Language and Sensorimotor Development During the Early Period of Referential Speech

Abstract

The relation between sensorimotor attainments and linguistic development in children using referential speech at the single- and two-word utterance levels was examined. When age was controlled, the sensorimotor task performance of normal children who produced two-word utterances was highly similar to that of normal children limited to single-word utterances. Identical findings were observed for language-disordered children functioning at the single- and two-word utterance levels. In addition, several children’s performances on the sensorimotor tasks were below the level previously thought necessary for the emergence of referential speech. The position is taken that the relationship between sensorimotor development and linguistic development is not as close as has been presumed.