What was new to me and really alarming was the difference in tone - in the nature of the words that kids heard. And this number itself was correlated not just with differences in vocabulary but also differences in IQ and test scores in the third grade. And basically what they found, by the end of age 3, children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds will have heard 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers. The 30 million word gap comes from a very famous study that was done probably about 30 years ago by Betty Hart and Todd Risley, where they followed a group of children between 0 and 3 years old from all socioeconomic backgrounds. I spoke with Suskind about that journey and her Thirty Million Words Initiative.Ĭan you explain what you mean when you talk about the 30 million word gap? Suskind writes, "without that language environment, the ability to hear is a wasted gift." And so the surgeon became an activist. The kids who received cochlear implants but struggled to develop language often did so because their parents didn't talk to them as much as their growing brains required. In Suskind's new book, Thirty Million Words: Building A Child's Brain, she explains her personal journey toward the surprising answer: The kids who thrived generally lived in households where they heard lots of words. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Thirty Million Words Subtitle Building a Child's Brain, Tune In, Talk More, Take Turns Author Dana, M.D.
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