While conducting a developmental assessment, a nurse notes that a baby is able to produce sounds like 'Mama', 'dada', etc. What is the likely age of the baby?

1. A

   6 months

2. B

   9 months

3. C

   12 months

4. D

   15 months

Appeared in: RML 2023

Explanation

• At approximately 9 months of age, infants typically begin canonical babbling, which involves repeating consonant-vowel combinations, such as 'mama' and 'dada'.
• This is a crucial stage in pre-linguistic development, but the sounds are produced without specific meaning or direct association with parents.
• This milestone follows the earlier stage of producing single syllables (monosyllables) around 6-8 months and precedes the use of words with specific meaning around 12 months.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

• Option A: At 6 months, infants are typically in the earlier babbling stage, producing single-syllable sounds (monosyllables) like 'ba,' 'da,' or 'ga.' They have not yet started combining them into bisyllables like 'mama.'.
• Option C: By 12 months, an infant usually says 'mama' and 'dada' with specific meaning, referring directly to their parents. The question implies nonspecific sound production, which is a hallmark of an earlier stage.
• Option D: A 15-month-old toddler's language is significantly more advanced. They typically have a vocabulary of 3-6 words and can understand and follow simple commands.

Related Visual

Clinical Relevance

• Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Infant Language Development Milestones to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
• Nurses play a crucial role in developmental screening to identify potential delays early. Assessing language milestones is a key part of the well-baby check-up.
• Early identification of language delays allows for prompt referral to specialists (e.g., speech-language pathologists) and initiation of early intervention services, which significantly improves outcomes.
• What if? - If a 12-month-old baby was only cooing and not babbling or producing any consonant sounds, the nurse would be concerned about a significant developmental delay and would recommend a comprehensive audiological and neurological evaluation.

How to Approach the Question

• First, identify the core of the question: It asks you to match a specific language milestone ('mama', 'dada' sounds) to a corresponding age.
• Next, recall the typical sequence of infant language development: Cooing -> Monosyllabic Babbling -> Bisyllabic/Canonical Babbling -> First Words with Meaning.
• Analyze the milestone described in the stem: "produces sounds like 'Mama', 'dada'". Note that the question does not state the words are used with meaning. This is a key differentiator.
• Match this milestone to the known timeline. Nonspecific 'mama/dada' sounds are characteristic of the 9-month mark.
• Finally, evaluate the options based on this knowledge: 6 months is too early (monosyllables), and 12/15 months is too late (by then, words typically have specific meaning).

Concept Tested & Keywords

• Concept Tested: Infant Language Development Milestones
• Stem keywords: developmental assessment, baby, sounds, Mama, dada
• Lead-in keywords: What is the likely age

Question ID

QTNJ7DPTWPJoYq9vECSeJc

Copy ID

Reference Book

E6 Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics(2024) — Volume 1 p. 369-371

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