Toddlers from musical households have 'better language skills' - study

Researchers from the University of Dussledorf adapted a questionnaire devised by Middlesex University’s Music and Cognition Communication Lab, measuring informal musical interactions with young children and babies in the home environment.

In a sample of more than 600 German parents and carers, a link was established between language skills at two years of age and musical engagement. The research paper concluded that ‘higher scores on the Music@Home questionnaire were associated with better language skills in two-year-olds’.

Co-author Dr Nina Politimou, a former PhD student at Middlesex, said, ‘This is very important because it will allow new studies to be conducted using this tool and therefore measure this kind of experience in very early development.’

She added, ‘Language development in toddlers is already affected by the education of the parents, the kind of input they get, so much so that by the time children are four they can be already lagging behind in school. This kind of work will hopefully offer recommendations about what caregivers can do to further support the development of language in their children.’