As parents and caregivers we spend a lot of time talking to children (often in the form of giving instruction) and may have difficulty when it comes to listening to children. One surprising result is that active conversation with your child, including active listening, is one of the key predictors of language development and future academic success.
Active Conversation Boosts Brain Function
One study demonstrates how talking and listening to your child is a key for language development in the brain. The study analyzed the childrens’ brain scans and test scores compared with audio patterns at home. They found that the number of “conversational turns” (the back and forth between parent and child in a conversation) directly correlated with an improved language score. “For every 11 conversational turns, a child’s verbal test score increased by one point.” Interestingly, the researchers saw no such connections for the number of words spoken, which may indicate it is the act of listening and responding that is the predictor of language success, not merely amount of time either party spends talking.
Lead author of the study Rachel Romeo concludes, “What we found is that the sheer amount of language, the number of adult words, was not related to brain activation or verbal skills. But what was related, strongly related, was the amount of back-and-forth conversation between children and adults. We think this research finding suggests, instead of talking at or to your child, you really need to talk with your child to have meaningful brain development and language development.”
Lack of Conversation Delays Development
Another study looked at the effect of television exposure and its result on conversation between adult and child. While it may seem intuitive that parents and children would interact less with audible television, the findings are stark compared with claims of purveyors of digital content for children that these programs are designed to give parents and children a chance to interact. “Having a television on was associated with significant reductions in discernible parental word counts, child vocalizations, and conversational turns for children 2 to 48 months of age. . . Each additional hour of television exposure was associated with a decrease of 770 in the number of words the child heard from an adult during the recording session, which represents a 7% decrease.”
The researchers go on to theorize that their findings may partially explain the associations previously found between infant television viewing and delayed language acquisition, as well as attention and cognitive delays. It is not just the amount of media exposure that matters, it is also the content and the manner in which children watch is important. In other words: are parents talking and listening to their children over the content they are viewing? “Whether parents talk less (or not at all) during some types of programs or at some times of the day may be as important in this age group as what is being watched.”
The key takeaway: aim to make television a time of bonding and intentional interaction between you and your child. Listening to and interacting with a parent’s voice is what is predictive of language success, not whatever is being spoken on the television.
Listening Supports Academic Success
For older students, research found children were six times more likely to complete their homework and six times more likely to care about school if they reported they had a parent with whom they could share ideas and talk about things that matter. This bond was strong enough to offset the negative effects of significant trauma experienced by the children in the study, which included nearly 65,000 children ages 6 to 17.
At Milestones Learning Center we know how important it is to listen to children. We invest in your children’s development and success in numerous ways and one of the most important of which is listening attentively. Book a tour today to see what Milestones Learning Center has to offer.