Research abstract

“Babies are as primed to learn a visual language as they are a spoken one.”

I seriously had no idea that 6-month infants could distinguish visual language better than 1-year olds! Read this article to find out the latest research. By Gretchen McCulloch

Laura Lurns Last updated August 6, 2018 · 2 min read

It is obvious that babies slowly learn spoken language, beginning to soak up that material very shortly after birth. But less is known about the point in the developmental process at which they begin to favor verbal, spoken language over the visual cues given through motion and other forms of visual language. Researchers set out to study the phenomenon through eye tracking of infants and babies, and found that 6-month old babies tracked the motion of adults gestures at a rate that was 20% higher than that exhibited by one-year-olds.

In addition to absorbing spoken language, six-month-old babies can also pick up on visual languages, such as gestures and fingerspelling. But by the time the child is a year old, this ability greatly diminishes. This research has implications for hearing parents of deaf children and underscores the importance of very early intervention.

This behavior is in line with what is known about the development of verbal language in babies – at the age of 6 months, babies are acutely receptive to their native language and tend to tune out input from other languages and forms of communication. The recent research shows, now, that this is the same as well for the ways that babies perceive and learn from gesture-based visual languages.

Key takeaways

Researchers claim to have found new insight about how babies tend to learn. Parents notice that babies do learn a language in the home.
Parents are eager to learn more about the way that young kids learn at home. That could influence parenting strategies in the future as well.
The research seems to point to some key factors that are now being understood. These researchers are pleased to share their findings and learn a little about that work.

Is your child struggling in school?

Get your free personalized learning roadmap

You describe what you see at home. We turn it into a plan you start this week.

Answer 5 short questionnaires about what you already notice, 30–45 minutes at your own kitchen table
Your child sits no test and gets no score: nothing to schedule, nothing for them to dread
You do the answering, the AI does the writing, and a person reviews it before it reaches you
Access all 40+ courses instantly: reading, math, focus, processing and more, with new ones added regularly

Why we use AI, plainly: it writes from a knowledge base our team maintains and audits. We work through it line by line and pull anything the evidence stops supporting. The roadmap you get on Tuesday reflects what we corrected on Monday, and a human still reads it before you do.

Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.

Get my free assessment & 7-day trial Cancel anytime during your trial.

Your answers stay yours. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not hand identifiable assessment data to outside AI companies to train their models.

A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too. That is the only route to those supports.

Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert Writes about the learning brain for parents who want plain answers. Every article is grounded in current neuroscience and classroom practice.

Key takeaways

Is your child struggling in school?

Keep reading