of the gene pool. Hope he didn't also inherit the pimples







.

He LOVES stories/books. He has many of his books memorized and can fill in missing words if we pause. He also knows quite a few songs by heart (Twinkle, Twinkle and Baa Baa Black Sheep and the words DH and I have made up to the theme from Star Trek: Voyager come to mind







).


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blizzard_babe* 
I learn languages pretty easily, so DS might have gotten that from my end of the gene pool. Hope he didn't also inherit the pimples







.

He LOVES stories/books. He has many of his books memorized and can fill in missing words if we pause. He also knows quite a few songs by heart (Twinkle, Twinkle and Baa Baa Black Sheep and the words DH and I have made up to the theme from Star Trek: Voyager come to mind







).









Ah, so he's a language pragmatist. He doesn't want to really take off with talking until he can compose his own filk songs, but he's willing to go ahead and use words here and there to get needs met.


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 







Ah, so he's a language pragmatist. He doesn't want to really take off with talking until he can compose his own filk songs, but he's willing to go ahead and use words here and there to get needs met.


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## mamadelbosque (Feb 6, 2007)

DS1 had zero words at 18 months. At 20-22 months he started to pick up a few, and by 22-24 months he had, oh, maybe 5-10 words (basicly mama, dada, no... nurse, I think that was about it). Around 23-24 months exploded, and I quickly lost count of words. By 29 months when his brother was born he was talking in 3-4 word sentences. He's 3 now and everyone tells me "he talks SO well!!".... some of the same people who would ask 'doesn't he talk'? or similar just a year ago







It is pretty amazing


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## twinergy (Mar 30, 2008)

From Becoming the Parent You Want to Be:

Quote:

There are two main styles of learning language. Some children focus mostly on individual words, carefully naming single objects: dog, cup, ball, wa-wa, blankey. Other children practice the cadence, rhythm and intonation of the language without using many understandable words. These children will tell long stories with lots of expression, clearly speaking a familiar language, but you will be able to decipher only a few, if any specific words. Most children use a combination of these styles.
One of my twins learned words first. My girl had a vocabulary of several hundred words before she was 18 months. My boy was one to experiment with cadence. By 18 months he was having long conversations with the telephone starting with hello, then adding a yeah (pause) yeah (pauses) etc. and ending with bye. When he wanted something he would point and grunt (assertive like a command), if he wanted to know what something was he would point and add an aaAAAaaa (the pitch would rise like a question.) He also had a language explosion around 22 months. I think that is when he finally decided to work on phonemes.


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## physmom (Jun 15, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *twinergy* 
From Becoming the Parent You Want to Be:

One of my twins learned words first. My girl had a vocabulary of several hundred words before she was 18 months. My boy was one to experiment with cadence. By 18 months he was having long conversations with the telephone starting with hello, then adding a yeah (pause) yeah (pauses) etc. and ending with bye. When he wanted something he would point and grunt (assertive like a command), if he wanted to know what something was he would point and add an aaAAAaaa (the pitch would rise like a question.) He also had a language explosion around 22 months. I think that is when he finally decided to work on phonemes.

Very interesting! DD is definitely the later of the two. She'll also have those phone conversations and many times the way she says things we'll swear that she's said a word but we can't decipher it. She has said a number of words a couple of times but is not really using them to talk consistently yet.

That being said, she's just had (and I guess is still going through) a language explosion when it comes to signing. I've been doing it inconsistently at best but she found my signing book and is really pushing me. She gets it out and points at new signs and make me teach them to her (and learn them myself!). I have the feeling if I knew more ASL that she'd be a lot farther along... I wish I had the time to really sit down and learn more!!! Anyways, she'll learn the new sign immediately (sometimes she already starts imitating me after I only signed it once) and then will incorporate it to her day to day routine after that. She's gone from having a handful of signs to maybe 50 or more overnight (we tried counting but we lost track and couldn't remember all of them).


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## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *twinergy* 
From Becoming the Parent You Want to Be:

There are two main styles of learning language. Some children focus mostly on individual words, carefully naming single objects: dog, cup, ball, wa-wa, blankey. Other children practice the cadence, rhythm and intonation of the language without using many understandable words. These children will tell long stories with lots of expression, clearly speaking a familiar language, but you will be able to decipher only a few, if any specific words. Most children use a combination of these styles.

This is very enlightening. Looking back on things my DD would have definitely fallen into the second category. She babbled very early; would go on and on in her own language complete with pauses and intonation, oh and the facial expressions...so cute. This was at 11 months. maybe earlier. People used to comment that she would be talking soon. nope.

