The word gap argument calls for impoverished parents and instructors of poor children to speak more words to newborns and early children in order for them to succeed academically. Children benefit from complex, dynamic learning that is linked to family, community, and language. They also need to hear words that they will later come to associate with important ideas and concepts. Speech therapists who work with children who lack speech due to medical conditions such as cerebral palsy use this argument to justify providing these children with alternative means of communicating their needs and desires. For example, a therapist might encourage a child's parent to attach symbols to objects in the child's environment to indicate how the child would like those objects treated (e.g., use scissors instead of fingers to pick up toys). This argument has been used by educators throughout history to promote the education of girls and boys who have not yet learned to talk. They have suggested that if girls can't say anything negative about a teacher or instructor, then he or she must be doing something right. Some scholars have criticized this argument on two counts: first, because it assumes that only children will benefit from spoken words; second, because it ignores the role that emotions play in learning. However, some researchers have proposed modifications to this argument that take into account new findings from cognitive science and neurobiology.