Reading to your children from babies helps them know more than a million words by the age of five

Reading to our children aloud is something that has many benefits for their development, in addition to helping us strengthen our bond with them, increase their vocabulary and encourage reading at an early age.

But have you ever wondered how many words children know because we read them aloud? A new study found that There is a big difference in the number of words that those children who read to them know, from those who do not often. We share the results.

We know that one of the benefits of reading is the help us expand our vocabulary, presenting us with new words and meanings, or teaching us the different forms and terms that we can use to communicate.

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In the case of young children, reading is highly beneficial for their language development, and even the repetition of the same stories or stories. helps children accelerate vocabulary acquisition.

If you have ever wondered how many words children learn when their parents or adults read them storiesSurely you will be interested in the data that we will share, and that show that reading aloud is something we should all do.

The study

Conducted by the University of Ohio, the study analyzed the most read stories, to find out how many different words the children could know, according to how often they read them Your parents or caregivers.

The researchers found that those children whose parents read them five books or stories a day, knew about 1.4 million more words, compared to those children they never read to.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers selected 30 books at random, from a list of the 100 most read children's books and they counted the number of words in them. On average, cardboard books or thick pages (which are the first children usually have) have 140 words, while illustrated books contained 228 words.

With that data, the number of words that each child would hear from birth to age five was calculated, designating estimated age ranges for both types of books. Their results for the number of words that the children would have heard when they turned five were the following:

  • To those who were never read: 4,662 words.
  • To those who were read once or twice a week: 63,570 words.
  • To those who read three to five times a week: 169,520 words.
  • To those who read them daily: 296,660 words
  • To whom five books were read per day: 1,483,300 words.

As you can see, the difference is very noticeable, and Even if we only read one book a day to our son, the difference is more than 290,000 words, compared to those children who are not read aloud.

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The researchers comment that the difference of one million words between children who are read very often and who are never read, could help explain and understand the differences that each child presents in his vocabulary and reading development.

And for us as parents, it’s another example of we must continue reading aloud to our children, in addition to the benefits in their emotional development, it is proven that it is a great ally for the development of language and vocabulary.

Photos | iStock
Via | Science Daily

Video: Improving early child development with words: Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald at TEDxAtlanta (May 2024).