One of the most common questions about infant cognition concerns second (and third) language acquisition. I am fascinated by a new study on language acquisition by a top international infant lab. The study, “The Roots of Bilingualism in Newborns” Psychological Science, 343-348 is authored by K. Byers-Heinlein, T. Burns, J. Werker. They tested several groups of newborn infants. Some infants had mothers who spoke only English during pregnancy. Other infants had mothers who spoke both English and Tagalog during pregnancy. When the babies were born and less than 5 days old, the researchers tested newborns’ preference for languages. Babies could suck on a pacifier to hear contingent sentences that alternated between the two languages. The researchers could then assess how much babies sucked in order to hear the two languages. Babies whose mothers spoke English only during pregnancy preferred hearing English. Those babies whose mothers spoke English and Tagalog during pregnancy showed an equal preference for both languages. This elegant study highlights the amazing perceptual, learning, and language abilities that unfold even before infants are born.

If you are bi-lingual, let your infant take advantage – speak, read, and play with your baby in the languages you know. It is never too early to learn languages. So, you are not bilingual? Never fear! Introduce your child to various cultures early on. Foreign films, multi-lingual playmates, language classes, foreign artists, restaurants and museums are just some of the ways that you can inspire your child to engage in new languages. Take home message: It is never too early to inspire a love of learning, cultures, and foreign language! © Tricia Striano

I discovered the  boy by the Helmsley hotel. He was holding a magazine that his parents (and a friend) gave him so he would be entertained.  The three adults were starring at a map… taking just a little too long..determining if they should be going East or West… North or South…

The baby looked up from his carriage… determined that nobody was (on the surface) paying attention to him… He then dropped the magazine on the ground… looked up to his father (KEY BEHAVIOR) …  His dad picked up the magazine, looked at him, smiled .. and returned to the map….  

What is the message here… Babies need attention.. and social contact.. when they don’t get it, they have discovered clever ways to seek it out…  To the dad, it may have seemed like the baby had just dropped the magazine and needed him to reach for it to get it back.. However, this was intentional behavior by this clever little infant…  Had the baby just started to laugh.. maybe dad would have kept reading the map… because there was an immediate reason for dad to stop what he was doing (i.e., magazine dropped to the ground)… the baby got just the information he needed… Mom  and dad are not looking at me…  but the are still with me… Everything is under control… Now let me get back to this magazine! 

What baby behavior did you observe today?

Children who engaged with more violent media did worse in school regardless of their family background, family education level, or immigration background.   Violent media does not discriminate – -Violent media does lead to bad grades.  

What can your child do rather than play violent video games  - how about play sports?  draw?  run?  help cook dinner?  study?  volunteer…

Who are the experts in the field? What do we know? How can we translate that research into a book for children and parents?   The theme is how to talk to children about death, how to help them cope with death, what do they understand?   The theme continues to come up and I continue to search for answers…   The majority of information that I found thus far did not seem to be research based/inspired.  One article said that small children understand more about death than we think because children see dead flies and animals on the road etc… But I could not easily find any research to support this view.  And I was left with more questions.  At what age?  What is the process?  What other developmental milestones were related (i.e., theory of mind? inanimate/animate distinction?) 

 Today I found a blog written by Dr. Bruce Perry and Dr. Jana Rubenstein — to date it was the most clearly written information that I could find.  Bruce Perry is an MD and PhD and based on my investigation is a highly respected and published researcher.   I hope that I can convince his team to write a book on this topic.  I will keep you posted!  In the meanwhile, here is the link below, “Child’s Loss: Death, Grief & Mourning” by Dr. Bruce Perry.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/child_loss.htm#bruce

Parents – write to our Blog or Facebook page with your comments. What worked for you?   Our research is often inspired by your input, questions, and – your answers!   Researchers – what do you know or what advice can you offer parents as they communicate about death with young children?   Guidelines as a function of child age seem to be needed.

One of the most common questions about infant cognition concerns second (and third) language acquisition. I am fascinated by a new study on language acquisition by a top international infant lab.  The study, “The Roots of Bilingualism in Newborns” Psychological Science, 343-348 is authored by K. Byers-Heinlein, T. Burns, J. Werker.  They tested several groups of newborn infants. Some infants had mothers who spoke only English during pregnancy.  Other infants had mothers who spoke both English and Tagalog during pregnancy.  When the babies were born and less than 5 days old, the researchers tested newborns’ preference for languages.  Babies could suck on a pacifier to hear contingent sentences that alternated between the two languages.  The researchers could then assess how much babies sucked in order to hear the two languages.  Babies whose mothers spoke English only during pregnancy preferred hearing English.  Those babies whose mothers spoke English and Tagalog during pregnancy showed an equal preference for both languages.   This elegant study highlights the amazing perceptual, learning, and language abilities that unfold even before infants are born.

If you are bi-lingual, let your infant take advantage – speak, read, and play with your baby in the languages you know.   It is never too early to learn languages. So, you are not bilingual?  Never fear!  Introduce your child to various cultures early on.  Foreign films, multi-lingual playmates, language classes, foreign artists, restaurants and museums are just some of the ways that you can inspire your child to engage in new languages.  Take home message: It is never too early to inspire a love of learning, cultures, and foreign language!  © Tricia Striano, howbabieslean.com