The Importance of Oral Language Skills
When parents think about literacy, they most often think about the importance of written language, letter recognition, and reading. But an equally critical foundation of good communication is oral language, helping children learn to use words to talk as well as to listen. In fact, historically, the role of stories and folklore in transmitting traditions and culture were paramount.
Today, in our electronic world, we tend to overlook the important role of oral language skills in promoting reading and broader cognitive development. In fact, promoting oral language was another area of focus by the National Institute for Literacy in their series on how to promote early language development.
In a recent booklet by the National Institute for Literacy, oral language is called the “engine” of learning and thinking, as the importance of oral language skills is linked to later literacy achievement in reading, writing, and spelling.
As infants, children use sounds and gestures to express their needs, and the responsiveness of caring adults to these early efforts to communicate play a critical role in brain development. As children grow and begin to use simple sentences and express their likes, dislikes, and curiosity, they are able to learn about the world around them and their environment. And with a growing vocabulary and oral mastery, preschool children more fully express their ideas and abstract concepts through stories and make believe.
What are some things that parents and teachers in early childhood education programs can do to promote oral language development?
As the National Institute for Literacy points out, one of the keys is through shared conversations and book reading—but not just reading a book from cover to cover, but taking the time to ask questions such as, “what do you think will happen next,” or “what do you think this character is feeling now.” Asking questions, providing explanations, discussing feelings—all of this things enrich the language experience for children and help to foster broader skill development.
Equally important is making sure that as adults we talk with children, not to them. Asking open-ended questions, using a varied vocabulary, and taking advantage of routine activities such as driving in the car, shopping in the market, or making dinner to talk with children about the activity or asking them about what they did during the day—these all require relatively little effort but have a big payoff in terms of your child’s language development. Children enjoy talking about things that are familiar to them, but they also can have rich imaginations and turn everyday events into fanciful journeys to unknown worlds that live only inside your child’s creative mind.
Parents today are often stretched, trying to balance the hectic demands of work, parenting, community involvement, friends, and other family members such as aging parents. In that context it is easy to feel as if there is isn’t enough time to do it all. The wonderful thing about oral language development is that you can engage your child anytime and anywhere.
So turn off your mental to-do list and use your time together to communicate, really communicate with your child. There is no doubt that your child will benefit immensely, and you will also learn a great deal about the world from the eyes of a child. And there is probably nothing more wondrous and rewarding than that.
http://education-blog.kindercare.com/2010/08/the-importance-of-oral-language-skills/
26.8.10
Quality early learning matters
The College Completion Agenda 2010 Progress Report states that the United States now ranks 12th, dropping from No. 1, out of the 36 developed nations of the world in terms of college completion.
Their number-one recommendation to begin to remedy this is to “provide a program of voluntary preschool education, universally available to children from low-income families such that all children at or below 200 percent of the official poverty line have a chance to enter school ready to learn.”
The Society for Human Resource Management recently reminded us “today’s infants and toddlers are tomorrow’s business leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, health care workers, and other professionals.” They call for high-quality early learning as a way to help ensure that we build the workforce we need to keep America competitive.
If we are to avoid the continuing decline in our democracy, we need increased attention to, and investment in, quality early learning.
Jim Caccamo of Kansas City is the director of the Department of Early Learning at the Mid-America Regional Council.
Posted on Sun, Aug. 22, 2010 10:15 PM
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/22/2167006/quality-early-learning-matters.html
Their number-one recommendation to begin to remedy this is to “provide a program of voluntary preschool education, universally available to children from low-income families such that all children at or below 200 percent of the official poverty line have a chance to enter school ready to learn.”
The Society for Human Resource Management recently reminded us “today’s infants and toddlers are tomorrow’s business leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, health care workers, and other professionals.” They call for high-quality early learning as a way to help ensure that we build the workforce we need to keep America competitive.
If we are to avoid the continuing decline in our democracy, we need increased attention to, and investment in, quality early learning.
Jim Caccamo of Kansas City is the director of the Department of Early Learning at the Mid-America Regional Council.
Posted on Sun, Aug. 22, 2010 10:15 PM
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/22/2167006/quality-early-learning-matters.html
‘Baby talk‘ may play key role in language acquisition
‘Baby talk‘ may play key role in language acquisition
By New York Times News Service
Tuesday, 24 Aug 2010
Experience, gender and personality appear to influence the ”baby talk” parents use when interacting with their infants, say Japanese researchers.
