7 ways to build your childs vocabularly starting now

7 ways to build your childs vocabularly starting now7 ways to build your childs vocabularly starting nowIf you want your child to have a rich and fulfilling life, one of the best things you can do is help build your childs vocabulary. Research shows strong language ability is associated with a number of positive things, including happiness, friendships, connections with family, academic success and a satisfying career.Building your childs language ability is not something you should wait to do until theyre old enough to go to school. Vocabulary development is extremely rapid. Between birth and second grade, children, on average, learn about 5,200 root words.The ability to quickly interpret words at 18 months can determine the size of a childs vocabulary later in childhood.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreBy grades three and four, vocabulary also is closely related to childrens ab ility to understand what they read. This is partly because a childs vocabulary is a strong indicator of a childs knowledge of the world.As one who researches the best ways to develop childrens literacy, here are seven things that I believe parents and educators can do to help build childrens language and vocabulary skills.1. Talk about objects and events that interest the childTalk about something that has the childs attention. A mother may notice her 8-month-old baby staring at a large cat and say, Oh look at the nice kitty. She has such pretty eyes and soft fur. Such interactions may also occur when a child points to something and starts trying to talk about it, indicating excited interest. These exchanges are prime opportunities for adults to name, describe and explain things. Occasions when parents and children talk about things they are both attending to are powerful instructional moments. Words are paired with objects, events and emotions. The importance of these exchanges is shown by the fact that the amount of pointing by children at 18 months is related to language development at 42 months.2. Have many conversations with childrenThe amount of language children hear during conversations with adults in the first 18 to 24 months of life matters. Language areas of the childs brain are rapidly developing. The ability to translate sounds into meaningful words is rapidly improving. Linking sounds to meanings quickly enables one to continue to make sense from the words they are hearing. The speed with which children assign meaning to words is strongly related to the amount of language they have heard as part of adult-child conversations.3. Engage in sustained interactionsBy the time children are 2, it is not only the quantity but also the quality of the conversations they hear that matters. At this point to really foster your childs language growth, dont be in a hurry talk with your child about particular objects or events for a decent amount of time. Its n ot necessarily a certain amount of time that matters. But there should be at least eight to 10 back-and-forth exchanges between the parent and the child. When children are verbal, these back-and-forth exchanges that take place over many turns are especially valuable.Indeed, preschool children who have longer-lasting conversations show faster brain development and more efficient processing of information than those who have fewer and shorter conversations.4. Read and discuss booksOne of the most powerful of all shared activities is book reading. Books can be shared and enjoyed from the first year of life. They provide endless opportunities to name objects, animals and action. These experiences can be repeated over and over. The activity also gives parents a time to obligation with their child while talking about favorite pictures, events and stories.5. Use varied words while expanding world knowledgeChildren acquire knowledge rapidly as they learn words that refer to more complex con cepts. As time goes on, these words will be used during conversations about new ideas and experiences. For example, during a trip to an aquarium a child might see fascinating creatures as their parent names the animal, talks about parts of its body its fins and tail, for instance and how it moves. Or, during a trip to the grocery store, one can name objects, discuss their attributes, talk about where they come from and much more.6. Talk about past eventsThrough language we are able to travel through time to past and future events. As parents talk with children about experiences from the past, they tend to use novel words and children, in turn, are encouraged to use them. For example, a parent may say, Do you remember when we went to the aquarium? The child responds Yes, we saw that big big fish with wings. To which the parent replies Yes that was an enormous stingray. Regular conversations about the past foster vocabulary learning.7. Engage in pretend playLanguage enables children to construct and live in imaginary worlds. The talk that occurs as they enact their roles in these imaginary worlds leads them to expand their vocabulary.For example, two children are playing with action figures that represent doctors. One child holds a doctor figure and the other is playing with one that is lying on the ground. The doctor says, Be quiet I need to use my stethoscope. The injured figure says, OK. Is that the thing you use to hear my heart? Here we see one child informally teaching a sophisticated word. The second child is learning what a stethoscope is and, as they play, will gain some understanding of how it is used.These evidence-based methods are just a few ways that parents can help build their childrens vocabulary and knowledge of the world.David Dickinson, Professor of Teaching Learning, Vanderbilt UniversityThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Flexible Work for People with Disabilities and Special Needs

Flexible Work for People with Disabilities and Special NeedsFlexible Work for People with Disabilities and Special Needs4We received a bedrngnise from one of our members recently that reminded us of a very important fact Flexible work isnt just a great thing for working parents or people who want to enjoy their lives more. Flexible jobs are a critically important source of income for professionals who have disabilities or special needs.How do people with disabilities benefit from flexible workOur member put it perfectlyThe disabled and those of us with shades of disability would magnificently benefit from the ability to work from home. Some of us cannot always physically get to a job or would be physically restricted in a way by being in an office, but are plenty able to do work from home.We hope employers will remember this important idea as wellThat telecommuting and flexible work opportunities are not just juicy added benefits for employees, but that they actually make it possible for professionals who otherwise might not be able to work to find meaningful, fulfilling work in a capacity in which they can truly be productive.For more advice on job searching with a disability. Check out this fantastic resourceWhen and How to Disclose a Disability from the magazine Careers and the disABLED.To view our most current telecommuting and flexible job opportunities.Head over to our job search page with 50 career categories to choose from. Youre also able to select the type of flexibility youre seeking, whether it be telecommuting, flexible schedule, part-time, freelance, or any combination of flex-types. Best of luck in your job search

