“One of the primary learning methods for children is imitation. They imitate what they hear and what they see. It is this ability to imitate that allows the 15 month old child to say his first words.
By age 2, the average child expands his vocabulary to nearly 300 words. That figure is tripled in the next year, reaches 1600 word by age 4 and 2100 words by age 5.
Considering that the average adult uses 1800 different words in his daily vocabulary, the child’s language development can only be considered monumental in scope.”
Jim Trelease: Reading Aloud Handbook, Chapter 1; Why read aloud? Page 27.
