Sat, Jul 05 2008
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Published May 07, 2008 05:07 pm - According to Dr. DiAnn Hunter with St. John’s Regional Medical Center, medical professionals have determined that the spoken word develops parts of a child’s brain beyond just the linguistic center. It also develops greater cognitive, auditory and visual skills. Crack open a book: Parents can help children develop language skills By Valerie Melton
news@joplinglobe.com Society seems eager to replace things. Compact discs have replaced cassettes tapes, while coal-powered energy is slowly being phased out by renewable resources. The same trend can be observed in parenting. Traditional childhood games, such as jumping rope and four-square, have been replaced with electronic game consoles, while some parents find the television to be an appropriate substitute for a baby-sitter. But can communicating with your child ever be replaced? Experts say the answer is a resounding “no.” According to Dr. DiAnn Hunter with St. John’s Regional Medical Center, medical professionals have determined that the spoken word develops parts of a child’s brain beyond just the linguistic center. It also develops greater cognitive, auditory and visual skills. “We know that interaction enhances development,” said Hunter. ‘Like clay’ ABC’s “Good Morning America” recently reported that by the time a child is 4 years old, he or she should have heard as many as 25 million words — that’s an intimidating 17,000 words a day. While Dr. H. Keith Cochran, an associate professor of psychology at Missouri Southern State University, is unsure there is an exact number of words a parent should focus on, he is a firm believer that a child — especially in the beginning years of life — is “extremely malleable.” “Children really are like clay in the hands of a potter,” said Cochran. “During the early years of their life, they pick up things like vocabulary, accents and dialects.” Cochran also believes that children are a lot more aware of adults’ use of speech and even use specific speech patterns a lot earlier than we give them credit for. “A child may cry to signal unpleasant feelings such as being wet, hungry or tired,” Cochran said, “and use cooing sounds, practicing vowels, to convey they are content or happy.” Importance of reading Dr. Maxine Morris, an associate professor of teacher education at Missouri Southern, said parents play a very important role in developing a child’s overall vocabulary. 
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