Environment plays a crucial role in a child's language development. Children learn to speak through listening, imitation and trial and error. As children mature, they self-correct their language to more closely resemble the language that is modeled for them -- typically, the language of adults. Children who do not receive adequate verbal interaction and stimulation do not acquire language quickly or efficiently. In extreme cases, these children never master a language.
Physical Consequences
Like all forms of development, language acquisition depends in part on healthy brain growth. Child abuse and neglect can cause stunted growth in sections of the brain that govern language acquisition, particularly the frontal and temporal lobes. Shaken baby syndrome, blunt force trauma to the head, medical neglect and malnutrition can contribute to this condition. Physical abuse resulting in damage to the ears can also lead to problems with language acquisition, as hearing is a crucial part of learning to speak.
Mental Consequences
The emotional trauma caused by abuse and neglect in early childhood affects brain development. From birth to about eight years, children build synaptic connections in the brain based on experiences. These synapses are responsible for learning and development. In children who experience primarily negative emotions, such as fear, pain and confusion, stress hormones prevent synaptic connections from forming properly. This causes a lack of integration between cerebral lobes, leading to developmental delays in speech, language and other cognitive functions.
Effects of Neglect
A 1991 psychological study found that babies frequently spoken to by their mothers had an average of 300 more words in their vocabulary at age two than babies whose mothers rarely spoke to them. Children do not adequately acquire language through passive activity, such as watching television; they require frequent verbal interaction. Children neglected during the critical period of language acquisition from birth to age three typically experience delays in speech development and have below-average IQ scores.
The Forbidden Experiment
The forbidden experiment refers to the idea of isolating a child from society at birth to find out if he can acquire language on his own. The earliest recorded report of this experiment dates back to the seventh century B.C. The Greek historian Herodotus reported that the Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus isolated two babies in an attempt to discover the origins of language. The experiment resurfaced in the 13th century when German Frederick II ordered dozens of children to be raised without speech. None of the children learned to speak and all died in childhood.
Genie
Though modern researchers cannot ethically or legally conduct "the forbidden experiment," they have learned about the consequences of early childhood isolation through cases such as that of Genie, the feral child of Los Angeles. Genie was neglected and abused throughout her childhood. Her father isolated her from society, did not allow the family to speak in her presence and beat her for making verbalizations. She was discovered at age 13, and despite intensive intervention by scientists, psychologists, speech therapists and linguistic specialists, never fully developed the capacity for speech.
References
- Education: How Children Learn to Talk
- Child Welfare Information Gateway: Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
- International Adoption Articles Directory: Child Abuse and Neglect
- Zero to Three: Starting Smart -- How Early Experiences Affect Brain Development
- Feral Children: The Forbidden Experiment
