Kiddie speak

[mantra]

Nothing annoys me more than hearing parents copying the sounds their infants and toddlers make. How is a child to learn how to talk and communicate properly when there is no-one to teach them? The child points to a dog and goes "oof oof" and the parent repeats it with a smile on his/her face.

They might think it's cute - but it is now believed at least 20% (I would say more) of children starting school are unintelligible and this would hinder them considerably in future years. It also makes teaching them so much more difficult. Perhaps these children end up with no confidence and are unemployable? By 8 years of age - almost 30% of boys fall into this category.

Australian children generally don't seem very articulate particularly compared to their American peers. Americans appear to be prolific yappers (no offence to the Americans on this board) and their children appear to be confident and articulate. What are we doing differently? Maybe we're too reserved. I haven't come across any Australians who warm to an incessant chatterer.

CHILDREN are starting kindergarten with the speech skills of three-year-olds - and too much TV and a lack of extended family may be to blame.

Up to a quarter of kindergarten students have poor language skills, which hamper the ability to learn to read.

NSW public school teacher Sandra Smith has just published Teach Baby To Talk after being shocked by the problem.

"Out of 30 children we had six to eight with speech problems in each kindergarten," Mrs Smith said.

"It is articulation, pronunciation, vocabulary that is practically non-existent - and the inability to put a sentence together. Instead of saying 'can I go to the toilet' it is 'I go toilet'. They are speaking in sentence structures that are more like three-year-olds than five-year-olds."

Up to 28 per cent of boys and 19 per cent of girls aged eight to nine were considered "far below average" or "below average" in language and literacy skills by teachers in the Growing Up In Australia study in 2010.

Mrs Smith believes more children struggled with speech now than in previous generations she had taught over a 30-year career.

"There are many contributing factors, starting with television, computers and probably childcare," she said.

"Babies need a lot of one-on-one time from birth to develop speech so childcare centres have to give enough stimulation.

"And parents these days don't have the support network of extended families any more. Grandma and other relatives used to be nearby and they would correct speech. They aren't there now to say 'hang on, that is not how you say that'."

Talking to older children in "baby talk" and allowing "cute" mispronunciations to remain uncorrected also contributed to the problem.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/s ... 6298653462" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Outlaw Yogi]

Precisely why as a cynical little brat I hated Romper Room, Play School and Humphey B Bear.

I'm still a cynical brat, just not so little or fat.

[AiA in Atlanta]

Australian children generally don't seem very articulate particularly compared to their American peers. Americans appear to be prolific yappers (no offence to the Americans on this board) and their children appear to be confident and articulate. What are we doing differently? Maybe we're too reserved. I haven't come across any Australians who warm to an incessant chatterer.

You basing that statement on children in American TV shows?

[IQ popping]

Speaking kiddy talk to Aussie to try and and get his forum running might be successful

Lets try goo goo gah gah pay your fucking bills dickwad coochie goochie goo and it might get through...

[Fukkitt]

Australian children generally don't seem very articulate particularly compared to their American peers. Americans appear to be prolific yappers (no offence to the Americans on this board) and their children appear to be confident and articulate. What are we doing differently? Maybe we're too reserved. I haven't come across any Australians who warm to an incessant chatterer.

You basing that statement on children in American TV shows?

US kids are dumb/bobo/stupido/meff .... In general American kids are mare intelligent, especially the south American kids.

[mantra]

Speaking kiddy talk to Aussie to try and and get his forum running might be successful

Lets try goo goo gah gah pay your fucking bills dickwad coochie goochie goo and it might get through...

Has Aussie, or Ele, offered you an explanation yet IQ - after all you are the moderator.

[AiA in Atlanta]

God knows that many, many Americans give out way too much information in conversation, even at the office. It is embarrassing really.

[mantra]

Australian children generally don't seem very articulate particularly compared to their American peers. Americans appear to be prolific yappers (no offence to the Americans on this board) and their children appear to be confident and articulate. What are we doing differently? Maybe we're too reserved. I haven't come across any Australians who warm to an incessant chatterer.

You basing that statement on children in American TV shows?

Yes - but not just from the sitcoms - but documentaries, news stories etc. I know that the standard of education is quite low over there - ours isn't that high anymore either unfortunately but the kids still seem overly confident.

God knows that many, many Americans give out way too much information in conversation, even at the office. It is embarrassing really.

I can imagine. Some of the reality rubbish on pay TV gives you an idea of how outspoken they are about personal matters.