• Learning to talk

Spotlight on early language development - January 2010

The topic of children's early language development has been in the media recently, following rather alarming findings by the new DCSF Communication Champion, Jean Gross. In a survey of 1000 families, she found that four per cent of children have not said their first word by the age of three, while boys are almost twice as likely to struggle to learn to speak as girls.

To put this statistic in context, the average age for a baby to speak their first word is 10 to 11 months, while the average vocabulary of a two year old is 300 words.

We know that the pace and timing of children's early language development can vary greatly - after all, Einstein also didn't say his first word until he was three - and that many children who talk later than average catch up.

Differences in the timing and sequence of brain development in girls and boys have a part to play; boys develop language on average later than girls. It has been suggested that five year old boys are developmentally able to read and write at the level of three and a half year old girls, whilst boys tend to perform better at spatial tasks such as puzzles and mathematical tasks. (Why Gender Matters, Dr Leonard Sax, Random House 2007)

Delayed language development can, however, have a harmful long-term impact on children's achievement. Children who start talking a lot later than average often start school less ready to learn to read. They find themselves falling behind at an early stage, which affects their confidence and attitude to learning. Research by Hart and Risley which looked at the link between cumulative vocabulary at age three and educational attainment found that in over 60 per cent of children there was a direct link between their cumulative vocabulary at the age of three and their IQ scores at the age of nine and ten.

The years between birth and age six are a crucial window of opportunity in terms of language development. What is vital is that parents understand how important they are to their child's learning and what they can do to support language development.

Top tips to support language development

• Interact and communicate from the moment of birth

Babies are programmed to communicate. The NSPCC DVD, The Social Baby, shows amazing pictures of a newborn baby, literally minutes old, copying his father and sticking out his tongue. (Book and DVD available)

Parents caring for their very young babies may focus on their physical needs – feeding, changing nappies, sleeping – and assume that a quiet baby is a happy baby. Babies do need their rest, but communication is also vital. A quiet passive baby isn't learning as much as they could be. When parents interact with their baby through eye contact, smiles, sounds, actions, singing and chatting, they are laying the foundation for language development. Dummies can interfere with babies' ability to make sounds and form words; the specialist children's communication charity ICAN recommends that they are just used when the baby or young child is going to sleep.

Social interaction is equally important for babies in nurseries and childcare - workers need to be aware of building in time for one-to-one interaction to support language development.

• Talk together as much as possible

Research overwhelmingly demonstrates the importance of talking to babies and young children. The more words children hear at home, the wider their vocabulary at age three. What is also important is that the talking happens as part of positive two-way communication, with parents listening to their children, chatting and asking their opinion about things as a natural part of daily life. When children feel that what they say matters, it motivates them to talk and communicate

• Have fun, don't teach

Early years centres and workers provide parents with great opportunities to see how much their children learn from fun activities. Singing, telling stories, rhymes, looking at picture books, imaginary play, doing daily chores such as shopping together are all activities that promote talking and language development.

• Make an extra effort with boys

Although boys may naturally develop language skills later than girls, research has also found that parents are less likely to engage boys in early learning activities such as singing and looking at books that help this development. Early years workers can make a difference by drawing parents' attention to this and encouraging them to make an extra effort to talk and engage boys in language development activities such as singing and looking at books.

• Provide specialist help and support when needed

Early intervention when there is a problem that needs specialist help is vital in preventing a negative long-term impact on learning.