The founder and director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative, Professor Dana
Suskind, explains why the most important—and astoundingly simple—thing you can
do for your child's future success in life is to talk to him or her, reveals the
recent science behind this truth, and outlines precisely how parents can best
put it into practice.
The research is in: Academic achievement begins on the first day of life with
the first word said by a cooing mother just after delivery.
A study by researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley in 1995 found that some
children heard thirty million fewer words by their fourth birthdays than others.
The children