A recent study by researchers at Stanford University uncovered one of the reasons that parents’ conversations with their children make such a difference. These researchers studied 29 children when they were 19 months old, and then again when they were 24 months old. The children wore special clothing with a digital recorder in the pocket that recorded approximately 10 hours of:
• the child’s speech
• speech that adults directed towards the child
• overheard speech (speech directed to adults or other children in the household, but not directed to the child in the study)