Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Gauging the intelligence of infants

DD5, on the other hand, did not crawl until 12 months and walked at 15 months. But she was always extremely alert as a small infant.

Yes! This is also supported by research - a baby's development of neural pathways in the brain can be fueled when people talk to and read to the baby.
DOE archive, Read With Me.
NPR article, Baby Talk (Hart & Risley).

There are huge potential personal and societal benefits when parents choose to interact with their babies in this way, even pre-born.

Please note that this study describes a beneficial pattern of behavior, which can be used by persons of all ethnicities, education levels, and SES:
- Study overview and book description here.
- Book: Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children.
- Companion Book: The Social World of Children Learning to Talk)
- brief roundup of free, downloadable pre-literacy and literacy resources available from the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)... which appear to back the findings of Hart-Risley... including:
1) A Child Becomes a Reader: Birth to Preschool (2006) 36-page PDF, subtitled Proven Ideas from Research for Parents
2) Put Reading First: Helping Your Child Learn to Read (2001) 8-page PDF, subtitled Helping Your Child Learn to Read, A Parent Guide, Preschool - Grade 3
3) Shining Stars: Preschoolers Get Ready to Read (2007) 9-page PDF, subtitled How Parents Can Help Get Their Preschoolers Ready to Read
There are also a number of free, downloadable reports available on literacy research, including:
4) Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel (2010), 260-page PDF, subtitled A Scientific Synthesis of Early Literacy Development and Implications for Intervention
5) Child Development and Behavior Branch (CDBB), NICHD, Report to the NACHHD Council (2009) 74-page PDF, no longer current. NOTE: See page 45 for information foreshadowing a push for Social Emotional Learning (SEL).
6) Developing Early Literacy: Executive Summary of the National Early Literacy Panel (2010), 11-page PDF, subtitled A Scientific Synthesis of Early Literacy Development and Implications for Intervention
7) Early Beginnings: Early Literacy Knowledge and Instruction (2010), 20-page PDF, subtitled A Guide for Early Childhood Administrators & Professional Development Providers

I wonder about this. My wife and I left our children from an early age with a live-in babysitter who was not that well educated. Maybe she talked to them as low-income mother talk to their children. I don't think this had a long-term detrimental impact on our children, although this is unknown. In general, when well-educated mothers go back to work, they are putting their children in the hands of less-educated women. Otherwise the economics don't work. In the day care setting those women are also caring for more children than a SAHM would be. I don't think the research has found that mothers working hurts the educational attainment of their children.

What on earth...?

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Aquinas!

Could you elaborate on how you think low-income mothers talk to their children? And why you think this might have a long-term detrimental impact on a child?

See the link to Hart & Risley posted by indigo, which is what I was responding to.

While it does not make a difference as such whether the mother works or not, the quality of the day care provider has been found to make a difference. However, it has been found to make less of a difference than parenting makes, so barring abuse, the SES of the parents will always override the SES of a DCP.
Sadly, that goes for situations where it's the other way round as well, so high quality public child care and preschool with higher SES peers can compensate for a lot, it can't compensate for every deprivation.

And what about all the twice exceptional babies here??? These are the kids who have gross, fine, speech, visual, feeding, or other developmental delays yet end up within the 98-99.9%. How do they factor into this study?

And what about those who are twice exceptional and receive early intervention and others who do not? A lot of variables there, particularly with those on the autism spectrum.

My dad and DH have a simliar story for me and DS.

1. My birth was a medical emergency, and I was inconsolable. After a few minutes of my wailing, my dad demanded to be let into the nursery to comfort me and said, "Aquinas, this is your Daddy." I immediately stopped crying and accepted his finger to suck on while we waited for my mum to be prepared to see me, all the while watching him intently as he cradled me.

2. DS' birth was also a medical emergency (for the same reason), and DH provided kangaroo care for DS while I came out of anaesthetic. Because DH read the same set of stories to DS every night while I was pregnant, he decided to recite a story to DS. DS stopped crying and accepted comforting on dad's warm chest. DS was apparently transfixed with DH's face and seemed to anticipate the funny parts of the story with excitement.

I love my gentle gentlemen!