Bye bye to "Once upon a time?" New study shows talking is better for your kids than bedtime stories

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Engaging your children in a bedside chat may be six times more effective in helping them learn language than reading a bedtime story, according to a new study by Dr. Frederick Zimmerman and colleagues from the UCLA School of Public Health, California. The study will be published in the journal Pediatrics.

Surprising results

The researchers looked at 275 families with children whose ages ranged from infant to four, and measured their exposure to speech from adults, other children as well as television. The children were later tested for their "language score" to see how well they could talk and converse themselves. Below is a summary of the findings:

·         Children exposed to conversations scored six times as high as those being read to.

·         Children exposed to conversations had a greater vocabulary depth and range, and made fewer grammatical errors.

·         Children who did not engage in conversation but instead listened to stories or one-sided adult conversations showed only weak improvement with regards to language skills.

·         TV had no positive or negative impact on children’s language development.

The study is among the first to use small recording devices to capture sounds and words spoken to and around young children, according to New America Foundation’s Early Ed Watch blog. The gadgets are put in kids' pockets or attached to their clothing. Researchers report that the technology supported by the LENA (Language Environment Analysis) Foundation, is breaking new ground in the collection of data on children's natural environments.

Two-way conversation is key

 “Kids love to hear you speak, but they thrive on trying speech out for themselves,” Dr. Zimmerman says. ”Give them a chance to say what’s on their minds, even if it’s ’goo goo gah.’”

Even in children who are still too young to form words, even these early sounds in response to adult conversations were shown to develop their language skills, the study indicated.