They provide recording devices to families and
encourage them to speak more to their children. With
practice, the quantity and the quality of parent/child
interactions have increased. Parents are taught to praise
their children, to respond to the children’s language
with more information, (Doggy? Yes, that’s a brown
doggy.), and to generally raise the number of verbal
interactions throughout the day. If you grew up in a home that didn’t do a lot of
talking, you might find it a stretch to add to the number
of words spoken to your children. But know that words
are free and you are doing a wonderful service to your
child’s language awareness and future learning success.
What does all this information mean for your home
learning environment? FACTS ON C HILDREN AND L ANGUAGE:
You can give your child a boost in language
learning. Much of the language experience can take
place while reading to your child. Books lend themselves
to many forms of language experience and you can
begin the day your baby is born. Singing songs, reciting
nursery rhymes, engaging in word games, such as “How
Big is Baby? Soooo Big,” all of these provide rich
learning for your child.
So talk, talk, talk—your child will
benefit from it.
• Families tend to talk more to girls than to boys which may
account for language delays in boys.
• Even babies benefit from lots of talk. They learn vocabulary,
begin to identify objects, and respond to various emotions
and relationships.
• Children who are “talk deprived” will have a smaller
vocabulary and test lower on language processing skills tests.
• Children love repetition in language. It helps them remember
words and learn the relationships between them.
Talk to your child throughout the
day. With older children, make it a point to ask • The gap between language rich and language poor homes
can cause a child to be as much as two years behind in
language skills when they begin school.
questions that are open-ended. What is your favorite
color? Why are you feeling happy, angry, or afraid?
What was the best thing that happened today? Take
opportunity to praise your child appropriately. (You’re
right, that is a dinosaur. Can you find another one?) • Television or other “electronic” language is not helpful to a
child’s language growth and can even be a detriment as it
blocks out real communication with family members.
You respond to their speech and add a
bit more.
• Learning potential can be either optimized or stunted.
As Erika Hoff, a developmental psychologist from Florida
Atlantic University put it, “Children cannot learn what
they don’t hear.”
Jan Pierce, M.Ed., is a retired teacher and a writer. She is the author of Homegrown Readers:
Simple Ways to Help Your Child Learn to Read. Find her at www.janpierce.net.
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