CHICAGO, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- University of Chicago researchers say toddlers who frequently convey meanings with gestures are better prepared when they reach school age.
The study, published in the journal Science, suggests parents should talk more with their children and speak to them in complex sentences. Researchers said children from higher-income families with well-educated parents started school with larger vocabularies then children from low income families.
"Vocabulary is a key predictor of school success and is a primary reason why children from low-income families enter school at a greater risk of failure than their peers from advantaged families," co-author Susan Goldin-Meadow said Thursday in a release.
The study found 14-month-old children from high-income, well-educated families used gesture to convey an average of 24 different meanings during the 90-minute session, while children from lower-income families conveyed only 13. Once in school, students from higher-income families had a comprehension vocabulary of 117, compared to 93 for children from lower-income families.
