The first skill that a child learns at home is talking or his language skills. This is the basic step that most, if not all, parents take when their baby reaches the toddler stage.
A kid develops his language skills properly if the parents talk to him or her in a straight manner. Baby talk is a no-no.
Research has shown that conversing with a child is more powerful than reading bedtime stories in terms of language development. According to health experts in the U.S., engaging kids in a conversation is six times more effective than reading books to them. While these pediatricians do recommend regularly reading fairy tales and bedtime stories as a way to let kids learn to talk and read, they stress that one-on-one conversation between a parent and his child has a greater impact.
The study done by pediatricians from the UCLA School of Public Health covered 275 families. It looked into the exposure of kids aged one to four to conversations, televisions and reading sessions by their parents.
The researchers found that those who were exposed to conversations had a score six times higher than those who were exposed to only storytelling or reading. Kids whose parents read to them showed a weak improvement in language skills while those exposed to television showed no improvement at all.
The biggest benefit of engaging a child in conversation, as found by the health experts, is developing a depth and range of vocabulary. Additionally, they had less mistakes owing in part to their parents’ action to correct them when they talk.
So remember to not just simply talk to your toddler. Do engage them in a simple conversation to allow them to speak their minds.
Photo via scottsdaledaycare.com
Originally posted on October 11, 2012 @ 7:00 am