Twinergy: It must be so interesting watching twins, who play together and have similar genes, develop so differently.

As far as reading- DD has always loved being read to. At 21 months, we have just started reading chapter books with very sparse illustrations. She just sits in our laps enthralled by it for as long as _we_ can take it.

On the other hand, she is only now starting to get into singing. And, although she talks up a storm, the one and only nursery rhyme she knows goes like this, "rock a baby in the tree top. Fall down!"







And although she can tell you a is for apple and so on, even recognize written letters, she will not sing the abc song.

So, I have surmised that her aural skills may have developed asynchronously. And, perhaps this is some insight into how she may learn in the future. This would make sense, because I am a strong visual learner. I could listen to a poem a hundred times and not remember it, but I could read it once and just get it.

Perhaps this is a combo that makes one a perfect candidate for a major language explosion?


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## twinergy (Mar 30, 2008)

Quote:

Twinergy: It must be so interesting watching twins, who play together and have similar genes, develop so differently.

As far as reading- DD has always loved being read to. At 21 months, we have just started reading chapter books with very sparse illustrations. She just sits in our laps enthralled by it for as long as _we_ can take it.

On the other hand, she is only now starting to get into singing. And, although she talks up a storm, the one and only nursery rhyme she knows goes like this, "rock a baby in the tree top. Fall down!"







And although she can tell you a is for apple and so on, even recognize written letters, she will not sing the abc song.

So, I have surmised that her aural skills may have developed asynchronously. And, perhaps this is some insight into how she may learn in the future. This would make sense, because I am a strong visual learner. I could listen to a poem a hundred times and not remember it, but I could read it once and just get it.

Perhaps this is a combo that makes one a perfect candidate for a major language explosion?
It is fascinating watching them grow and learn. They have been very different from early on. I first noticed it when they were about a week old, but by the time they were 4 months the difference was more pronounced. DS is very tactile and kinesthetic. He talks about touching things. But he is also aural. He could follow 2 step instructions by 20 months, that is before his language explosion. He will overhear me saying I need something and automatically go get it without my asking. He thought books were great for shredding and wouldn't sit still to look at them until 22 months; the same time as the language explosion. I think he will be an auditory learner when he gets older, but right now is very energetic and therefor kinesthetic. DD is very visual and was always pointing to pictures in books and learning what things were called.

I wonder if you are onto something here. It makes sense that a visual learner might start acquiring language by labeling things they see where an auditory learner might start by experimenting with pitch.

BTW my DS was not at all interested in signing until after he turned 2 where DD knew a few hundred signs before 18 months. DD is also more into singing than DS and she will make up her own words to songs.







Here is an example (her name is Rowan)

Old McRowan had a farm EIEIO
and on this farm she had a NO EIEIO
with a NO NO her and a NO NO there
here a NO there a NO everywhere a NO NO...

I know that is a little off topic but I just had to share because it was so cute.


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## Tjej (Jan 22, 2009)

My DS had a very extensive vocabulary before he started combining words. I distinctly remember him knowing the word "valentine" (and it wasn't February) before he was combining 2 words. I think DS built his vocabulary for 6 months before he was combining. He's one to dive into what he is saying too. My DD is a "think before you speak" type person, DS a "say SAY LOUDER say again then think" type.









Tjej


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## claddaghmom (May 30, 2008)

This just happened to DD! I am amazed by it as her mama, but it didn't surprise me b/c this is how she hit every milestone. Nothing, nothing and then bam! Everything! LOL

My mom remarked one time...I think when DD started crawling, that it's like a lightswitch gets turned on in their brain. Nothing you can do beforehand and nothing afterwards.









I thought DD was strange in the verbal dept. She could say complicated words or express odd conversational bits, but then she couldn't say yes or no, or ask for a particular food, etc. She would point and grunt, then turn to DH and talk about a video game. It really really worried me lol.

Case in point...she went through a phase where she refused to call animals by name. A cat was a meow, a horse was a neigh-neigh, a mouse was a "ee ee ee!"

Now she won't stop jibbering. DH turned to me this morning at 5am and said, "Can we put her back in her box and return her to the store?" I retorted, "Sorry, hun, I already recycled the packaging." (Pregnant)


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## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *claddaghmom* 
This just happened to DD! I am amazed by it as her mama, but it didn't surprise me b/c this is how she hit every milestone. Nothing, nothing and then bam! Everything! LOL

My mom remarked one time...I think when DD started crawling, that it's like a lightswitch gets turned on in their brain. Nothing you can do beforehand and nothing afterwards.









