{"id":2241,"date":"2013-01-08T21:08:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T21:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/?p=2241"},"modified":"2023-11-08T10:22:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T18:22:11","slug":"talk-to-your-belly-language-centric-pregnancy-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/news\/talk-to-your-belly-language-centric-pregnancy-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk to Your Belly: Language-Centric Pregnancy Care"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Music<\/a>

Image source: Facebook.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Did you know that at-home speech therapy<\/a> for kids can actually begin in the womb as part of your pregnancy care routine? It\u2019s true \u2013 and even young children without speech delays or similar issues can benefit from speech therapy techniques to encourage language development.<\/a> These speech therapy techniques can start before your child is even born. One of the hot trends in pregnancy care, other than loading up moms-to-be with eco-friendly gifts, is putting a headset on a pregnant belly and exposing the fetus to Mozart or Beethoven. And yes, the fetus can hear that and learn from it. But a recent scientific study reveals that a fetus actually begins learning individual sounds<\/a> in the womb.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In Utero Language Study<\/strong><\/p>\n

The study, which was published in Acta Paediatrica<\/em>, was led by Christine Moon of the Pacific Lutheran University. Moon, a professor of psychiatry, tested newborn infants in the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, as well as the Astrid Lindgren Children\u2019s Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Each set of newborns were tested on 17 native language vowel sounds and the same number of foreign language vowel sounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The researchers gauged the infants\u2019 recognition of the vowel sounds by evaluating their interest levels. And how exactly does one scientifically and accurately evaluate the interest level of an infant, one might wonder? It\u2019s simpler than you would think. The infants were all given a pacifier that was connected to a computer. The computer measured how often the infants sucked on their pacifiers, and for how long. So when a baby sucks the pacifier, it produces a vowel sound. When the baby pauses, the sound ceases.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nLwYKI_v35E<\/p>\n

The Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

The infants from both countries expressed greater interest in the foreign vowel sounds than the native vowel sounds. The researchers concluded that this is because the infants were already bored with the native sounds and were ready to move on to the new stuff. Can\u2019t you just imagine a cute little newborn rolling her eyes and thinking, \u201cGeez, Mom, enough with those old vowel sounds… That\u2019s so pass\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese little ones had been listening to their mother\u2019s voice in the womb, and particularly her vowels for ten weeks. The mother has first dibs on influencing the child\u2019s brain. At birth, they are apparently ready for something novel,\u201d said Patricia Kuhl<\/a>, of the University of Washington\u2019s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. Kuhl was a co-author of the study.<\/p>\n