Baby talk is found across languages and cultures, but the brain mechanisms that underlie it are not known.
Reiko Mazuka, Yoshi-Taka Matsuda and colleagues at the Riken Brain Science Institute in Tokyo used functional MRI to assess brain activity in 35 first-time parents whose infants hadn‘t started to speak (preverbal) and compared them to 30 men and women without any parenting experience. The study also included 16 mothers with toddlers who spoke two-word utterances and 18 mothers with children in elementary school.
The participants‘ brain activity was monitored while they listened to recorded baby talk, which triggers brain activation patterns similar to those that occur when someone speaks baby talk, also called infant-directed speech (IDS).
The brain scans showed that mothers with preverbal infants had increased brain activity in areas of the brain that govern language. This heightened brain activity did not occur in any other group, including mothers whose children had started to speak, according to a Riken news release.
Among mothers with preverbal infants, those who were extroverts also had increased cortical activation in speech-related motor areas of the brain, the investigators found.
The results show that there are clear distinctions in how people process and generate IDS. This is evidence that baby talk acts as a link for linguistic transfer from mother to infant and plays a crucial role in the early stages of infant language acquisition, the researchers concluded.
The findings were released online Aug. 5 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal NeuroImage.
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201008241284150
By New York Times News Service
Tuesday, 24 Aug 2010
Experience, gender and personality appear to influence the ”baby talk” parents use when interacting with their infants, say Japanese researchers.
Baby talk is found across languages and cultures, but the brain mechanisms that underlie it are not known.
Reiko Mazuka, Yoshi-Taka Matsuda and colleagues at the Riken Brain Science Institute in Tokyo used functional MRI to assess brain activity in 35 first-time parents whose infants hadn‘t started to speak (preverbal) and compared them to 30 men and women without any parenting experience. The study also included 16 mothers with toddlers who spoke two-word utterances and 18 mothers with children in elementary school.
The participants‘ brain activity was monitored while they listened to recorded baby talk, which triggers brain activation patterns similar to those that occur when someone speaks baby talk, also called infant-directed speech (IDS).
The brain scans showed that mothers with preverbal infants had increased brain activity in areas of the brain that govern language. This heightened brain activity did not occur in any other group, including mothers whose children had started to speak, according to a Riken news release.
Among mothers with preverbal infants, those who were extroverts also had increased cortical activation in speech-related motor areas of the brain, the investigators found.
The results show that there are clear distinctions in how people process and generate IDS. This is evidence that baby talk acts as a link for linguistic transfer from mother to infant and plays a crucial role in the early stages of infant language acquisition, the researchers concluded.
The findings were released online Aug. 5 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal NeuroImage.
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201008241284150
20.8.10
Play or direct instruction?
Learning theorists
from Froebel (1887/1896) and Pestalozzi (1894/1915) through Vygotsy (1978) and Piaget (1970) all describe the early years as a special period where hands-on experiences in the form of play best advance children’s learning and development. Such hands-on experiences not only consolidate learning, but “play” to children’s natural instincts.
Play allows children to demonstrate their natural curiosities and problem-generating and problem-solving abilities; further, it fosters one of the fundamental tasks of the early years, notably children’s social and emotional development.
Assaulted through the years by countervailing trends that advocate for more structure, more recent scholars including David Elkind (2007), Edgar Klugman (Klugman & Smilansky, 1990), and Dorothy and Jerome Singer (Singer & Singer, 1990; Singer, Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 2006) have been stalwarts in their strong research-driven stance for play as the cornerstone of solid early childhood pedagogy.
The Benefits of Play
Play has long been recognized as an important element of children’s development and learning. Many of the skills and characteristics deemed important for children are advanced through play.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children’s most recent position statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009) described the many benefits of play for children. Play is an “important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as for promoting language, cognition, and Play and infant–toddler early learning guidelines must be regarded as partners in the press for quality early childhood efforts. social competence” (p. 14). The authors also pointed out that research demonstrates the “links between play and foundational capacities such as memory, self regulation, oral language abilities, social skills, and success in school” (p. 14).
