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Parent Question: How Early To Teach Lip-reading

By caroline | October 13, 2008

Lip-reading can be an imprecise science at times, but certain children and individuals find it’s a lifeline to understanding what’s said around them.

Babies naturally look at peoples’ faces when their attention is attracted, or they are spoken to. It’s never too early to teach lipreading, regardless of how a baby is going to communicate eventually.

Lipreading ability is known in babies of 4 to 6 months old. Researchers have documented recognition of visual cues in babies exposed to silent video clips.

In one test, speakers switched between spoken French and English in the silent clips. After a switch, babies who didn’t know a language looked more closely.  This shows they noticed a language with different forms was in use.

After eight months of age, only babies who were exposed to both English and French at home could tell the languages apart through visual cues alone.

The research concluded that after eight months of age, babies learning just one languge were less sensitive to visual information for other languages.

An unrelated test confirmed that babies recognised the difference between silent videos with faces making the vowel shapes “ahhh” (a) and “eeee” (e) .

Interestingly, babies who later heard “eee” sounds looked at the face with a grinning mouth, and on hearing “ahhh” sounds, at the wide-open mouth.

Some implications of this research:

1. Teaching deaf babies bilingualism (sign and English together). If the babies are to learn both, the process ideally needs to start as young as possible – this known as early intervention for language development.
2. Early diagnosis of deafness is beneficial to language-learning potential.
3. The principles of early intervention are confirmed: the use of hearing aids and visual teaching to support a baby’s language development.

Topics: Irish Deaf Kids | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Parent Question: How Early To Teach Lip-reading”

1. Lip-Reading Training Benefits From Technology | irish deaf kids Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 10:59 am

   [...] Parent Question: How Early To Teach Lip-Reading [...]

2. Lip-Reading Training Benefits From Technology « Journalist in a blog Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 9:18 pm

   [...] Parent Question: How Early To Teach Lip-Reading [...]

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