Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Codeswitching--when someone switches between two or more languages while speaking--is a very common phenomenon in people who are bilingual. ‘Spanglish’ is a well-known example of codeswitching as it is a colloquial term for speaking in a mix of Spanish and English.
A new paper from the lab of Waisman investigator Margarita Kaushanskaya, PhD, professor of communication sciences and disorders at UW-Madison, provides evidence that suggests when trying to learn two languages, studying them both during the same session rather than separately might be the more beneficial strategy.
Learning language in early childhood occurs through interaction between children and their caregivers. It is a foundational process that allows children to participate in social interactions, learn from the world, and develop other essential skills such as literacy. Having a language delay or disorder is associated with greater risk for experiencing trauma and vice versa. Furthermore, children’s and caregivers’ trauma histories can impact their individual strengths and needs related to participation in early language intervention.
How do infants become word meaning experts? This registered report investigated the structure of infants' early lexical representations by manipulating the typicality of exemplars from familiar animal categories.
The environment in which toddlers learn language may have a greater impact on word learning than previously understood.
A child's first word is a special moment, their eyes widening in curiosity, one chubby finger pointing to an object in sudden recognition as "juice" or "train."
