New research reinforces what many people had believed—babies hear what their moms say and their brains recognize these words after birth.
The researchers' conclusion was that “The better we know how the fetus’ brain works, the more we’ll know [about] early development of language. If we know better how language develops very early, we may one day be able to develop very early interventions [for babies with abnormal development].”
Whenever I read research like this it reminds me how critical early intervention is for children with hearing loss. Not only did Lily miss the first ten months of hearing after she was born, but likely she missed another six or seven months of sound as a fetus. The implications of that amount of language missed is hard to comprehend.
You'd never know it today, but it's important for us never to forget.
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