Turn off your smart-phone, TV and other devices – to talk with your baby. According to this online article in the New York Times (April 10th), the basis of early-learning is talking, and exposing a child to language, from birth.
Remember, infants with typical hearing are known to hear in the womb, up to three months before they are born. That’s a lot of potential overhearing, if their mother and families chat, listen to audio and discuss ideas verbally.
For parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, their role in talking with the children is vital in closing the vocabulary gap. In fact, the research cited in the NY Times notes that “if everyone talked to their young children the same amount, there would be no racial or socioeconomic gap at all”.
More Reading
* Parents’ Essential Role In Language Development
* Infant Literacy Skills – Newborn To Three Years
* Everyday Language Practice With Deaf Children
* Deaf Preschoolers’ Literacy Benefits From eBooks
* A Surgeon’s Thirty Million Words Project Research
* Being Born Deaf Is No Barrier – One Mum’s View
* Deaf Children ‘Can Learn Their Family Language’
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