2:50pm Thursday 18th March 2010
By Alex Lewis
A TEAM of psychologists are teaching babies and parents to communicate using sign language in St Albans city centre today.
Academics from the University of Hertfordshire, led by Professor Karen Pine, are spending the day at the Town Hall, demonstrating the techniques of Baby Talk, a "language" incorporating simple signs for concepts such as "food", "drink" and "more".
The team has been studying the effect of using Baby Talk at a young age on later development and is conducting the demonstration as part of the Economic and Social Research Council's Festival of Science.
Psychologist Liz Kirk said: "We have been researching this for three years. We have found that for most babies, there isn't really any benefit.
"But for some groups at risk of delayed language development, particularly low income families, there can be real benefits.
"The idea is to get babies communicating before they can talk.
"It involves a lot of repetition and eye contact.
"For the at-risk groups, it can lead to improvements in language and eventually wider vocabulary."
The research involved trying out Baby Talk in Sure Start children's centres and the team hopes its findings will be used to justify government funding for the Baby Talk classes in deprived areas.
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