Infant Speech

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) is a novel and increasingly popular optical imaging technique that has revolutionarized brain research in the youngest developmental populations. After nearly a decade of technological development, NIRS has become a reliable, easy-to-use and efficient tool to explore the linguistic and cognitive abilities of neonates and young infants, opening new vistas for the investigation of language acquisition and cognitive development. This Research Topic covers the latest advances in these areas brought about by NIRS imaging. The main focus is to highlight innovative and foundational studies that go beyond methodological issues and advance our theoretical understanding of infant and child development. Contributions from the pioneers of this method are selected, illustrating how NIRS has allowed developmental researchers to ask theoretically relevant questions that more traditional methods couldn't address. These works further our understanding of language and cognitive development and bring us closer to bridging the gap between brain, mind and behavior at the very beginning of life

This is Volume XV of a series of thirty-two on Developmental Psychology. Originally published in 1936, this study looks at when speech begins in children. The sounds that a child makes during his first few months are so elusive and apparently so remote from anything that might be called language that any observer however interested in speech might well be pardoned for waiting until the noises become, at any rate, a little more obviously human. To persist in making observations one must be interested in the variety of human sounds merely as sounds, one must have faith in the continuity of growth, and in addition, perhaps, one must have something of that insensitiveness to ridicule which is found at its highest in the truly devoted parent.

The recent progress in cognitive neuroscience, and the importance of genetic factors and gene-environment interactions in shaping behavioral functions in early childhood, have both underscored the primacy of early experience and development on brain development and function.The contributors to this volume discuss different paradigms and approaches

Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development, Second Edition, provides a comprehensive entry point into the existing literature on child development in the fields of psychology, genetics, neuroscience and sociology. Featuring 171 chapters, across 3 volumes, this work helps readers understand these developmental changes, when they occur, why they occur, how they occur, and the factors that influence development. Although some medical information is included, the emphasis lies mainly in normal growth, primarily from a psychological perspective. Comprehensive and in-depth scholarly articles cover theoretical, applied and basic science topics, providing an interdisciplinary approach. All articles have been completely updated, making this resource ideal for a wide range of readers, including advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and clinicians in developmental psychology, medicine, nursing, social science and early childhood education. Cutting-edge content that cover the period of neonates to age three Organized alphabetically by topic for ease of reference Provides in-depth scholarly articles, covering theoretical, applied and basic science Includes suggested readings at the end of each article

The first two years of life are a period of unparalleled growth and change. Within a state-of-the-art biopsychosocial framework, this innovative volume explores the multiple contexts of infant development--the ways in which genes, neurobiology, behavior, and environment interact and shape each other over time. Methods for disentangling, measuring, and analyzing complex, nonlinear developmental processes are presented. Contributors explore influences on the infant's growth in major domains, including cognitive and socioemotional functioning and mental health. The consequences of family stress, poverty, and other adversities are probed, and promising directions for prevention and intervention identified.

Shows parents how to help their child communicate and learn language during everyday activities.

This book addresses the issue of language contact in the context of child language acquisition. Elizabeth Lanza examines in detail the simultaneous acquisition of Norwegian and English by two first-born children in families living in Norway in which the mother is American and the father Norwegian. She connects psycholinguistic arguments with sociolinguistic evidence, adding a much-needed dimension of real language-use in context to the psycholinguistic studies which have dominated the field. She draws upon evidence from other studies to support her claims concerning language dominance and the child's differentiation between the two languages in relation to the situation, interlocutor, and the communicative demands of the context. She also addresses the question of whether or not the language mixing of infant bilingualism is conceptually different from the codeswitching of older bilinguals, thus helping to bridge the gap between these two fields of study.

Most German-speaking researchers in the area of infant development are familiar with the research conducted in English. However, most English-speaking researchers are relatively unaware of the work currently being done in German. This volume is designed to remedy this imbalance and to promote international collaboration. The book's contributors -- an exciting and innovative group of German-speaking scholars -- provide up-to-date summaries of theoretical, methodological, and empirical perspectives on development. They review evidence and present points of view of great interest to all people who are committed to furthering our collective understanding of development in infancy.