This book is the crystallization of her 30 years of scientific research, which has aroused great repercussions in American academic and educational circles.
In the first chapter, Fate: Brain Development in the Eyes of Children Cochlear Implant Doctors, the author explains the reasons for writing this book in detail. As a surgeon in charge of cochlear implant in children, I know what deafness in both ears means to a person-it will be difficult to achieve anything in this life. But unfortunately, those children with cochlear implants, even if they get the same hearing function as ordinary people, may not recover well for some reasons.
Taking Zach and Michelle as examples, the author makes a detailed analysis. Both children with cochlear implants have reached the level of normal hearing, but Zach quickly integrated into a normal life, while Michelle has many difficulties. Combined with the growth environment of two children, the importance of early language environment is put forward.
The quantity and quality of vocabulary that children are exposed to before the age of three directly affect their final academic performance. Although cochlear implants can really give children hearing, it is futile to install them if they are out of the language environment.
The author hopes that every family, regardless of the economic situation, can maximize the potential of their children. This is the original intention of the author to write this book, and it is also the significance of reading this book-we have healthy children and create a good language environment for them, which may really confirm our old saying: look at the old at three years old and look at the old at seven years old! In other words, the starting line of life begins with the language education of parents.
1、
Cognitive sociologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley studied 42 families from all walks of life. First, they asked two questions: First, what did babies and children do when they were awake for 1 10 hours a week? Second, how much influence do these things have on children's final studies? After three years' follow-up, Hart and Leslie finally came to the conclusion that the early language environment of infants is very important. Their research report is shown in the following figure:
The picture is quoted from the language of parents.
Judging from the research report in the above picture, on the surface, the social and economic status of the family, parents' occupation, education level, family income and other factors have a great influence on the early language environment. But is this really the case?
Whether the family is rich or poor, the language environment is very different. Therefore, the early language environment is the key that ultimately affects children's ultimate learning ability, that is, how much parents say to their children and how to talk to them. The more children feel about their parents' language, the better their language ability will be, which has little to do with their parents' educational level and socio-economic status. In other words, even if the family's economic conditions are average, parents can create a good enough language environment for their children and achieve positive results.
Hart and Risley theoretically predicted the influence of children's early language ability on their learning ability after entering school. They visited these children again six years later and found that their current vocabulary, language ability and academic performance were as they had predicted.
However, it still needs to be emphasized that the early language environment has preconditions. For example, is it related to quantity and quality? Do the children in those families listen to more positive and encouraging language?
The so-called 30 million words are not 30 million different words, but the total amount of speech, including repeated words. The quality of language is more critical. In addition to the number of words, the role of words has also been affirmed. Among them, the most critical gap is the use of taboo words in affirmation. For example:
Affirmation: You are great, you are right, and you are doing this to show your thoughtful.
Taboo: You are terrible, you are wrong, you can't do it, and you will never do it.
In the final analysis, everything depends on how well the brain is nourished by vocabulary.
2、
The human brain is the only organ that can still be plastic after birth, especially before the age of four. During this period, the brain will develop to about 80% of the mature stage. What are the conditions for establishing neural connections in the brain these years? It's the language, to be exact, the language of parents.
A newborn baby usually expresses his emotions through simple and rude crying. Hungry will cry, thirsty will cry, shit will cry, and everything will cry when you are uncomfortable. The developing brain is very sensitive to all the stimulating factors in the environment.
Studies have shown that in infancy, a "toxic" environment full of continuous high-intensity stress will make babies feel nervous. If stress continues to rise, eventually stress will permanently change the brain structure, which will lead to long-term behavior problems of children. So parents take good care of their babies, including the language environment. Such as "mom loves you" and "dad's little darling", plus other babbling, in such an ideal, gentle and calm family atmosphere, the brain will develop perfectly.
Edward T. Ronicke, a famous professor of psychology at Massachusetts University, once completed an unforgettable "static face experiment" (expressionless experiment) on online video. This is a touching example of a baby's social needs.
In the video, a young mother buckles her baby in a high chair and then plays with her baby. Then the mother suddenly turned her back on the child and turned around again, her face was like a blank sheet of paper, without any expression.
The baby stared at her blankly, and then the baby's face was as bright as the sun. He danced and kicked, trying to arouse his mother's response in various ways. When the baby realized that it was futile, he lowered his little head and began to cry. This scene is really incredible.
Then, we saw that mother began to be anxious and helpless. Finally, her pale face returned to the appearance of her loving and gentle mother before, and the baby was happy again at once.
If you live in a "deadpan" or worse, angry or hostile environment for a long time, it is definitely impossible to make up for it with a hug in just a few seconds.
It will directly affect the baby's cognitive ability, language ability, behavioral ability, self and emotional control ability, social ability and physical health. This negative effect is irreversible.
