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Abstract: Subtle changes to the learning environment can have a significant impact on toddlers’ success (or failure) in learning novel verbs. This study considers whether the sequencing of a verb and its referent action impacts verb-learning for toddlers with developmental language disorder (DLD). Eight preschoolers (M = 5.08 years) were introduced to pairs of novel verbs in eight trials (e.g., “The girl can ziff the box;” “The boy can lorp the shoe,”). In half of trials, the verb was introduced before the referent action was displayed, and in the other half of trials the verb was introduced after the referent action had been viewed. Children were first asked to recall each action by pointing; then, they were asked to generalize the novel verbs to a new agents. Results indicate that children were more successful when the linguistic label came after its referent action, irrespective of the type of meaning encoded by the verb. Funding: T32DC000030. |
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