Talking to Your Baby Boosts Brain Power



Nothing is more anticipated and exciting than your
child's first word. Many parents would say that their babies began to talk when
they said their first word. However, in reality, children begin to prepare for
that show-stopping moment while still in the womb.


Parents' interest and interactions with their children from the moment of
birth is essential. Recent scientific research suggests that during the first
three years of life, parents can "shape" their baby's brain and set the
foundation for their life's learning.
This is because, as we now know, the human brain is not fully developed at
birth.

Beginning shortly after birth, a baby's brain begins to undergo magnificent
changes. During the first year of life, it will actually double in weight and
use twice as much energy as an adult brain. This is not because of new cell
growth, but because of the trillions of connections or pathways that develop
between cells. These connections enable your baby to think and learn.

Babies simply do not receive enough genes from their mother and father to
make all of these pure, unprogrammed connections work. Scientists now know that
what a child sees, hears, touches, and feels during the early years of life
strengthens and shapes the trillions of finer connections that will work together
to foster learning through life. However, at different times during a baby's
development, some of the pathways that have not been used and reinforced by
learning experiences in the outside world may be shed and lost forever.

If a baby is provided with a lot of stimulation, however, the connections are
strengthened and may remain active forever. Many of these connections involve
language skills. Research has shown that children's development of language
is an important step in their ability to learn and think, and has a significant
impact on their overall educational experience.

Experts agree that the more language your baby hears and the more responsive
you are to his communication -- even his earliest babbles -- the more his inborn
ability to acquire language will be enhanced. This is because daily exposure
to words helps the brain pathways that foster language learning to develop more
fully.

According to research by Janellen Huttenlocher of the University of Chicago,
the actual size of a toddler's vocabulary is strongly correlated with how much
her mother talks to her. Dr. Huttlenlocher found that at 20 months old, the
children of chatty mothers averaged 131 more words than the children of mothers
who didn't speak much. At two years of age, the gap more than doubled to 295
words.

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