2012

Björn, Piia; Kakkuri, Irma; Karvonen, Pirkko; Leppänen, Paavo H.T.

This paper reports the outcome of a multi-sensory intervention on infant language skills. A programme titled ‘Rhyming Game and Exercise Club’, which included kinaesthetic–tactile mother–child rhyming games performed in natural joint attention situations, was intended to accelerate Finnish six- to eight-month-old infants’ language development. The participants were 20 infants (10 training group children and 10 control children). Their cognitive skills and both receptive and expressive language skills (Bayley Scales III) were tested three times (pre-, post- and follow-up assessments). The groups differed significantly in receptive language skills at the baseline, in favour of the controls. The results showed that the performance of the training group children in cognition and receptive language increased after the intervention. The training group girls showed more acceleration in receptive language skills than the boys. The results suggested that training consisting of rhyming games and kinaesthetic-tactile stimulation is a useful tool for accelerating early language development and for enriching mother–child interaction.