Britain: Children Reaching Age 3 Without Being Able to Say a Word
January 4th, 2010The piece says that television isn’t a factor, but keep this USA Today article in mind:
A study released Monday adds to the debate over whether television impairs children’s language development. It found that parents and children virtually stop talking to each other when the TV is on, even if they’re in the same room.
For every hour in front of the TV, parents spoke 770 fewer words to children, according to a study of 329 children, ages 2 months to 4 years, in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Adults usually speak about 941 words an hour.
Children vocalized less, too, says author Dimitri Christakis of the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. In some cases, parents may have spoken less because they sat a child in front of a TV and left the room, he says. In others, parents simply zoned out themselves while watching TV with a child. Researchers didn’t note the content of the TV shows.
Parents may not realize how little they interact with children when a TV is on, Christakis says. A mother may think she’s engaged with a baby because they’re both on the floor playing blocks. But if a TV is on in the background, the two of them talk much less, he says.
Let’s pretend that the idiot box isn’t a factor.
What are most of the children likely have in common?
All of the above, plus hundreds of other toxins in the air, food and water… What’s the impact on the mental development of children?
At best, some people will be able to convince themselves that the answer is inconclusive. I’d encourage them to look at the ingredients of all the food they regularly consume and the products they use, and break them down into two categories: healthy/safe foods and products and questionable/unhealthy foods and products.
I can assure you that most people would have far more rows on their questionable/unhealthy list if a true accounting was actually carried out. I’m certain of this because I see what people—who know better—are doing and it’s terrifying.
Look in the carts in the grocery store. What do you see?
Generic white bread, weird colored soda, Crunchy Death Pops cereal, candy, various processed pasta products, frozen pizza, bagged MSG chips, etc. etc.
Start adding it up. Yep, add it all up. What do you get?
Via: Times:
Children are reaching the age of 3 without being able to say a word, according to a survey that also found boys are almost twice as likely to struggle to learn to speak as girls.
The average age for a baby to speak their first word is 10 to 11 months. However, a significant minority (4 per cent) of parents reported that their child said nothing until they were 3.
Toddlers between the ages of 2 and 3 should be able to use up to 300 words, including adjectives, and be able to link words together, according to I CAN, the children’s communication charity. Late speech development can lead to problems, such as low achievement at school or mental health problems.
The survey of more than 1,000 parents found that a child’s background was not a factor in how quickly they learnt to talk. Working parents who put their babies in day care are just as likely to have a child whose speech develops late as those who leave their baby in front of the television.
Children develop at different rates. Being able to use up to 300 words between age 2 and 3 is just an average. Some toddlers can speak more than 300 words while some less than a 100. Some children maybe verbally advanced for their age but might be behind their peers when it comes to motor skills for example. I wouldn’t blame food and environmental toxins for all the language difficulties children may have. There might also be problems in the home between parents. A young child may not feel like speaking much if their parents are for ever arguing with one another in front of them. The child feels fearful and insecure. You don’t learn much in an acrimonious environment and given the high divorce rate there are lots of homes out there where it less than ideal for children to develop in.
Gotta love this part:
. . . a child’s background was not a factor in how quickly they learnt to talk. Working parents who put their babies in day care are just as likely to have a child whose speech develops late as those who leave their baby in front of the television.
As if those are the only two choices. Gee, no wonder the kids can’t talk.
(I recognize that because of our vicious and inhumane economic system, sometimes that is the only choice faced by parents. My point is that those are the only two circumstances studied by the researchers, because God forbid a control group of kids tended in samll family groups by parents or close relatives should prove to excel in language development. Might have to require paid parental leave or something if that were the case. Best not to know.)
(I also recognize that this was a survey and not a controlled study. Repeat from “God forbid . . .” above.)
Sorry, very cynical these days.
asb sapphire says, each child develops at their own pace. bringing up children is not a race n or a competition. this Times article is not very well written and the survey it focuses on looks quite flawed, imo.
i think you have to try and get a balance: children should develop motor skills, language skills, listening skills and visual skills. in fact, all their senses need to develop through firsthand experience and interaction with their environment, not by watching an LCD screen and hearing sounds through speakers.
food and water quality almost certainly affect a child’s ability to develop. so does maternal health during pregnancy and breast feeding. the circumstances of the birth has more long-term impact than we probably realize.
if families observe and interact with babies and toddlers so that they can begin to explore their universe and develop thir senses then problems will be picked up quickly and dealt with calmly (intervention—wtf does this really mean?).
as for junk in diet and exposure to inappropriate media, it’s one thing for adults to poison themselves slowly and turn their brains to mush from watching the idiot box, but babies and toddlers deserve better.
I have to say, the children in the UK are total and utter MONSTERS! Always yelling. Always screaming. Always swearing. The way they talk to their parents is just awful.
I told someone I worked with that they should bring back corpral punishment and she was totally shocked saying it wasn’t necessary! She said all you had to do was know your kids weakness…
babies aren’t born as monsters.
if kids scream and swear all the time, guess where they picked that up from, eh? (no, not thin air)