The Civic Platform - A Political Journal of Ideas and Analysis

July 26th, 2008 | by Graham Scharf

A study published in the Child Development Journal by Robert Bradley makes
a strong case for the impact of parenting practices in terms of of child
intelligence and school performance. The study found that parenting
practices, observed through in-home assessments during the first 2 years of
life “were substantially correlated with intelligence test scores at ages 3
and 4½” and noted that “variety of stimulation” in those early years was
correlated with first grade test scores (emphasis mine). Furthermore, “Of
all the HOME [Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment]
subscales, ‘play materials’ revealed the strongest correlation with
first-grade achievement. ” In short, how parents engaged their children
predicted their children’s future development and performance.

“Specifically, there is evidence that children’s early cognitive
development is associated with such family environment factors as the
language stimulation available to the child, the responsivity of parents,
the emotional support given by parents, the number of toys and stimulating
objects available, the extent to which the home is organized and safe, and
the variety of out-of-home experiences provided the child.”

Connected with Zero to Three’s findings on brain development, it is fair to
conclude that stimulation translates not only into neural development, but
into real cognitive and language development.

Building a loving relationship with your child in the early by talking,
reading, playing and exploring will pay dividends for the rest of your
child’s life.

http://blog. tumblon.com/ ?p=74