Summary of "Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children"

Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley undertook the daunting task of studying two subgroups of "ordinary" families - professional, working class families and welfare families- and how they speak to their children. At the crux of their research was a desire to understand why children from low-income families remain behind their economically stable (and advantaged) counterparts in school. Hart and Risley recorded each month, one full hour of spoken word at home for 2.5 years to gauge interaction between parent and child. Their study yielded results illustrating a difference of almost 1,500 words spoken an hour, showing that children from families on welfare are at a serious deficit when compared with those from working class families. The results in this heavily research-based book buttress the notion that the first few years of life, specifically the first three years, are crucial - the imput a child receives directly impacts his knowledge base, his ability to succeed in school, and ultimately, his life.