Millions of words to build a young child’s growing brain Exposure to two million more words a year could give a young child with hearing loss the information they need to reach their full potential! But, is two million a life-changing number when we are talking about words?….more specifically, the number of words a child with a growing brain is able to hear.
What does giving a child access to 2 million more words really mean for a young child’s growing brain? The researchers at Vanderbilt University in their recent article in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, they highlight important points:
- There is a positive relationship between the number of words to which children are exposed and their subsequent vocabulary.
- Consistent access to high-quality linguistic input is critical for language development.
- Additional language exposure could increase the opportunities to learn and acquire l language.
- Exposure to words has been shown to have a significant impact on children’s cognitive abilities, language abilities and academic success. Exposure to language is obviously important but do we know how many millions of words pre-schoolers need for success? …Yes, we do!
Hart and Risley (1995) conducted a landmark study that looked at the link between language exposure and child development. They found that normal hearing children who heard 45 million words by their fourth birthdays were better prepared when they entered school than their peers who came from language deprived environments. And when these same children were followed into third grade, they had bigger vocabularies, were stronger readers, and got higher test scores.
We know listening in the presence of background noise and at a distance is challenging for children with hearing loss. We also know that the most effective technology for listening in the presence of background noise and from a distance is a remote microphone system. It makes perfect sense that a RMS can improve a child’s speech and language exposure, well before he or she is old enough for the classroom.
They also found that caregivers tend to talk more from a distance (>8ft) when using the RMS then when not.…What does this mean for children? Well, caregivers are likely providing a more natural exposure to language (more like they would talk with children who have normal hearing) when using a RMS. I suspect they would also have more confidence speaking from a distance because they know their children will hear them.
There’s even more good news! When given a questionnaire, caregivers perceived significant listening benefits in their children, especially in noisy environments and when talking from a distance. Families reported children were ‘quicker to respond’, ‘more attentive’ and ‘more tuned in’ when using the RMS.
How exciting! Hearing care professionals can offer all these listening benefits and increase a preschool child’s access to caregiver speech by up to 2 million a year, simply by recommending that a remote microphone system be used.
As a speech-language pathologist, I think this is news worth sharing! We know that millions of extra words count for our little ones. It’s the foundation they need for future learning and success.