Language Development Babies learn without baby language

Babies Dumb By Baby Language: Without „Tens dozen“ Babies get smarter

02/15/2014

Talking to parents with their baby only baby talk, thus harming the child's language development. „Tens dozen“ or „Make bubble“ are far from sufficient, because even before school enrollment, those children who are reasonably talked with are far ahead of other peers.

Use long and complex sentences
Parents do not do any good to their offspring when they talk to them in baby talk. „Tens dozen“ or „Make bubble“ harm the child's language development. Scientists recommend using long and complex sentences when talking to babies and babies. According to Anne Fernald, psychology professor at Stanford University, the little ones are building on language intelligence. New studies would suggest that it plays a crucial role in future development, how much and how chosen parents talk to their toddlers. At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in mid-February corresponding results have been presented. These would also raise the question of whether even earlier language support for disadvantaged children could be worthwhile.

The sooner the better
The scientists found that the sooner parents begin to explain their world to their offspring, the better. However, this should not mean that mothers and fathers would now have to go with index cards and a targeted learning program on the babies, according to the motto: „Here is an orange. And that's a bowl.“ Rather, it is about putting words and their meaning into context, so that the children in the brain could store appropriate connections. For example: „Come on, we'll put the orange in the bowl with the banana and the apple and the grapes.“

Millions more words belongs to peers
Although the results sound obvious, they would not always be implemented in everyday life, as the researchers demonstrated. For example, children from middle-income or higher-income families to pre-school age often heard several million more words than their peers from poorer families. To document what they heard during the day, psychologist Fernald provided toddlers with recording equipment. The scientist recorded more than 12,000 words of direct speech in one of the children - in contrast to general background noise such as television or adult talk. Only 670 words of direct speech, on the other hand, have been with another child.

Great differences also in the learning speed
As Fernald reported, this was not only accompanied by large differences in language development, but also in the speed of learning. For up to two years, five-year-olds from poor families could lag behind their better-off peers in development. As Kimberly Noble of Columbia University said, this can also be confirmed by brain examinations. The language centers in the brain are more pronounced in children from wealthier families. Fernald added that the gap would open from the age of 18 months. According to their study, children from poorer backgrounds did not reach a language understanding until the age of two that the offspring from better-off had six months earlier.

Scope of vocabulary crucial
The amount of vocabulary can be crucial for learning. At a sentence like „The kitten is lying on a bench“ For example, children who already know the word kitten could tap the previously unknown word bank out of context. However, if the central term is missing, then the rest of the sentence rushes past the little ones without them learning anything. Therefore, experts would discuss whether a professional early intervention should begin with three instead of four years. There will also be debate about how to improve the quality of day-care centers and parenting programs according to the motto „Talk more“ could be useful. However, the latter point is likely to be difficult to implement if the parents themselves are unable to read well or do not recognize the purpose of the programs. Many of the mothers and fathers simply have too little time, especially if they have to do several low-paid jobs side by side.

Mothers learn to express themselves more chosen
As scientists say after initial preliminary research, such educational measures may still be worthwhile. For example, Fernald watches a program called „Habla Conmigo“ for low-income Spanish-speaking mothers in San Jose, California, speaking to 32 families. She found out that the children did not take much of what their parents or other caregivers had talked about. Only when addressed directly did real learning come true. The mothers attended an eight-week course as part of the program, where they learned how to talk more to their crawling children and express more choice. As Fernald reported, compared to a control group, the children of the course participants had a larger vocabulary at the age of two and learned more quickly.

Many children need speech therapy
In general, language development makes enormous progress from the age of three. By the second birthday, a child speaks an average of 100 words. Two years later, the vocabulary has already risen to 2,000 words. For the fourth birthday, some children already form multi-chained main and subordinate clauses. The rest usually retire during the first two years of school. Generally, boys need more support in learning than girls. As part of the 2013 Remedies Report, the AOK's Scientific Institute (WIdO) found that one in four six-year-old boys needed speech therapy. For girls, the proportion is only 17 percent. (Ad)