3、
Language really has magical power, especially the language of parents in promoting the optimization and stable development of brain intelligence. Although the role of heredity cannot be underestimated, science shows that the language environment of children in their early years, that is, the language environment of their parents, largely determines the development of innate potential.
This is impressive, and this is another reflection that this book brings us. We are all born with some advantages and some disadvantages. No matter how good the language environment is, it can't eliminate these weaknesses. What science tells us is that giving full play to our potential depends on our brain development experience within three years after birth.
To some extent, all children's academic achievements in the later period are actually the test of parents' education in infancy.
For example, we often hear a girl say, "I hate math." The boy said, "I was not born to learn Chinese." At this time, as parents of adults, are there similar prejudices in the early days? When children are very young, do you unconsciously think that girls are naturally related to debate, language art and writing, while boys are naturally related to logic, mathematics and other science and engineering?
The subconscious mind of these gender differences has a stimulating effect on the final math scores, and habitually bypasses girls in early math dialogues. Although all studies have not confirmed this result, in a study of middle-class and upper-middle-class mothers, daughters under the age of two received half as much math talk as sons. This is a typical conversation type in the early language environment, that is, gender stereotype. This may be to exclude a girl from the fields that she may be interested in and prevent her from playing a special role in those fields that may benefit from her joining, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
This may have existed from the first stage of life. In addition to gender stereotypes, as mentioned above, speaking taboos and negative language to children can also cause obstacles to children's brain development and learning.
But does this mean that saying "you are great" and "you are the smartest" can make children omnipotent? Of course not! In fact, some ways of praising children are both counterproductive and counterintuitive.
A few years later, you may find that when a person who thinks he is born "smart" can't do something, he will give up because he is not smart enough, because the message you sent him is that only he is the powerful person and he is used to that "smart" person.
Psychologist Carol Dwek said: "If praise is not used properly, it will become a negative force, an anesthetic that makes students negative and dependent on other people's opinions."
The study also found that children's reading cognitive ability, mathematical ability, spatial reasoning ability, perseverance, self-discipline, willpower, moral sense and empathy ability are all related to the vocabulary that children hear early. This is the core of what our ancestors called "three years old for life".
4、
A lot of experimental research, theoretical support and other underlying logic are mentioned earlier, which is the core part of the book "Parents' Language", that is, how to build a rich language environment for early education.
So what exactly should we do?
The research results of this problem are also the core strategy of the "30 million vocabulary initiative" team, that is, the 3T principle:
The first T: * * * is transferred in: parents are required to consciously observe what their children are paying attention to.
In other words, establish empathy and wait until the time is ripe for parents to talk to their children. In other words, you pay attention to what your child cares about.
For example, if you insist on pulling a child to listen to your story when he is playing with building blocks, then this is not in line with the principle of * * *.
The correct way is that parents should pay close attention to their children's interests before joining them.
It is worth noting that digital devices are the bane of the principle of "* * * attention". Computers, tablets and smart phones are easily addictive and attract people's attention. Only when parents pay attention to their children can they pay attention to brain development.
"Emotional care" can be summarized as the following three steps in essence: observation, understanding and action.
Second T: Talk more: Parents communicate more with their children, and communication cannot be just sporadic words. The purpose is to let children master all kinds of words and learn how to use them.
Suppose the human brain is a piggy bank. If you are only content to put coins in it, it's even stuffed, and you can't afford college tuition, let alone medical school.
By the same token, if parents just cram simple words into their children's heads, no matter how they pretend, they can't match the college level.
There are several principles in communication: speaking more, being parallel, using fewer pronouns, and taking words out of context. 、
Third T: Conversation rounds: Take turns to participate in conversations with children.
This is the golden rule of parent-child communication and the most important part of the 3T principle. This is the real "communication", which plays a decisive role in children's brain development. In order to successfully carry out the parent-child interaction of "you come and I go", parents and children should actively participate in it.
In reality, many parents always like to rob their children, always want to finish their sentences for their children, impatient and impatient. In fact, these are all taboos in communication.
In fact, children's language is very colorful. For example, my four-year-old son saw that one of my teeth was a little crooked. He said, Dad, your teeth are not obedient. It is out of the team. Separated!
You see, how well this is said!
In life, parents can share reading, read with their babies, cultivate word awareness, tell stories and practice the 3T principle in mathematics.
As Luo Ling, an expert in children's education, said in her suggestion: "When parents pin their hopes on the various structures of their children's early education, it is easy for them to ignore their own role. In this book, the author systematically presents her 30-year research results: parents' language has a great influence on children's intellectual development, brain development, learning ability, emotional management ability, and even personality shaping! Instead of waiting for children to get good grades after school, it is better for our parents to study early, from now on. "
I strongly recommend this book to all parents in the new era!