2 year-old children understand complex gramar

[Persia]

Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have found that children as young as two years old have an understanding of complex grammar even before they have learned to speak in full sentences.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-two-year-old-children-complex-grammar.html

[supervike]

Well, I'd think most parents would have told them the same thing.

[Atlantis Rises]

I was still sucking my thumb at two.

[dalia]

Well, I'd think most parents would have told them the same thing.

True, supervike....children under two years old understand and comprehend a lot more than people realize.

[BiffSplitkins]

True, supervike....children under two years old understand and comprehend a lot more than people realize.

Very true. Just because they can't verbalize complex grammar doesn't mean they don't understand it or at least process it.

My mom was just telling me the other day that I didn't speak a single word, not mama or dada or anything. I didn't verbalize anything except a cry when I wanted something. She said she thought I was retarded or something because I wasn't even speaking single words like other babies were at my age.

I must have been processing everything though because she said I surprised the hell out of her with my first words. It was a complete phrase.

I motioned, handing her my bottle and said "Blilk (my word for milk)! Here, fix it." From that time on I spoke in sentences. I'll have to ask her exactly how old I was when I did that.

[+HerNibs]

True, supervike....children under two years old understand and comprehend a lot more than people realize.

I agree as well.

I just with they could grasp "crayons may fit in the nose but don't belong there" bit.

Nibs

[Alienated Being]

True, supervike....children under two years old understand and comprehend a lot more than people realize.

I think infants are very interesting. For example, I would be out in the yard talking with my niece and tinkering around with her toys, showing her how to work them. Then, after I showed her how to work them, she'd mimic me, and do the same thing. There was a spinning wheel-type toy on her contraption that she was sitting in, and I spun it. After I spun it, she was like "ooohh!" and she spun it, too. I think it's interesting how she comprehended that, in order to work the device, you need to spin it with your fingers. She's only about eight months old, but a smart cookie.

I, too, agree with the notion that infants comprehend more than what we perceive. This is why I tell my brother to stop swearing around her, but he just attempts to pacify me by saying "Oh, she can't understand what that means! She's a baby!". Yes, true, but judging from the research that scientists have conducted, between the ages of zero to eight is the time frame in which children absorb the most information... Their minds are like a sponge.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Alienated Being

[Funky Poacher]

Yep, and then they get a cell-phone, start texting, and all of that goes down the crapper.