How well do unborn babies hear?

Q: Can you predict how well a child will perform in school by the input he/she gets in that first crucial year or two?

A: At this point, we can make such predictions only in very general terms. What I mean by this is that we can make the prediction if we average. Over a large number of children, the group that hears more input will probably also do better in school later. But note that this is a very weak kind of prediction. We cannot (yet) make the same prediction for any specific child. That is something that we very much want to do, and which will move this finding from being interesting to really important.


A: Surprisingly, yes: Increased language simulation during early childhood not only predicts later language skills (in 2nd or 3rd grade) but also math skills. This is an intriguing finding and although there are some speculations about what the connection might be, we don't really know yet what's going on.


