Internal blog post
A few weeks ago, as I was “decompressing” after work, I
followed a link on Facebook just for fun.
You may have seen it—“Mom delivers twins. 4 years later she looks at
their faces and notices a STUNNING truth…”
It wasn’t about the babies being switched at birth or anything like
that. Instead it was a plea from one
“ordinary” mother to another--children need to have their parents present instead of always being plugged
in to a device.
Have you heard of the thirty million word gap? Research has found that children in poorer
households often hear fewer words spoken to them than children who live in more
affluent homes. Thirty million words fewer
by the age of 3.
Recently I have been reading a new book called “Thirty
Million Words” by Dr. Dana Suskind.
It
addresses the word gap but also expands the scope--the words spoken are not
just about learning vocabulary or building a foundation for reading. It is also about developing the whole child—validating
their value as an individual, developing self-regulation, and acknowledging and
exploring the child’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Dr. Suskind explains this can be accomplished
by doing three simple things:
·
Tune In
·
Talk More
·
Take Turns
What I love about this book is that it explains why early
learning professionals need to teach and encourage the parents to do these things on a daily basis. The gap will not, nor cannot, close without
the daily influence of parents tuning in, talking more, and taking turns with
their child. This is where the real difference is made—in engaging the parents
to close the word gap by giving them the knowledge, skills, and desire to do
so.
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