Parents pointing out key to language skills

PRE-SCHOOL children can be given a flying start in language and maths if their parents interact with them correctly, research suggests.

Studies show a strong link between gestures, pointing at objects and the ability of very young children to pick up vocabulary, say scientists.

Relating numbers to the real world, for instance by counting chicken nuggets on a plate, was said to be important for promoting understanding of maths.

Psychologists attending a major scientific meeting in Boston, US, spelled out what parents have to do to provide the springboard that will help their children grow up with good language and maths skills. For language, the critical time was around the age of one.

Dr Meredith Rowe, from Harvard University, said there was a major gap in language achievement between children from poorer and better off backgrounds. And the reason more advantaged children did better could be traced to gestures. When parents backed up their use of words with gestures, it helped their children link words to objects.

Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting, Dr Rowe said: “There is this window of opportunity when children are just getting into their productive communication, 10 months to about 18 months.

“I’m talking about the kind of gestures you see parents using when interacting with their children, like pointing at things. You might point and say look at the doggy. But what that does it gets the child engaged and interacting that way. The parents who are gesturing to more things have children who are gesturing to more things, and that predicts their language ability very strongly later.

“We found that even if you look back as young as age one there is a socio-economic gap in children’s use of gesture that predicts their use of vocabulary in kindergarten.”