Decades worth of research have shown that children ent ering school with poor language skills have greater challenges with reading and writing skills later in life – skills that are increasingly important to succeed in Canada’s knowledge economy. We know that certain kinds of par enting practices in infancy contribute to language skills development – but how and why? Cutting edge new research techniques are helping us answer th ese questions. Governments need early child development policy and funding to be as effective as possible\; and parents\, caregivers and educators nee d to understand how best to help children succeed.
[caption id="attach ment_10033" align="alignleft" width="113"]
Janet Werker[/caption
]Janet Werker is internationally known for her research investigating the perceptual foundations of languag e acquisition and is a University Killam Professor in the Department of Psy chology\, Director of the Infant Studies Centre\, and one of the founders a nd co-directors of the UBC wide Language Sciences. She is an award-winning Canada Research Chair whose innovative research discoveries were recently h ighlighted in the book Ingenious: How Canadian Innovators Made the Worl d Smarter\, Smaller\, Kinder\, Safer\, Healthier\, Wealthier\, and Happier< /em> by former Governor-General David Johnston and Tom Jenkins.
Dr. We rker is also part of the Early Development Research Group edrg.psych.ubc.ca a co nsortium of six research centers interested in development of language\, le arning\, and social understanding in infants and children.
Join the co nversation with Janet about the new tools\, policies and practices for help ing children optimize their chance to thrive and succeed.