The children of professional parents scored highest. Spoken language was the key variable, Dr. Hart said. Children of working-class parents heard 1,200 words and those with parents on welfare heard only 600 words an hour. Professional parents talked three times as much to their infants, Dr. Hart said. The tone of voice made a difference, Dr. Hart said.
Affirmative feedback is very important.
By age two, all parents started talking more to their children, Dr. Hart said. But by age two, the differences among children were so great that those left behind could never catch up. The differences in academic achievement remained in each group through primary school. Every child learned to use language and could say complex sentences but the deprived children did not deal with words in a conceptual manner, she said. A recent study of high-quality daycare found the same thing.