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“The level of complexity of infants’ cries may help to predict which babies are at risk for language delays, new research suggests.”
Can this be true? We all know that the cries of an infant is his way of communicating to his parents when he is in need of something; but could it be possible that this simple wailing of a child is predicted to be his way of developing a language?
This study was posted by the The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal on its May issue, this year. According to details, a certain group of German researches observed the cries of 2-month-old babies compared in three different groups: the first are 11 babies with cleft lip and palate; the second are those who have 10 with cleft palate only; and a control group of 50 unaffected infants.
Naturally, the infants’ simple cry melody “consists of a single rising and then falling arc”. This study was observed by the researchers themselves. “As children age, their cries become more complex. The ability to intentionally segment melodies by brief pauses, for example, eventually leads to syllable production.
“By 2 months of age, healthy infants cries display complex melodies more than 50 percent of the time.
Those whose cries show less complexity are at a higher risk for poorer language development two years later. Those whose cries show less complexity are at a higher risk for poorer language development two years later. Babies whose cries were complex less than 45 percent of the time were almost five times more likely to develop a language delay at age 2. For infants above the 45 percent threshold, development of a language delay could be ruled out with an 89 percent probability.”
What an awesome discovery, isn’t it? By just observing how babies cry, researchers can then estimate the time they can develop their language abilities. Well, with all do respect, they have then found out that there was a significant difference among babies with cleft lip or palate compared to those who have no birth defects.With this discovery, parents who found their infants who have such differences can adjust to this indifference and do something to improve it.
So if you plan to let your children or children-to-be learn Italian language and take up foreign language courses, as early as now, consider their capability. Remember that their potential to learn both native and foreign languages is based on how they develop themselves as early as 2 months old.
Let this discovery becomes a way to open our minds concerning our capacity to acquire language.
