![\"Statistics](\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/dad-graphic.jpg\" "\\"Statistics")
<\/a>Source: beingdadpodcast.com<\/p><\/div>\n
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As a graduate student studying\u00a0speech therapy,<\/a>\u00a0I repeatedly observed the phenomena of \u201cdada\u201d as a child\u2019s first word. All the students in my playgroup seemed to have \u201cdada\u201d down, which inevitably made the moms a little upset. After all, why does dad get first billing? I remember my professor saying it was a common occurrence in her experience because often times, mother\u2019s spend a lot more time talking\u00a0about dad<\/em>, \u201cwhen will daddy be home?\u201d \u201cLook daddy\u2019s here!\u201d and that repeated modeling and talking about dad reinforced the meaning of that word. Even though we can expect the \u201cmuh\u201d and \u201cduh\u201d sounds to both be early developing sounds, there is just something special about dads. While mother\u2019s have a significant impact on development – and it has been well established that various maternal characteristics (education) influence vocabulary, it\u2019s also important to examine the role of dads in a child\u2019s development. And as it turns out, their part is very important.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We know the early years are crucial to development. A 2010 study from the College of New Jersey looked at families in low-income, two-parent, rural communities. They found that for children as early as 6 months of age, shared picture-book reading with dads who used a diverse vocabulary had a significant impact on the child\u2019s language at 15 months and later child language development at 36 months of age.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: soapqueen.com<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n In addition to book-reading, a diverse vocabulary seems to also play an important role in play as well.<\/p>\n Between the ages of 2-3, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute and UNC’s School of Education found that in families with two working parents,\u00a0fathers had greater impact than mothers on their children’s language development.<\/a>\u00a0They gleaned this from observed dads interactions and play with their toddler and the vocabulary that they used. Children whose fathers used more diverse vocabularies had greater language development when they were tested one year later; the mother\u2019s vocabulary did not have a significant effect.<\/p>\nDad\u2019s Make the Difference with Vocabulary<\/h2>\n
![\"Baby](\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/BabyDadReading.jpg\" "\\"Baby")
<\/a>Dad\u2019s do it Differently<\/h2>\n