I thought DD was strange in the verbal dept. She could say complicated words or express odd conversational bits, but then she couldn't say yes or no, or ask for a particular food, etc. She would point and grunt, then turn to DH and talk about a video game. It really really worried me lol.

Case in point...she went through a phase where she refused to call animals by name. A cat was a meow, a horse was a neigh-neigh, a mouse was a "ee ee ee!"

Now she won't stop jibbering. DH turned to me this morning at 5am and said, "Can we put her back in her box and return her to the store?" I retorted, "Sorry, hun, I already recycled the packaging." (Pregnant)









You are describing my DD! DD was speaking in sentences before she said the word 'yes'. It was simply a nod or a positive 'oh' sound (which was so cute, and I now miss) before then. And she still says 'moo' and 'neigh' before she says 'cow' or 'horse'.

You have also brought up something very interesting. You really got me thinking. DD crawled perfect from the start. Never army crawled. Just went from sitting to crawling on hands and knees. And she was squatting and standing for over a month before she started walking. Up and down. Up and down. She would refuse to take a step before then. Then, when she walked. She. Never. Fell. (Maybe just a small exaggeration there







) She was on the early side of these milestones, but nothing to write home about.

(She never rolled over. Still don't know what that means...)


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## claddaghmom (May 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ellemenope* 
You are describing my DD! DD was speaking in sentences before she said the word 'yes'. It was simply a nod or a positive 'oh' sound (which was so cute, and I now miss) before then. And she still says 'moo' and 'neigh' before she says 'cow' or 'horse'.

You have also brought up something very interesting. You really got me thinking. DD crawled perfect from the start. Never army crawled. Just went from sitting to crawling on hands and knees. And she was squatting and standing for over a month before she started walking. Up and down. Up and down. She would refuse to take a step before then. Then, when she walked. She. Never. Fell. (Maybe just a small exaggeration there







) She was on the early side of these milestones, but nothing to write home about.

(She never rolled over. Still don't know what that means...)

Wow, this really piques my curiosity! I wonder what it all means! DD would not roll over, either. She sat up before she could roll over and I got lots of comments and worries from family members.

It must be a particular personality?? But then clearly it has genetic/developmental aspects as well!

We just had our first "NO" over here. I took her to Gymboree a couple nights ago. She hates Gymboree. Anyways, what she did reminded me of the Disney movie _Pinnochio_. She was wriggling in my arms, trying to get down so she could run out of the store and saying, "nnnnnn! Naaaaaaaaa! Noooo! NO NO NO" I saw my sweet baby turn into a toddler right there haha.


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## mckittre (Jan 15, 2009)

Interesting to hear about those two styles - my 13.5 month old is definitely a visual/vocabulary type. I've never heard him say anything that sounds like a conversational babble, only exclamations with pointing. However, he's been learning words super quickly lately, going from around 3 to over 30 in a month and a half. Nearly all of it's sign language (with a couple of animal sounds, a clock sound, and a few real words). And at least half of it is things that he's learned to identify from books. So for example, he still can't ask me for a drink, but will happily label around 8 different animals, most of which he never sees in real life.


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## ellemenope (Jul 11, 2009)

Well, after rereading this thread I think I have come to the conclusion that DD is a strong visual learner. In fact, I think she might have a conspicuously large disparity between her visual and aural intelligences. And, it is my personal hypothesis that this is what caused her huge "language explosion".

She had a large vocabulary early on, but it was strictly receptive. Once her aural skills caught up, so to speak, she was just able to take off. It was like claddaghmom described a switch just went off. I would also not be surprised that her cautious temperament played a role in all of this. She has time and again stubbornly refused to do something unless she can be sure to do it perfect.

I think that maybe the most unique aspect of DD's language development might be that within her first 50 words spoken were all parts of speech. This might be a key indicator of a language explosion like DD's.

I'd also like to agree with twinergy that a visual learner would learn vocab before trying to delve into the more nuanced, aural aspects of language, such as rhythm, cadence, and intonation. Perhaps in my DD's case she was holding everything back until she got it all, thus only _appearing_ to favor the rythem etc. of language over vocab.

---

She is continuing to amaze me. She talks nonstop. Just picking up grammar left and right. It astounds me how kids learn grammar without being taught. The other day she said, "my shoe got off," and, "I bite my toungue". And today, "where is the other sock?"

It has now been three months since grunts and pointing.

So, if you were like me three months ago, thinking, 'my kid understands everything. Why is she not trying to talk yet?' Just wait. Soon, you might have a little chatterbox on your hands. And, let me tell you, communication might ease some frustrations, but it also open a whole 'nother can of worms.

---

I's sure love to hear more stories of language development and your take on what is going on.


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