Play is, in essence, the way that children develop many important skills and areas of knowledge, the same skills and knowledge often addressed in early learning guidelines.
http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/30-1_Kagan.pdf?docID=11641
from Froebel (1887/1896) and Pestalozzi (1894/1915) through Vygotsy (1978) and Piaget (1970) all describe the early years as a special period where hands-on experiences in the form of play best advance children’s learning and development. Such hands-on experiences not only consolidate learning, but “play” to children’s natural instincts.
Play allows children to demonstrate their natural curiosities and problem-generating and problem-solving abilities; further, it fosters one of the fundamental tasks of the early years, notably children’s social and emotional development.
Assaulted through the years by countervailing trends that advocate for more structure, more recent scholars including David Elkind (2007), Edgar Klugman (Klugman & Smilansky, 1990), and Dorothy and Jerome Singer (Singer & Singer, 1990; Singer, Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 2006) have been stalwarts in their strong research-driven stance for play as the cornerstone of solid early childhood pedagogy.
The Benefits of Play
Play has long been recognized as an important element of children’s development and learning. Many of the skills and characteristics deemed important for children are advanced through play.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children’s most recent position statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009) described the many benefits of play for children. Play is an “important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as for promoting language, cognition, and Play and infant–toddler early learning guidelines must be regarded as partners in the press for quality early childhood efforts. social competence” (p. 14). The authors also pointed out that research demonstrates the “links between play and foundational capacities such as memory, self regulation, oral language abilities, social skills, and success in school” (p. 14).
Play is, in essence, the way that children develop many important skills and areas of knowledge, the same skills and knowledge often addressed in early learning guidelines.
http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/30-1_Kagan.pdf?docID=11641
17.8.10
Early Education Pays Big Dividends
The lag in language development and pre-literacy skills begins at a very young age. Brain research shows that infants are born ready to learn if they have appropriate interactions with their parents and caregivers. Learning to talk is a necessary precursor to learning to read.
Why does this matter? It turns out that a child’s verbal ability at age 3 is a reliable predictor of reading ability in third grade. Third-grade reading ability is a reliable predictor of future academic success, high school graduation and workforce readiness.
In Worcester, 65 percent of third graders are not proficient readers and will likely face challenges in developing those skills. The data shows that we should invest earlier in their education.
Those interactions are critical to language development, attitudes about learning, and children’s social and emotional development.
http://www.wbjournal.com/news47063.html
Why does this matter? It turns out that a child’s verbal ability at age 3 is a reliable predictor of reading ability in third grade. Third-grade reading ability is a reliable predictor of future academic success, high school graduation and workforce readiness.
In Worcester, 65 percent of third graders are not proficient readers and will likely face challenges in developing those skills. The data shows that we should invest earlier in their education.
Those interactions are critical to language development, attitudes about learning, and children’s social and emotional development.
http://www.wbjournal.com/news47063.html
Imaging Reveals Abnormal Brain Growth in Toddlers with Fragile X
Science Update • June 08, 2010
Imaging Reveals Abnormal Brain Growth in Toddlers with Fragile X
Differences in brain growth patterns between preschool-aged boys with Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, and their healthy peers suggest that the disorder may affect brain development both before and after birth, according to NIMH-funded researchers. In addition, their findings indicate ages 1-5 are an important window for better understanding the effects of FXS on brain development. The study was published May 18, 2010, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Background
In addition to its association with intellectual disability, FXS is the most common known specific genetic risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). FXS results from mutations on a gene that creates a protein called FMRP. The mutations, in effect, turn off the gene. Relatively little is known about how these mutations affect brain development in early childhood.
Allan Reiss, M.D., of Stanford University, in collaboration with colleagues from Stanford and the University of North Carolina, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine changes in brain volumes in 69 boys, first assessed at ages 1-3 and then again an average of two years later at ages 3-5. Of the participants, 41 had FXS, 21 had typical development, and seven had some form of developmental delay.
Results of the Study
The researchers found that some brain regions were similar between the boys with FXS and those without FXS at both times they underwent MRI. Other regions were abnormal among those with FXS at the first time point and remained that way at the second time point, suggesting that the gene mutations responsible for FXS begin to alter brain development early in life, possibly even before birth.
