New Study Says That Talking With Your Toddler Can Boost IQ Scores And Improve Language Skills

Sep 13, 2018

You're toddler isn't just learning how to talk. Letting your child participate in conversation often may improve their intelligence by 27 Percent.

Having conversations with your children does more than you think. they aren't just growing in their ability to speak but in their ability to think as well. Kids who spend more time communicating with adults tend to see higher IQ scores when they reach school-age. Letting your child genuinely participate in conversations seems to have a long-lasting effect according to the Journal Of Pediatrics.

Dr. Alan Mendelsohn and Dr. Perri Klass commented on the recent findings saying,

"showing that parent-child verbal interactions in early childhood predict critically important outcomes."

Their opinion on the research provided is insightful though they did not participate in the actual study.

The subjects included toddler's from 18 months up to two year olds. Recordings were captured around every 30 days depicting the language the children were exposed to and conversations they had with adults. Each child participated in six instances over the course of half of a year. The children were then studied again when they reached their preteen years. Each child was reviewed between the ages of 9 and 14 to see if the initial statistics had any bearing on their intelligence later in life.

The kids who were actively speaking in the first recordings proved to perform better on the tests that were given years later. They had 14 to 27 percent better results than the children who were passive in their speech as toddlers. The tests focused on vocabulary skills, language comprehension, and general intelligence. The results were adjusted for economic and social differences. Overall it showed a significant improvement in line with what the team of researchers expected to see.

"Promotion of language-rich and emotionally positive interactions should be the goal, with play and reading aloud",

said Klass and Mendelsohn in their scholarly commentary on the matter. They went on to emphasize the importance of language skills to teachers in programs that focus on young children. The study shows that early language skills can improve intelligence, but engaging interaction seems to have a major influence on your child's performance as well.

The study points to participation as the main strategy to improve your child's cognitive abilities. The connections in the brain are built stronger when you allow your child to talk with you. It can improve creativity and critical thinking along with natural social skills. Take time to listen to your child. Be patient and let them have a turn next time you speak to them. You might be surprised by how much faster they learn to construct sentences. Giving them the opportunity to verbalize their thoughts makes it that much easier for them to get into the habit of thinking critically.

Do you know any bright children that were talkative when they were small? See if any of your friends have experienced this with their kids And let them know what it might mean!