Why Verbs are Essential for Toddlers' Language Development
- Jul 15
- 1 min read
Verbs are actions words that describe what a subject is doing, being or experiencing.
They typically appear in a child's vocabulary from around 1 and a half years.
Verbs are generally more difficult words to obtain than objects or describing words. This is because verbs typically signify an event which is time bound, whereas objects or the characteristics of objects, are more concrete.
Why are Verbs Important?
Verbs are crucial for forming two-word combinations like "Me eat", and eventual phrases and longer sentences. For example, “He threw the ball”. The amount of verbs in a toddler’s vocabulary around the age of two and beyond is a strong indicator of future language risk or ability (Hadley, 2016).
Therefore, verbs should be modelled and presented to toddlers for learning often. Toddler’s abilities to produce verbs should also be monitored to gauge potential language difficulties.
Strategies to Encourage Understanding of Verbs
Model actions for your toddler and name the actions as you or they are doing them i.e. “Jumping, we are jumping.”
Comment on actions you both observe i.e. “She is pushing the stroller.”
Talk about the character's actions are in book and tv shows that you are watching together.
Ask your toddler questions about actions i.e. What is the boy doing? Referring to a page of a book where a boy is running.
Reference
Hadley, P. A., Rispoli, M., & Hsu, N. (2016). Toddlers’ verb lexicon diversity and grammatical outcomes. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 47(1), 44–58. https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_LSHSS-15-0018
