At which age child may respond to verbal request?

RUHS, Jaipur, PB B.Sc Nursing Entrance-2024

Child Health Nursing (Pediatrics)

Easy

Appeared in: RUHS, Jaipur, PB B.Sc Nursing Entrance-2024

Explanation

At 12-15 months, a child's receptive language skills advance significantly, allowing them to understand and follow simple, one-step verbal commands.
This milestone marks the transition from understanding basic cues like 'no' or their name to processing and acting on a specific instruction.
According to developmental charts, the ability to respond to simple directions like 'Give me the ball' or 'Sit down' begins around 12 months of age.
While the skill becomes more consistent and independent of gestures by 18 months, its emergence is a key feature of the 12-15 month period.

Option A: This age is too early. At 6-9 months, infants primarily respond to sounds, their own name, and the emotional tone of a voice, but they cannot yet process a specific verbal command.
Option B: While the ability to understand language is growing, at 9-12 months, a child is just beginning to understand 'no' and respond to very simple, often gestured, requests like 'come here' or waving 'bye-bye'. They cannot reliably follow a variety of verbal commands.
Option D: This is a later stage where the skill is refined. By 15-18 months, a child can consistently follow one-step commands without the help of gestures. The question asks when the child may respond, indicating the emergence of the skill, not its mastery.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Child developmental milestones, specifically receptive language development as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
Assessing receptive language is a critical part of a pediatric check-up. It provides insight into a child's cognitive development and hearing ability.
A lag in receptive language skills can be an early sign of a hearing impairment, an autism spectrum disorder, or a general developmental delay, prompting the need for early intervention.
What if? If a 15-month-old child does not respond to their name or simple verbal requests, the nurse's first action should be to inquire about a newborn hearing screening and recommend a formal audiology evaluation to rule out hearing loss.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the core concept of the question, which is about a specific developmental milestone: responding to verbal requests.
Recognize that this is a factual recall question based on established child development knowledge.
Mentally review the typical progression of receptive language. Recall that understanding (receptive) comes before speaking (expressive).
Differentiate between early responses (like to one's name) and the ability to follow a command (a 'verbal request').
Evaluate each age bracket. Eliminate the ones that are too early (6-9 months) or where the skill is already well-established (15-18 months).
Select the age range where the specific skill of following a simple command first emerges, which is around 12 months.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: Child developmental milestones, specifically receptive language development.
Stem keywords: age, child, respond, verbal request
Lead-in keywords: At which
Clinical cues: Age/sex group narrows the expected diagnosis, intervention, or normal reference range.

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E6 Kaplan Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry-2022 (pp 1-3768 of 3768) p. 2796-2798

E6 Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics(2024) — Volume 1 pp. 130-132, 371-373