Early Language Exposure and Middle School Language and IQ: Implications for Primary Prevention.

Abstract

* Abbreviations: ROR — : Reach Out and Read VIP — : Video Interaction Project Recent advances in neuroscience have led to an increased appreciation of the effects of early experience on the brain, with ramifications for language, cognitive, and social-emotional development.1,2 Language development has been especially well studied, with extensive research documenting relations between early exposure to adult language and children’s language capacities through early elementary school.3–6 The authors of “Language Experience in the Second Year of Life Predicts Language Outcomes in Late Childhood” extend existing research by using a naturalistic methodology based on analysis of full-day audio recordings (Language ENvironment Analysis, LENA) to demonstrate long-term associations between early language exposure and subsequent child language and IQ through late middle school.7 Gilkerson et al7 found that the strongest predictor was language-based interaction, with relations (less robust) also found for quantity of language exposure. By showing that parent-child verbal interactions in early childhood predict critically important outcomes through age 14 years (∼10 years later), the authors of this study have made a major contribution to this topic, with strong implications for American Academy of Pediatrics policy and clinical practice recommendations.8–10 With these findings, the authors also … Address correspondence to Alan L. Mendelsohn, MD, Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, New York University School of Medicine, Bellevue Hospital Center, 550 First Ave, OBV, Room A519, New York, NY 10016. E-mail: alan.mendelsohn{at}nyumc.org