Furthermore, some brain regions were similar among all the participants at the start of the study but showed major differences by the second MRI at ages 3-5.
"This third category is the most interesting because it suggests that we have captured a critical development window of brain development that is significantly affected by fragile X," said Reiss.
Significance
The same mutations that cause FXS are also strongly linked to ASD. Thus, FXS is considered a model condition for informing research on ASD.
This study provides greater insight into how FXS mutations affect early brain development, which may one day serve as targets for the development and evaluation of new interventions for FXS and related disorders.
What's Next
The researchers note that their study provides only preliminary information and that it will be crucial to follow the study participants as they enter their school age years, a time when the greatest number and severity of ASD behaviors tend to appear.
Future studies should include larger control samples, track development from an earlier age, and follow participants for a longer period of time. Studies comparing FXS population with those affected by other specific genetic risk factors, such as those occurring in Williams syndrome, may be useful as well.
http://mentalhealth.gov/science-news/2010/imaging-reveals-abnormal-brain-growth-in-toddlers-with-fragile-x.shtml
Reference
Hoeft F, Carter JC, Lightbody AA, Cody Hazlett H, Piven J, Reiss AL. Region-specific alterations in brain development in one- to three-year-old boys with fragile X syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 2010 May 18;107(20):9335-9. Epub 2010 May 3. PubMed PMID: 20439717.
Imaging Reveals Abnormal Brain Growth in Toddlers with Fragile X
Differences in brain growth patterns between preschool-aged boys with Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, and their healthy peers suggest that the disorder may affect brain development both before and after birth, according to NIMH-funded researchers. In addition, their findings indicate ages 1-5 are an important window for better understanding the effects of FXS on brain development. The study was published May 18, 2010, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Background
In addition to its association with intellectual disability, FXS is the most common known specific genetic risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). FXS results from mutations on a gene that creates a protein called FMRP. The mutations, in effect, turn off the gene. Relatively little is known about how these mutations affect brain development in early childhood.
Allan Reiss, M.D., of Stanford University, in collaboration with colleagues from Stanford and the University of North Carolina, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine changes in brain volumes in 69 boys, first assessed at ages 1-3 and then again an average of two years later at ages 3-5. Of the participants, 41 had FXS, 21 had typical development, and seven had some form of developmental delay.
Results of the Study
The researchers found that some brain regions were similar between the boys with FXS and those without FXS at both times they underwent MRI. Other regions were abnormal among those with FXS at the first time point and remained that way at the second time point, suggesting that the gene mutations responsible for FXS begin to alter brain development early in life, possibly even before birth.
Furthermore, some brain regions were similar among all the participants at the start of the study but showed major differences by the second MRI at ages 3-5.
"This third category is the most interesting because it suggests that we have captured a critical development window of brain development that is significantly affected by fragile X," said Reiss.
Significance
The same mutations that cause FXS are also strongly linked to ASD. Thus, FXS is considered a model condition for informing research on ASD.
This study provides greater insight into how FXS mutations affect early brain development, which may one day serve as targets for the development and evaluation of new interventions for FXS and related disorders.
What's Next
The researchers note that their study provides only preliminary information and that it will be crucial to follow the study participants as they enter their school age years, a time when the greatest number and severity of ASD behaviors tend to appear.
Future studies should include larger control samples, track development from an earlier age, and follow participants for a longer period of time. Studies comparing FXS population with those affected by other specific genetic risk factors, such as those occurring in Williams syndrome, may be useful as well.
http://mentalhealth.gov/science-news/2010/imaging-reveals-abnormal-brain-growth-in-toddlers-with-fragile-x.shtml
Reference
Hoeft F, Carter JC, Lightbody AA, Cody Hazlett H, Piven J, Reiss AL. Region-specific alterations in brain development in one- to three-year-old boys with fragile X syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 2010 May 18;107(20):9335-9. Epub 2010 May 3. PubMed PMID: 20439717.
