‘Nothing short of remarkable’: Study finds parents’ chats with their toddlers pay off 10 years later

Article Summary:

A study published in Pediatrics found that toddlers with parents who spend lots of time listening and chatting with them are more likely to have better language skills and higher IQs a decade later than youngsters left hanging in silence. Researchers analyzed more than 9,000 hours of transcribed day-long recordings from 146 Denver-area children ages two months to four years old, and their parents. The children had follow up tests of their language skills and cognitive abilities, such as working memory and reasoning, between ages nine and 14. Doctors in the United States and Canada are looking for ways to put this research into practice with new strategies to support early literacy like distributing books during check-ups.