I had the opportunity to go to Duke University today to participate in an infant language development study with Natalie. This is something that I've done with both girls, and really have enjoyed! I've worked in clinical research (specifically pharmaceutical trials) since I graduated from college, and really appreciate the importance of gleaning information from all kinds of sources to find out more about our world. Whenever I've gotten a call for one of my girls to participate in a research opportunity, I've carefully examined the study then decided whether or not to have them participate.
Natalie's study took place for the first time when she was 4 months old, and we were able to do the same study again today with her as an almost 9 month old. She sits on my lap and watches a computer screen for about 5 minutes or so while the researcher says words in another language (at the 4 mo study it was Japanese, and today it was Chinese). The research will be used to learn more about babies and how they develop and understand language, and it is so cool to know that we were a part of such a neat experiment!
For those of you who are curious, there was a student assistant in the lab who played with Ella while the experiment was taking place. She loved all the puzzles and books that were new and different, and was sad when we had to say goodbye. She did exert her 2-year old perogative, however, and refused to be in the picture with Mommy and Natalie!
1 comment:
Yea!!! that's so cool! I love that Natti will be able to speak so many languages.....ok well maybe not, but at least she is getting a head start! I'm all for young kids hearing the phonemes of other languages...better when they are young! good mommy you are!
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