Exposure to child-directed speech sharpens infants' language
processing skills and can predict future success. New work indicates early
intervention can improve language skills in kids lagging behind.
Fifty years of research has revealed the sad truth that the
children of lower-income, less-educated parents typically enter school with
poorer language skills than their more privileged counterparts. By some
measures, 5-year-old children of lower socioeconomic status (SES) score two
years behind on standardized language development tests by the time they enter
school.