Screen-time a concern as research finds poor language skills for new entrant children

RNZ Interview by Ruth Hill 30 October 2020

Research by Auckland University oral language expert Jannie van Hees found 80 percent of new entrants in some low-decile schools were up to one-and-a-half years behind in terms of their speech.
Dr van Hees said a child who has grown up in a language-rich environment usually has a working vocabulary of 5000 to 6000 words - but many of these five-year-olds had less than half that.
"If kids have got limited language capability they are stuck, and they are stuck for their whole lives.