During which stage might an infant predominantly use gestures to communicate?

The pre-verbal stage is characterized by infants' reliance on non-verbal communication methods, such as gestures, to express their needs and emotions. In this stage, which typically occurs from birth to around 12 months, infants are still developing their language abilities and do not yet have the verbal skills required to form words or sentences. Instead, they may use pointing, reaching, facial expressions, and other body movements to indicate desires or reactions. This stage is crucial for laying the groundwork for later language development, as it allows infants to communicate effectively with caregivers even before they start to produce spoken language.

During the holophrastic stage, which follows the pre-verbal stage, infants begin to use single words to convey whole ideas, but gestures may still accompany their speech. The two-word stage sees children forming simple sentences with two words, signifying a more advanced understanding of language structure, while the telegraphic stage features more complex sentences but still omits less critical words. In contrast, the pre-verbal stage highlights infants' initial use of gestures as their primary form of communication before acquiring verbal skills.