June 2025
Key Takeaways:
- Verbal and non-verbal spatial skills are correlated from ages 2 to 3
- Parents' spatial relational language predicts verbal spatial skills
- Context matters: Only language during spatial play predicted spatial skill gains
Where is the tiger under the cup? Where is the penguin between the towers?
Young children who hear more frequent spatial language, such as the questions above, demonstrate better spatial skills. These skills can be seen as they make judgments about distance, such as reaching for an object; solve problems, like correctly fitting a shape into a shape sorter; and explore spatial features of toys as when playing with blocks. Throughout development, spatial skills expand to include more complex and abstract abilities, map reading, for example, and perspective taking.
More, early spatial skills are predictive of math skills later in life and are foundational to academic success. Yet the factors influencing individual differences in children's spatial skill development are relatively understudied compared to other aspects of math. And, most studies have focused on preschoolers and have not specifically analyzed how different types of spatial language in a variety of play contexts relate to outcomes.
In the present study, LRDC researchers* examine the association between toddlers' exposure to spatial relational language (e.g., "next to," "below") from their parents in different play contexts, during spatial play. The research team also investigates toddlers' current and later verbal and non-verbal spatial skills.
Fox, D.S., Ribner, A., Camarote, J., Votruba-Drzal, E., Bachman, H. J., & Libertus, M.E. (2025). Learning and Instruction, (97).
*LRDC Researchers:
Danielle S. Fox, Joei Camarote, Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, and Melissa Libertus, Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), and Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh
Andrew Ribner, Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), and Department of Social Sciences, Chatham University
Heather J. Bachman, Learning Research and Development Center, Department of Health and Human Development, School of Education, University of Pittsburgh
