• Reading to infants younger than 12 months improved their language development.
• Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, published the findings in December.
• These books were chosen to help children develop their language skills.

A recent study conducted by researchers at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine found that reading to infants younger than 12 months improved their language development.

The study, which is based on well-established research on toddlers’ early language development, found that infants who were read to every day from the age of two weeks to the age of nine months had higher language scores.

The official peer-reviewed publication of the organization, the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, published the findings in December.

Parents and guardians were given a set of 20 children’s books to read to their children during the randomized study.

These books were chosen to help children develop their language skills early on and interact with print media. At their well-child visits, enrolled families agreed to read at least one book each day and administer an expressive and receptive language test to their infants.

“A simple goal for new families to try is to read one book each day. Adam M. Franks, M.D., a professor of family and community health at the Joan C.

Edwards School of Medicine and corresponding author of the study, stated, “It is very exciting to see that there is a measurable improvement in speaking and understanding before one year old.”

The speech-language pathologist Emily K. Franks collaborated with Callie Seaman, M.D., and William Rollyson, M.D., as well as researcher Todd Davies, Ph.D., to co-author the article.

“The real winners are the participating children and families in this area that have been benefited from the bonding experience of experiencing this co-reading through their participation in the project,” Franks stated. “Our team is excited about our findings.”

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