Sibling Speech

People often wonder if birth order affects how children acquire language...and I find myself wondering the same with baby #2 rolling around in my belly 😅🧐
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Turns out the answer isn’t that simple, but the research reveals some interesting findings!
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▶️ There are mixed results on vocabulary:
Some studies found no difference between first and second born children’s vocabulary development (Bornstein, Leach, & Haynes 2004) and others found first-born children showed more advanced vocabulary and grammatical development (Hoff-Ginsberg, 1998). 🤔
▶️ Hoff-Ginsberg did find however that LATER-BORN children had better developed conversation skills!
▶️ LATER-BORN children also appear to be more advanced in their use of personal pronouns (he, she, they, them, etc)
(Oshima-Takane, Goodz, & Derevensky 1996). .
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These findings suggest that younger siblings may be benefiting from over-heard conversations, as well as the content of conversations they are included in. 👍🏻
Those younger siblings are listening!! 👦🏽👩🏻‍🦰👧🏼.
. ▶️ Research can also put us at ease that there does not appear to be any connection between birth order and language DELAYS (Tomblin, 1990)