Posts tagged ‘vocabulary’
Rhyme is Critical for Early Literacy
A recent guest post on “An Amazing Child” blog does an excellent job summarizing the benefits to incorporating nursery rhymes in the regular reading material for young children. The author references research indicating that children’s vocabularies are shrinking in the US, and the gradual disappearance of nursery rhymes in their daily lives may be to blame.
The benefits of rhymes listed by the author include:
- auditory discrimination
- listening skills
- a rich range of language
- concentration skills
- oral storytelling / poetry skills
Other Resources:
Rhymers Are Readers: The Importance of Nursery Rhymes – KBYU Eleven
The Most Important Trait For Caregivers
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When our first son was just a few months old, our PEPS parents group had an early childhood speech development expert as a guest speaker. She provided the following simple advice: the most important thing to look for in prospective caregivers for your baby is that they are talkative. Basically, find a chatty nanny or daycare provider.
For some time now, researchers have found that children of more talkative mothers have larger vocabularies than children of quieter moms (studies at the University of Chicago showed as much as a 400% difference among two year olds). (more…)
The Benefits of Family Meal Time
Being a parent of an infant or toddler is a wonderful, and yet at times, exhausting role. It’s tempting to get food prepared for the kids, and worry about yourself later, particularly if you have a picky eater. However, research shows that families who share most mealtimes together raise kids who are healthier – both physically and emotionally – and who do better in school. As soon as your baby is eating solid foods, it’s a good idea instill the habit of eating together as a family, particularly given the vocabulary advantages for preschoolers who eat with their parents and siblings.
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Early Music Training Permanently Enhances The Brain
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Over the past decade, researchers around the world have uncovered compelling evidence that formal music training, particularly for very young children, permanently improves cognitive capabilities and increases IQ scores. In 2006, researchers at McMaster University in Canada studied 4 to 6 year-olds who participated in musical training using the Suzuki method over the course of a year. According to the BBC, those with training “performed better [than the control group] on a memory test also designed to assess general intelligence skills such as literacy and maths ability.” Lead researcher Professor Laurel Trainor said, “It suggests that musical training is having an effect on how the brain gets wired (more…)
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