15.8.10
Cortical reorganization in dyslexic children after phonological training
Cortical reorganization in dyslexic children after phonological training: evidence from early evoked potentials
http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/awq199v1
Chiara Spironelli1, Barbara Penolazzi1,2, Claudio Vio3 and Alessandro Angrilli1,4
1 Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy 2 Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy 3 Children’s Neuropsychiatric Medical Facility of San Donà di Piave, 30127 Venezia, Italy 4 CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Correspondence to: Alessandro Angrilli, Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy E-mail: alessandro.angrilli@unipd.it
Brain plasticity was investigated in 14 Italian children affected by developmental dyslexia after 6 months of phonological training. The means used to measure language reorganization was the recognition potential, an early wave, also called N150, elicited by automatic word recognition. This component peaks over the left temporo-occipital cortex and its amplitude depends on linguistic expertise. N150 elicited by written words was measured both in dyslexic children before and after training and in a sample of matched normal readers during phonological, semantic and orthographic tasks. After training, dyslexic children increased their reading speed. Normal readers showed a typical left posterior N150, whereas in dyslexic children it was equally distributed across hemispheres before and shifted to left posterior sites after training. In addition, dyslexics’ left posterior N150 asymmetry on the phonological task after training was significantly correlated with reading speed improvement, that is, those children who showed the greatest left shift in phonological N150 also had the greatest reading speed improvement. Source localization of the N150 component was made with both the Standard Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography software and the classical dipole analysis method termed Brain Electrical Source Analysis. The N150 generator lies in the left occipito-temporal cortex (Brodmann areas 39, 37 and 19) in good readers, but in right homologous areas in dyslexic children before training. After the treatment, the dyslexics’ main N150 generator shifted to the left occipito-inferotemporal cortex (namely Brodmann areas 37 and 19) with small differences between tasks. The two source location methods provided consistent, converging solutions. Results add to the current literature on the phonological hypothesis of dyslexia by showing hemispheric reorganization of linguistic networks at the level of early word recognition potential. Furthermore, the present work is the first to investigate brain reorganization in a regular/transparent language like Italian.
Key Words: brain reorganization; N150; lateralization; evoked potentials; development
Abbreviations: BESA, brain electrical source analysis; ERP, event-related potential; sLORETA, standard low-resolution electromagnetic tomography
Received March 15, 2010. Revised May 26, 2010. Accepted June 9, 2010.
http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/awq199v1
Chiara Spironelli1, Barbara Penolazzi1,2, Claudio Vio3 and Alessandro Angrilli1,4
1 Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy 2 Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy 3 Children’s Neuropsychiatric Medical Facility of San Donà di Piave, 30127 Venezia, Italy 4 CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Correspondence to: Alessandro Angrilli, Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy E-mail: alessandro.angrilli@unipd.it
Brain plasticity was investigated in 14 Italian children affected by developmental dyslexia after 6 months of phonological training. The means used to measure language reorganization was the recognition potential, an early wave, also called N150, elicited by automatic word recognition. This component peaks over the left temporo-occipital cortex and its amplitude depends on linguistic expertise. N150 elicited by written words was measured both in dyslexic children before and after training and in a sample of matched normal readers during phonological, semantic and orthographic tasks. After training, dyslexic children increased their reading speed. Normal readers showed a typical left posterior N150, whereas in dyslexic children it was equally distributed across hemispheres before and shifted to left posterior sites after training. In addition, dyslexics’ left posterior N150 asymmetry on the phonological task after training was significantly correlated with reading speed improvement, that is, those children who showed the greatest left shift in phonological N150 also had the greatest reading speed improvement. Source localization of the N150 component was made with both the Standard Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography software and the classical dipole analysis method termed Brain Electrical Source Analysis. The N150 generator lies in the left occipito-temporal cortex (Brodmann areas 39, 37 and 19) in good readers, but in right homologous areas in dyslexic children before training. After the treatment, the dyslexics’ main N150 generator shifted to the left occipito-inferotemporal cortex (namely Brodmann areas 37 and 19) with small differences between tasks. The two source location methods provided consistent, converging solutions. Results add to the current literature on the phonological hypothesis of dyslexia by showing hemispheric reorganization of linguistic networks at the level of early word recognition potential. Furthermore, the present work is the first to investigate brain reorganization in a regular/transparent language like Italian.
Key Words: brain reorganization; N150; lateralization; evoked potentials; development
Abbreviations: BESA, brain electrical source analysis; ERP, event-related potential; sLORETA, standard low-resolution electromagnetic tomography
Received March 15, 2010. Revised May 26, 2010. Accepted June 9, 2010.
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