Talk Enough? Interaction Crucial to Child's Development

Sept. 28, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- All kinds of videos and computer programs promise to help prepare your toddler for school. But educators say the best preparation is talk from a parent or caregiver. But how much talk do you need?

The magic number, researchers say, is 33 million. That's about 30,000 words a day from birth to age three. If you've got a talkative family, you might think you're set. But a new device is proving most parents don't talk as much as they think.

As soon as nine-month-old Jacob Moss wakes up, his mom Cori engages him in dialogue. She's heard the more she talks to him, the better he'll do in school.

"I talk about what he's seeing. I talk about the color, I talk about the texture," said Cori.

Cori is a flight attendant who owns her business and has another child. She's worried Jacob doesn't get enough interaction.

"He has to keep up with us," said Cori. "We don't sort of go around his needs as much."

So she enrolled in a language study to find out just how many words her son hears on a daily basis.

"Most people overestimate. They're quite sure they're speaking to their child much more often than they are," said Professor Judy Montgomery of Chapman University.

Professor Montgomery, a literacy professor, sits on the scientific advisory board of Language Environment Analysis. The company created a digital language processor called LENA that counts how many words are spoken around a child during a 10 hour period.

"Everything that you do, you talk about," said Professor Montgomery. "'I'm putting on my sweater.' 'I think it's going to be cold out,' 'I'm wearing my sweater,' 'I'm going to zip it up.'"

Professor Montgomery says numerous studies show 30,000 words spoken each day from birth to three years can help ensure optimal language development. Thirty-thousand words per day comes out to about 21 words per minute, which is equal to reading "The Cat in the Hat" 18-and-one-half-times, which comes out to 1,626 words.

After downloading the recording into your computer, a chart tells you exactly how you're doing. Cori says all the talking is paying off, because Jacob said his first word -- "mama."

"And I was like, 'Oh, it's all worth it.' You know, a little drama there," said Cori.

The LENA digital system costs $400, and you can get it online at www.lenababy.com.

For bilingual parents, no problem -- it counts words from many languages.

As for words your child hears from TV, Professor Montgomery says it may be too passive, and that nothing can really replace human interaction.

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