Talking with babies helps them bridge word gap
Article Summary:
Although infants are rarely able to communicate verbally, there are immense benefits when parents talk with their young children. Research indicates that children in low-income families often hear fewer words from their caregivers and frequently have a lower level of school readiness than their more affluent peers. While there are numerous explanations for this discrepancy, experts agree that increasing quality of talk between caregivers and children can drastically improve emotional and cognitive development. In Rhode Island, Providence Talks is tackling this issue by implementing LENA technology which measures words spoken to a child, turns in conversation, and other important factors in communication. Combined with sessions that provide parents with strategies to talk more, Providence Talks has shown great improvements in the numbers of conversational turns and adult words that young children hear.