Not long ago, many people/ believed that babies/ only wanted food/ and to be kept warm and dry. Some people thought/ babies/ were not able to learn things/ until they were five or six months old.

Yet/ doctors/ in the United States/ say babies/ begin learning/ on their first day of life. The National Institute of Child Health and Development/ is a federal government agency. Its goal/ is to indentify/ which experiences/ can influence healthy development/ in human beings.

Research scientists/ at the institute/ note that babies/ are strongly influenced/ by their environment. They say/ a baby/ will smile/ if her mother/ does something/ the baby likes. A baby/ learns to get the best care/ possible/ by smiling/ to please her mother/ or other caregiver. This is/ how babies/ learn to connect/ and communicate/ with other humans.

The American researchers say/ this ability/ to learn/ exists in a baby/ even before birth. They say/ newborn babies/ can recognize and understand sounds/ they heard/ while they were still developing/ inside their mothers.

One study shows/ that babies/ can learn/ before they are born. The researchers/ placed a tape recorder/ on the stomach/ of a pregnant woman. Then, they played a recording/ of a short story.

On the day/ the baby/ was born, the researchers/ tested/ to find out/ if he knew/ the sounds/ of the story/ repeated/ while inside his mother. They did this/ by placing a device/ in the mouth/ of the newborn baby.

The baby/ would hear the story/ if he moved his mouth/ one way. If the baby/ moved his mouth/ the other way, he would hear/ a different story. The researchers say/ the baby/ clearly liked the story/ he heard/ before he was born. They say/ the baby/ would move his mouth/ so he could hear the story/ again and again.

Many experts say/ the first years/ of a child’s life/ are important/ for all later development. An American study/ shows how mothers/ can strongly influence social development/ and language skills/ in their children.

The study/ involved more than one thousand two-hundred mothers/ and children. Researchers/ studied the children/ from the age/ of one month/ to three years. They observed the mothers/ playing with their children/ four times/ during this period.

The researchers/ attempted to measure the sensitivity/ of the mothers. The women/ were considered sensitive/ if they supported their children’s activities/ and did not interfere/ unnecessarily. They tested the children/ for thinking and language development/ when they were three years old. Also, the researchers/ observed the women/ for signs of depression.

The children/ of depressed women/ did not do/ as well on tests/ as the children of women/ who did not suffer/ from depression. The children of depressed women/ did poorly/ on tests/ of language skills/ and understanding/ what they hear.

These children/ were also less cooperative/ and had more problems/ dealing with other people. The researchers noted/ that the sensitivity/ of the mothers/ was important/ to the general health/ of their children. Children/ did better/ when their mothers/ were caring, even when the women/ suffered from depression.

Another study suggests/ that low-birth weight babies/ with no evidence of disability/ may be more likely/ than other children/ to have physical/ and mental problems. The study results/ were published/ last October/ in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

American researchers/ studied nearly five hundred boys/ and girls. They were born in, or admitted to, one of three hospitals/ in New Jersey/ between nineteen eighty-four/ and nineteen eighty-seven. At birth, each child/ weighed/ less than two thousand grams.

The boys and girls/ had an average age/ of sixteen years/ at the time of the study. They were asked/ to complete intelligence/ and motor skill tests/ in their homes. Their test results/ were compared/ with those of other children/ their age.

The study found/ that the young people/ with low birth weight/ often had more problems/ with motor skills/ than others. A motor skill/ is a skill/ that requires a living thing/ to use its skeletal muscles/ effectively. Motor problems/ were more common/ among males, those/ who injured nerve tissue/ in the brain, and those/ who had been connected/ to oxygen supplies/ for days/ as a baby.

The most intensive period/ of language and speech development/ is during the first three years/ of a child's life. This is the time/ when the brain/ is developing. Language and communication skills/ are believed to develop best/ in an environment/ that is rich/ with sounds and sights. Also, the child/ should repeatedly hear/ the speech and language/ of other people.

America's National Institutes of Health/ says evidence/ suggests/ there are important periods/ of speech and language development/ in children. This means/ the brain/ is best able to learn a language/ during this period. Officials say/ the ability/ to learn a language/ will be more difficult/ if these periods/ pass/ without early contact/ with a language.

The first signs/ of communication/ happen/ during the first few days/ of life/ when a baby/ learns/ that crying/ will bring food/ and attention. Research shows/ that most children/ recognize the general sounds/ of their native language/ by six months of age. At that time, a baby/ also usually begins to make sounds. These sounds/ become a kind of nonsense speech/ over time.

By the end of the first year, most children/ are able to say/ a few simple words. But they may not understand/ the meaning of their words. By eighteen months of age, most children/ can say eight to ten words. By two years, most children/ are able to form simple statements, or sentences. By ages three, four and five, the number of words/ a child/ can understand/ quickly increases. It is at this age/ that children/ begin to understand/ the rules of language.

A long-term American study/ shows the importance/ of early education/ for poor children. The study/ is known as the Abecedarian Project. It involved more than one-hundred young children/ from poor families/ in North Carolina.

Half of the children/ attended an all-day program/ at a high-quality childcare center. The center/ offered educational, health and social programs. Children/ took part in games and activities/ to increase their thinking and language skills and social and emotional development. The program/ also included health foods/ for the children.

The children/ attended the program/ from when they were a few weeks old/ until the age of five years. The other group/ of children/ did not attend the childcare center. After the age of five, both groups/ attended public school.

Researchers/ compared the two groups/ of children. When they were babies, both groups/ had similar results/ in tests/ for mental/ and physical skills. However, from the age of eighteen months, the children/ in the educational child care program/ did much better/ in tests.

The researchers/ tested the children/ again/ when they were twelve and fifteen years old. The tests found/ that the children/ who had been/ in the childcare center/ continued to have higher average test results. These children/ did much better/ on tests/ of reading and mathematics.

A few years ago, organizers/ of the Abecedarian Project/ tested the students/ again. At the time, each student/ was twenty-one years old. They were tested/ for thinking and educational ability, employment, parenting and social skills.

The researchers found/ that the young adults/ who had the early education/ still did better/ in reading and mathematics tests. They were more than two times as likely/ to be attending college/ or to have completed college.

In addition, the children/ who received early education/ were older/ on average, when their first child/ was born. The study/ offers more evidence/ that learning/ during the first months and years of life/ is important/ for all later development.

The researchers/ of the Abecedarian Project/ believe their study/ shows a need/ for lawmakers/ to spend money/ on public early education. They believe/ these kinds of programs/ could reduce the number of children/ who do not complete school/ and are unemployed.