Language-Gap Study Points to the Importance of Early Years

A new study by psychologist Anne Fernald at Stanford University has found that found that affluent children had learned 30 percent more words from 18 months to 2 years of age than children from low-income homes.  This has significant implications for the development literacy skills, as oral language and vocabulary are highly correlated with success in learning to read.  According to the article in the New York Times about the study “Literacy experts emphasize the importance of natural conversations with children, asking questions while reading books, and helping children identify words during playtime.”