Parent Coaching Advances Infant Language Development

Parentese is a style of speech that parents often use with their children.  It has a slower tempo with higher pitch and exaggerated sounds, and it helps children learn language.  Now I-LABS researchers Naja Ferjan Ramirez, Sarah Lytle, and Patricia K. Kuhl have shown that coaching parents in Parentese helps them use it more often.  This leads to improved language outcomes for their children.

This research is published in PNAS.  Read the article here.

CNN covered the research as well. Read the article here.

Read the University of Washington press release here.