Talking to babies improves their learning skills

Some people think babies don't learn anything by talking to them before they can understand what you are talking about. This research shows that babies need people talking to them in long, normal sentences, they will learn everything better.     - - Donna Poisl

By Lauran Neergaard

Using videos that claim to teach toddlers or flash cards for tots may not be the best idea. Simply talking to babies is key to building crucial language and vocabulary skills. Doing that early is good, and long sentences are better than short ones.

So says research that aims to explain, and help solve, a troubling "word gap," which indicates children from more affluent, professional families hear millions more words before they start school than poor kids. That difference in learning experience leaves the lower-income students at an academic disadvantage that's hard to overcome.

That gap starts to appear at a younger age than scientists once thought, around 18 months, says Stanford University psychology professor Anne Fernald.
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