The research is in: children who hear more words in their formative years have bigger vocabularies, are better readers, and get better test scores. If you believe in the power of words, Dr. Dana Suskind’s fascinating audiobook, THIRTY MILLION WORDS, is essential listening.
In the course of her work as a cochlear implant surgeon, Dr. Suskind discovered a 1995 case study with compelling results. Researchers found that some children heard thirty million fewer words by their fourth birthdays than others, and that children who heard more words were better prepared when they entered school. To bridge this learning gap, Dr. Suskind founded the Thirty Million Words Initiative to develop programs that show how parent-child communication enables optimal neural development. She shares these research-based programs in her audiobook, encouraging parents to harness the power of their words to build their children’s brains and shape their futures.
THIRTY MILLION WORDS reveals that the most important—and astoundingly simple—thing you can do for your child’s future success in life is to talk to him or her. This intriguing audiobook is a must-listen for parents, as Dr. Suskind shares practical listener-friendly advice that patrons can use to help their children reach their full listening and learning potential.
She boils her advice down to The Three Ts:
1. Tune in to what your child is doing.
2. Talk more to your child using lots of descriptive words.
3. Take turns with your child as you engage in conversation.
LISTEN TO A CLIP from this intriguing audio:
Why not let audiobooks do the talking?
We’ve created a featured collection of audiobooks perfect for bedtime listening. Now parents and children can listen and learn together, while curled up with an audiobook! Click here to view these suggested bedtime listens.
As The New York Times recently reported, when children hear stories aloud “their brains practice creating the images associated with those words — and with the more complex sentences and rhymes that make up even simple stories.”
To learn more about how listening to audiobooks promotes literacy, read Dr. Rose Brock’s informative article, “Why Listen?” Rose explains why listening plays a vital role in communication and how audiobooks provide a medium for developing this essential skill. Plus, learn how to build and market a strong audiobook collection to provide patrons and their children with thirty million more words!
Praise for THIRTY MILLION WORDS:
★ “Simply talking to children more sets the stage for literacy, self-regulation, and academic success later in life. With awareness about the crucial period of language development, all families can provide a rich language environment simply through narrating bathtime and other everyday activities…Parents, other caregivers, and early childhood educators will be moved and inspired by this work.”—Library Journal, starred review
“Suskind’s vision is empowering, her methods are surprisingly simple to execute, and the results have been proven to nurture children toward becoming stable, empathetic adults…Informative, exciting new data that confirms the significant benefits gained by talking to your child.”—Kirkus
