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How do children learn spoken language? Most children with typical hearing learn from infancy the sound of their mother's voice, a type of speech researchers call infant-directed speech. Mothers, fathers and most adults speak to infants in a sing-song manner, exaggerating the melody and rhythm of their speech. But what happens when this connection is broken, such as with a child who has hearing loss? This article will discuss the importance of infant-directed speech, and how infants with hearing loss respond to such talk in comparison to infants with typical hearing.
How do children learn spoken language? In children who are developing typically, this feat is accomplished more or less naturally through active experiences with caregivers and the child's environment. Parents don't enroll infants and toddlers in spoken language classes; instead, they model, encourage, and stimulate their speech and language attempts by responding to the cries and coos of infants and holding simple conversations with toddlers. In fact, caregivers across the world actually speak to their infants and young children using a special style of speech commonly known as ''babytalk'' or ''motherese.'' Researchers and scholars call this infant-directed speech. Mothers, fathers, and even strangers offthe streets speak to infants in a sing-song manner, exaggerating the melody and rhythm of their speech (e.g., Ferguson, 1964; Fernald, 1989). Caregivers are flexible with this speech style, adjusting the levels of exaggeration according to the social context and their infant's age (e.g., Kitamura, Thanavishuth, Burnham, & Luksaneeyanawin, 2002; Stern, Spieker, Barnett, & MacKain, 1983). This speech style is now known to contribute in many ways not only to infants' social-emotional development, but also to their speech, language, and cognitive development (e.g., Liu, Kuhl, & Tsao, 2003).
Sometimes that natural connection between caregivers and infants can be disrupted. For example, caregivers who suffer from depression have difficulty connecting with their children, speaking to them in monotones with flat affect. Researchers have shown that infants of mothers who are depressed have a difficult time learning new associations from such speech (Kaplan, Bachorowski, Smoski, & Hudenko, 2002), which likely has cascading effects on the development of spoken language and cognition. Moreover, children in families with low socioeconomic status are at a serious disadvantage compared to children in families with high...