Bilingual infants acquire languages in a variety of language environments. Some caregivers follow a one-person-one-language approach in an attempt to not "confuse" their child. However, the central assumption that infants can keep track of what language a person speaks has not been tested. In two studies, we tested whether bilingual and…

This study explored the language experiences of dual language learners (DLL; n = 19) and English monolinguals (EM; n = 13) in preschool classrooms where English is the primary language of instruction and many home languages are present. Using the Language ENvironment Analysis™ system as a primary tool, we quantitatively analysed an average of 34…

Generic descriptions (e.g., 'girls are emotional') are argued to play a major role in the development of essentialist reasoning about social categories. Although generics are prevalent across languages, studies exploring if and how generic language leads to essentialism have almost exclusively been conducted in English-speaking communities and…

There has been significant and extensive knowledge production in the last four decades regarding pragmatic language impairment (PLI) in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The evidence contained in this literature, however, is contradictory. The present scoping review (ScR) seeks to disentangle competing explanations of conceptualizing,…

Robust evidence exists for the shape bias, or children's tendency to extend novel names and categorize objects more readily on the basis of shape than on other object features. However, issues remain about the conditions that affect the shape bias and its importance as a linguistic device. In this research, we examined how type of instruction…

Children's mathematical knowledge at school entry varies considerably and predicts long-term achievement outcomes. Differences in children's exposure to math and number talk at home may help to explain variations in school-entry math ability. However, nearly all research on exposure to math and number talk has been conducted with parents and…

We investigated the effect of age and directive words on children's ability to semantically integrate speech and iconic gesture. The participants were 132 children aged 4 to 6 years old. In the experiment, we presented messages of actions in 3 conditions (Verbal-only, Gesture-only, and Verbal-Gesture) in a serial manner to assess multimodal gain…

The present study examined children's co-construction of shared meanings and internal state language during play with their sibling and friend from early to middle childhood. Sixty-five 4-year-old children (T1) and 46 7-year-old children (T2) were observed in the home during two free play sessions with a sibling and with a friend at both time…

The present study investigated children's internal state language during play with their sibling and friend across early and middle childhood. Specifically, the category type of internal state language (e.g., cognitions and goals), referent (e.g., own and other), and associations with children's birth order were examined. A total of 65 (T1: Time…

The present study investigated the relationship between complexity of pretend play, initiation of pretense activities, and mental state utterances used during play. Children 3 to 4 years of age were videotaped while engaging in pretend play with a parent. The videotapes were coded according to mental state utterances (i.e. desire, emotion,…

The present study investigated the relation between characteristics of mother-child reminiscing and children's perceived competence and social acceptance. We focused specifically on conversations for bonding purposes (i.e., conversations that serve the function of maintaining or strengthening the relationship between the child and the mother) as…

Imitation offers a gateway to relationship. This paper seeks to explore that capacity by describing the therapeutic approach of "Intensive Interaction". The research literature on imitation contains relatively little about imitation used in an intervention capacity, concentrating instead on the emergence of imitative abilities during infant and…