There are many fathers and many mothers who care about their children's language. About eleven months, half of the children already say mom and dad knowing that they refer to them and it is not until 16 months that 95% of them do. The acquisition of new words, of course, is also equally variable and clear, when parents compare themselves, some speak many and others speak very little.
A group of researchers from Standford University has made a recent study with which they have managed to explain what parents can do to get children to develop their language skills better. It seemed to me such a cheap method, so simple and so available to all families, that I explain it as the definitive method because it brings together the three "Bs": good, beautiful and cheap.
Data about the study
The study in question was carried out with 29 19-month-old children from low-income Hispanic families. Each of the children carried a small audio recorder with which the sounds that the child heard during the day at home were recorded.
These recordings were analyzed to distinguish the moments in which caregivers and adults addressed children and the moments in which they spoke, but did not address them (other conversations, phone calls, etc.). This served to observe tremendous differences between some families and others. For example, one child heard more than 12,000 words addressed to him in one day, while another only heard 670.
In the words of Anne Fernald, one of the authors of the study: "That's just 67 words per hour, less than those heard in a 30-second commercial.".
Five months after the recording, counting the children already 24 months old, the researchers made tests to know the level of linguistic ability of each child. They observed that those who had received more words, those to whom adults had addressed more frequently, they had a more extensive vocabulary than those who had received fewer words.
But what nonsense of method, right?
Yes, not because it is silly, but because it is drawer, logical, and yet many parents do not realize that this is so. The more you talk to a child, the more time you spend talking with him, explaining things, telling stories, reading stories, asking him and in every interaction you can think of when you tell them things, the more they will talk, the richer they will be. his vocabulary and, what seems most important to me, before they will be able to express their concerns, emotions and feelings.
It is known that many children of 2-3 years have behavioral problems, such as tantrums and similar, for not being able to make themselves understood, for not being able to explain what they need or feel. When they are more skilled, when they can be better explained, it is easier for us to understand them and easier to resolve conflicts even before they appear.
So if you want your children to talk more and better, you know, tell them more. They say on the Internet that Einstein once said that "if you want your child to be smart, tell him stories ... if you want him to be even smarter, tell him even more stories." Whether he said it or not, I don't know, but it has overwhelming logic, seen the study.
