Research

• Research on the interaction(1) between parent and child reveals that the average child from a middle class home will have heard 44 million "utterances" by the age of four. Those from the least well-off backgrounds will have heard 12 million words.

• There is a significant correlation(2) between talking and later achievement.

• The number of negative words(3) a child hears (prohibitions and words of disapproval) were very high among poor children (75,000 encouragements and 200,000 discouragements), in contrast to what the average child of a professional hears (about 500,000 words of encouragements and 80,000 words of discouragement. This is a marker for lower self-esteem among poor children.

• The incidence of mental health problems(4) is higher among impoverished families than in middle class families, which increases the amount of physical and emotional abuse, especially for children when they mature.

• In 2006, only 53 percent of all children starting kindergarten(5) in Walker County could name eight alphabet letters in less than one minute.

1. Robin Alexander, Primary Review Reports, December, 2007
2. Howe and Mercer, Primary Review Reports, December, 2007
3. Hart and Risely, 2003 research update on "Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children"
4. Hudson, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2005
5. Windom, Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005
6. Windom, Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005

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