Meet The Woman Revolutionizing Genetic Testing, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki

Meet The Woman Revolutionizing Genetic Testing, 23andMe CEO Anne WojcickiMeet The Woman Revolutionizing Genetic Testing, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki To be Anne Wojcicki, you must start the day with a strong French pressed coffee- or, better yet, a few coffees.The 44-year-old founder and CEO of 23andMe is also the motherbeibei of two, a real estate investor and owner of kid-friendly cafe, Bumble, in Northern California. Oh, and her portfolio also includes an arts-and-crafts store, a video arcade, and indoor play space. Talk about a multi-tasker.In addition to juggling a non-stop schedule, Wojcicki is transforming how we think about genetics and the future of health. 23andMe has given 3 million consumers information about their ancestry, carrier status, wellness and traits, as well as genetic health risk reports, authorized by the FDA. At the helm of the personal genomics company, Wojcicki spends her days in DNA at her offices in Silicon Valley rushing from meeting to m eeting, as she looks for new ways to break boundaries. After all, the preskoranvers is on 23andMe as the industry leader and the first direct-to-consumer DNA testing service with FDA-authorized health reports..Glassdoor caught up with Wojcicki to talk about the next frontier of genetics, common DNA misconceptions, her career journey, and the advice shed give her 20-year-old self.Glassdoor 23andMe is the leader in personal genetics- a way for us non-science folks to access our data. Was this the goal or an unexpected perk? Anne Wojcicki This was always the goal. Our mission is to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. A huge piece of that is education, and making genetics relatable. Our scientists do a phenomenal job creating reports that are understandable for our customers and are an opportunity for them to begin learning about themselves through genetics. We also take opportunities to educate the public more broadly, for example helping create the Smit hsonians genome exhibit which toured museums nationwide. Weve also helped create curriculum for courses on genetics, and have put together two childrens books about genetics the latest just debuted on Amazon last monthGlassdoor How is 23andMe different from the traditional DNA testing that can be done through a clinic or hospital? Anne Wojcicki 23andMe is different in a couple ways. First, we are not a diagnostic test. Tests done in a medical system are designed to help diagnose disease. 23andMe is a medical device that is designed to look at carrier status, wellness, physical traits and ancestry. Second, 23andMe is intentionally designed to be easy for consumers to understand. Most tests done in a clinic are designed for physicians and not consumers.Glassdoor 23andMe has much more on the line than say an Uber or Spotify. How do you as CEO not get overwhelmed by that responsibility? Anne Wojcicki I feel a responsibility to our customers to get important information out to them. I have seen over the last few years just how much this information can impact lives for the better. I am driven by the desire to have better and better health information for individuals so we can all make better decisions in our lives.Glassdoor What motivates you or keeps you going on the tough days at work? When the morale is low and the expectations are high, how do you motivate yourself to push forward? Anne Wojcicki Customer stories and the impact of what we are doing is what keeps me going when days are tough and things are not going well. I am proud of impact we are having in the world by uniting families, answering questions, and helping people take action with their health. The impact of what we are doing is top of my mind every day.Glassdoor Youre one of the elite group of female co-founders and CEOs. Is the landscape for female CEOs and female founders improving? What do you notice are some of the trends in the gender leadership gap? Anne Wojcicki What changes the landscape and improves the gender gap are supportive and vocal role models who lead by example and with proactive outreach. I am a strong believer that female role models need to tell their stories and reach out to the younger generation.Glassdoor How do you tackle or approach the gender pay gap? Internally, how have you sought to equal the playing field as it pertains to your staff and women employed by 23andMe? Anne Wojcicki I think awareness is the first step towards making sure a company doesnt have a gender pay gap. We frequently evaluate salaries to make sure we are balanced and we continuously evaluate ourselves to make sure we have a culture that is friendly to men and women of all ethnicities and sexual orientation. I think awareness and regular intervals of reflection are key to making sure the company is making the right decisions.Glassdoor Any advice for how other tech companies improve equal pay in the workplace? Anne Wojcicki It comes from management. Management ne eds to be open to feedback and needs to regularly review pay to make sure they are compensating fairly.Glassdoor For those interested in working at 23andMe, what is the company culture like? How would you describe the work environment that youve led for the past few years? Anne Wojcicki I genuinely love coming to work every day and its because of the culture and the people. First and foremost we are a mission-driven company and people come to 23andMe because they believe in the work we are doing. Everyone at the company is contributing to our mission of enabling people to access, understand and benefit from the human genome. I like to think that we have a culture that is inquisitive, stimulating, fun and rewarding. I am also a firm believer in giving everyone the opportunity to grow and keep learning.Glassdoor Now a fun one what was your first job? And how did it shape or impact you? Anne Wojcicki Growing up, one of my friends family owned a luggage shop and I often had the oppo rtunity to help out in their store. I know a lot about luggage and pensGlassdoor If you could sit down with her for a drink, what advice would you give your 20-year-old self?Anne Wojcicki I would say enjoy the uncertainty and the adventure of figuring out the world and what you want to do. 20-year-olds can get away with adventure and exploration in a way 40+-year-olds can not. So enjoy asking all the questions and trying all the different jobs and realize that each new experience helps shape your views of the world and what you want to do in it.Originally published December 2016. Updated in Janaury 2018.