Blowing bubbles and language

Kids Who Blow Bubbles Find Language Is Child's Play
Youngsters who can lick their lips, blow bubbles and pretend that a
building block is a car are most likely to find learning language easy,
according to a new study funded by the Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC). Psychologists at Lancaster University, led by Dr Katie
Al***, found strong links between these movement, or motor and
thinking, or cognitive, skills and children's language abilities.

Their study looked at more than 120 children aged 21 months - the time
when they are learning new words at a faster rate than at any other
stage of their life. It included questionnaires for parents and special
tests of motor and cognitive abilities.

Dr Al*** said that an especially interesting finding was that children
who were poor at moving their mouths were particularly weak at language
skills, while those who were good at these movements had a range of
language abilities. She believes that the findings could help child
experts identify very early on those youngsters most likely to have
problems with their understanding of words and speech in later life.

In experiments, the children were divided into four groups, and those
in three of these were given more detailed testing in motor skills,
understanding, or language and hearing.

The study found that in each group, some skills had closer
relationships to language abilities than others. They also showed
different patterns of relationships. For instance, there was no link
when it came to easier movements, such as walking and running.

To assess spontaneous speech in a familiar place, researchers recorded
everything said by children, and the person looking after them, during
a half-hour free play session in each child's home. This was then
analysed in terms of the range of words produced, and the length of
sentences.

In a second group, children were assessed on a wide variety of thinking
and reasoning skills: working out how to put puzzles together, matching
pictures and colours, interacting with an adult to get their attention,
and 'pretending' that one object is another, such as using a block for
a car, or a box for a doll's bed, or giving a doll a tea party.

Children who were good at this were also better at language, but there
was no relationship with more general thinking skills, such as doing
puzzles.

In another group, children were tested on their ability for instance,
to say a new or unfamiliar word or to work out which of two Teletubbies
pictures the sound they are hearing goes with.

Children who could say new words an adult asked them to repeat, were
best at language. Being able to listen to a new word or a funny sound
and work out which picture it went with also distinguished between
children with advanced and not so strong abilities.

Dr Al*** said: "We have found links between non-language and language
skills in children at a time of very rapid development. We plan to
follow-up this study when the children are older, to find out which
skills give the best indication of later language abilities and
problems.

"We have already examined how much parents talk to their children at
home. Now we are also going to look at parents' levels of education,
and the children's home environments, such as the number of books they
have, to see what influences these have."

Source: Economic & Social Research Council
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060628095606.htm

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