Acquisition of the locatives ‘in front of’ and ‘behind’ in an Irish Population

Abstract

The aims of the present study were (a) to investigate production of the spatial locatives ‘in front of’ and ‘behind’, using fronted objects (those with a distinct front and back), with a view to discovering in which order they typically emerge; and (b) to ascertain whether there is a difference between the emergence of production of these locatives when the referent is the child’s own body and when it is another fronted object. Eighteen typically developing children between the ages of 2;0 and 4;11 years were recruited at 3 childcare centres in the Cork City area. The participants were included in 3 age groups, with 6 in each group. Participants were tested individually at the childcare centres. Each participant underwent two locative elicitation procedures. The first procedure was designed to elicit the target locatives, using the child’s own body as the object of reference, while the second procedure involved the use of another fronted object (a teddy bear) as the referent. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between performances on the locatives ‘in front of’ and ‘behind’, with performance on ‘in front of’ being poorer. There was no significant difference between performances on these locatives when the object of reference was the participant’s own body, and when it was another fronted object. The first conclusion of the present study was that production of the locative ‘behind’, using fronted objects, appears to be acquired before ‘in front of’. Secondly, it would appear that acquisition of both locatives, when the object of reference is the child’s own body, occurs at approximately the same time as when the referent is another fronted object. These findings have possible clinical implications. Firstly, the results would suggest that, when targeting locatives, production of ‘behind’ should be facilitated prior to ‘in front of’. Also, it might be concluded that one may begin to facilitate production of these locatives using either the child’s own body or another fronted object as the referent. Future research might aim to investigate the acquisition of intrinsic ‘behind’ and ‘in front of’ with regard to comprehension.