Talking To Your Baby Will Make Him Do Better In School

All human beings learn to speak well over time . Children who speak a little later will only take a little longer to catch up, but that doesn’t mean they have a life-long language delay. The speed at which children learn language varies considerably from one child to another without having to be a cause for concern to parents.

Some children show faster vocabulary growth before going to school, while others learn slowly and may even be up to six months to a year behind the rest of their peers.

Some of these children will catch up, reaching a good level of language proficiency by the time they start school. However, others will start school at a considerable disadvantage, entering the educational system without having sufficient capacity to communicate with others effectively.

These children show that they have slower language development than children who are more advanced at the same age. But the most important thing is that this gap can widen with age if it is not remedied before.

Oral skills and literacy are essential for the development of all children in this world. Children with poorer abilities may present immediate reading and writing problems within the educational system. If this is not addressed, it can have negative consequences that affect the long term, affecting the academic future.

It is not surprising, then, that this growing disparity between certain groups of children has led researchers to identify the factors that affect language development and has inspired interventions to bridge the gap between them. Here are some tips to help your child do better in school.

Quantity vs Quality

An important predictor of language development in children is the amount of language they hear. We know that children who are exposed to more one language will be better able to learn more words faster than children who are exposed to fewer words.

But it is not enough just to bombard children with words; the quality of the voice they hear is also very important. Children who hear a complex and diverse language that is specifically addressed to them – child-directed speech – often have a larger vocabulary and a higher rate of learning new words.

There is research that shows that a factor related to a child being more or less exposed to language has to do with the socioeconomic status of the parents. Researchers think that the correlation between maternal education, family income and the professional prestige of the parents also plays a very important role.

A 1995 study by American researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley found that by the age of 36 months, children from professional families had heard nearly 30 million more words than children from low-income families. Not only did these children have broader vocabulary, but they also performed better in the areas of vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension at 9 and 10 years of age.

But it is not all bad news. By having accurate knowledge about your child’s language development, parents have the power to make a real difference in their learning. Interventions to educate parents about the value of speaking with their children during the early years can have positive effects on development.

Strategies to Encourage Babies’ Language

For example, to enhance children’s vocabulary and then have better academic performance, it is necessary to take into account the following:

• Read more often to children since they are babies
• Speak to you appropriately and with a good tone of voice
• Talk to babies as if they understand what we are saying
• Encourage affection and positive emotions through words
• Take advantage of any routine moment – like changing her diaper – to talk to her about what is being done.