Word Learning, Context, and Everyday Language Development with Dr. Catherine Sandhofer

Beyond Words Ep. 25 | How Children Learn Words: Input, Context, and Generalization Dr. Catherine Sandhofer In this episode of Beyond Words, Garrett Oyama speaks with Dr. Catherine Sandhofer, professor of psychology at UCLA, about how children learn words, categories, and concepts through everyday experience. They explore why word learning is not just about hearing words more often, but about when, where, and from whom children hear them. Dr. Sandhofer discusses how contextual variation, caregiver input, repeated routines, and shared book reading shape vocabulary growth and why children may need both consistency and variability at different points in development. They also discuss nouns and verbs in early language input, the role of forgetting and reactivation in learning, how screen-based language differs from human interaction, and what these findings might mean for speech therapy, parenting, AAC, and clinical practice. Get ASHA CEUs: Speech Therapy PD - https://www.speechtherapypd.com/cours... Learn more about Dr. Catherine Sandhofer’s work - https://www.psych.ucla.edu/faculty-pa... Subscribe on YouTube -    / @garrettbeyondwords