Parental Reading to Infants Improves Language Score: A Rural Family Medicine Intervention

Abstract

Introduction: Both expressive and receptive language development begins early in life. While the benefits of reading to toddlers (over 12 months old) is well-established, benefits of reading to infants (birth to 12 months old) is less established. This study's objective is to determine if consistent reading to infants improves expressive and receptive language development during the first year of life.Methods: We prospectively randomized infants at a family medicine clinic during their 2-week-old visits and gave them a collection of books. Group A (n = 16) received no instructions, while patients in Group B (n = 18) committed to read 1 book a day. Parents in Group C (n = 18) enrolled after 34 weeks gestation, committed to read 1 book a day, and watch an infant brain development video. We obtained average book counts and both expressive and receptive language testing at standard preventative visits through 12 months.Results: Language scores did not differ between randomized groups. Always reading 7 books per week led to higher expressive, receptive and combined language scores at 9 months than sometimes reading fewer than 7 books per week (P = .025, 0.009 and 0.011 respectively). These differences increased by 12 months (P = .004, 0.002, and 0.003, respectively). Instructing parents to read daily encouraged parents to read more books per week at 4 months (P = .031) and 6 months (P = .049).Discussion: Early, consistent reading demonstrates improved language scores as early as 9 months of age. Setting expectations of minimal daily reading impacted daily reading compliance early in life.

Clinically Useful Family Medicine Research

“…Does it matter? The impressive findings reported by Franks et al 4 will likely impact how strongly and when you encourage parents to start reading to their children.…”

Hubungan Intensitas Penggunaan Gadget dengan Kejadian Speech Delay pada Anak usia 24-60 Bulan

“…Perkembangan bahasa ekspresif dan reseptif dimulai sejak dini. Selain itu ikatan orang tua dan anak memiliki keterkaitan atau timbal balik sehingga terbentuk perilaku anak termasuk bahasa (Franks et al, 2022). Pertumbuhan dan perkembangan yang tidak optimal dapat menyebabkan keterlambatan seperti keterlambatan berperilaku, keterlambatan bersosialisasi, kemandirian dan keterlambatan bicara dan bahasa.…”

“…Perkembangan kehidupan manusia seiring nya berkembang nya zaman sehingga mempengaruhi perkembangan teknologi. Perkembangan ini berdampak pada aktivitas anak-anak yang sulit di kontrol oleh orang tua atau bahkan orang tua merasa aman melakukan aktivitas tanpa gangguan dari anak sehingga menyebabkan kurang nya stimulasi kepada anak yang menyebabkan keterlambatan perkembangan terutama terlambatnya bicara dan bahasa pada anak (Franks et al, 2022) World Health Organization (WHO), terkait keterlambatan bicara dan bahasa di Amerika Serikat yaitu pada anak yang berusia 4 sampai 5 tahun sebesar 5-8% dan di Indonesia tahun 2014 sebesar 9,54 % dari seluruh populasi (Kemenkes, 2015).…”

“…Faktor lain yang merupakan hasil penelitian dari tingkat pendidikan pada orang tua hampir signifikan antara pendidikan menengah dan tinggi, kategori ini merupakan level tinggi tingkat pendidikan orang tua menjadi faktor prediktor. Tinggi rendah nya pendidikan berpotensi meningkat nya perkembangan bahasa, dan rendah tingginya pendidikan tergantung pemahaman orang tua (Franks et al, 2022).…”

The Interplay of Family Socioeconomic Status, Parental Engagement, and Maternal Employment on Vocabulary Development in Korean Children

“…Shared book reading offers a concentrated vocabulary approximately eight times more than typical daily interactions, contributing to higher-quality language input (Ko & McDonald, 2020). This combination of abundant and high-quality input through shared book reading has the potential to widen language proficiency disparities among children, starting from early development (Franks et al, 2022). Projections suggest a substantial gap in vocabulary, exceeding one million words, between children whose parents engage in regular reading and those with infrequent exposure (Logan et al, 2016).…”