Editing Language delay (section)

===Environmental factors===
'''Interactive communication and parental inputs'''

[[Psychosocial deprivation]] can cause language delays in children. An example of this is when a child does not spend enough time communicating with adults through ways such as babbling and joint attention. Research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers have a critical need for direct interactions with parents and other significant care givers for healthy brain growth and the development of appropriate social, emotional, and cognitive skills.<ref name="American Academy of Pediatrics2">{{cite journal | author = Committee on Public Education | title = Media education. American Academy of Pediatrics. | journal = Pediatrics | volume = 104 | issue = 2 Pt 1 | pages = 341–3 | date = August 1999 | pmid = 10429023 | doi = 10.1542/peds.104.2.341 | doi-access =  }}</ref>

A study examining the role of interactive communication between parents and children has shown that parents' language towards toddlers with language delay differ from parents' language towards typically developing toddlers in terms of the quality of interaction.<ref name=":42">{{cite journal| vauthors = Vigil DC, Hodges J, Klee T |date=June 2005|title=Quantity and quality of parental language input to late-talking toddlers during play|journal=Child Language Teaching and Therapy|language=en|volume=21|issue=2|pages=107–122|doi=10.1191/0265659005ct284oa|s2cid=145190021|issn=0265-6590}}</ref> While late talkers and children with typical language development both receive similar quantitative parental input in terms of the number of utterances and words, parents of late talkers are found to respond less often to their children than parents of children with typical language development.<ref name=":42" /> Parents of late talkers tend to change or introduce topics more often than other parents in order to engage their children in more talk rather than responding to their child's speech. They also seem to not provide an environment that is suitable for child engagement, nor do they establish routines that serve as a platform for communicative acts with their children. This, together with the fact that they respond less often to their children, shows that parents of late talkers do not follow their child's lead.<ref name=":42" /> Instead, these parents are more likely to adapt to the child's communication, which results in an "idiosyncratic feedback cycle" that worsens the child's language difficulties rather than help with their language acquisition.<ref>{{cite book|title=Reassessing parent-focused language intervention programs| vauthors = Tannock R, Girolametto L |publisher=Paul H. Brookes Publishing|year=1992|pages=49–79}}</ref>

'''Birth order'''

First-born children grow up in an environment that provides more possibilities of communicative interaction with adults, which differs from what is experienced by their younger siblings.<ref name=":51" /> Younger siblings are likely to have less one-on-one time with their parents or guardians. Older siblings also tend to talk for their younger siblings, giving them less opportunities to grow their language skills.<ref>{{cite book|title=Language Development from Theory to Practice| vauthors = Turnbull K, Justice L |date=2017|publisher=Pearson|edition=Third}}</ref>

'''Television viewing'''

Excessive television viewing is associated with delayed language development. Children who watched television alone were 8.47 times more likely to have language delay when compared to children who interacted with their caregivers during television viewing.<ref name="Chonchaiya 20082">{{cite journal | vauthors = Chonchaiya W, Pruksananonda C | title = Television viewing associates with delayed language development | journal = Acta Paediatrica | volume = 97 | issue = 7 | pages = 977–82 | date = July 2008 | pmid = 18460044 | doi = 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.00831.x | s2cid = 10635877 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Some educational television shows, such as Blue's Clues, have been found to enhance a child's language development.<ref name="Children, wired – for better and fo">{{cite journal | vauthors = Bavelier D, Green CS, Dye MW | title = Children, wired: for better and for worse | journal = Neuron | volume = 67 | issue = 5 | pages = 692–701 | date = September 2010 | pmid = 20826302 | pmc = 3170902 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.035 }}</ref> But, as recommended by the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], children under the age of 2 should watch no television at all, and after age 2 watch no more than one to two hours of quality programming a day. Therefore, exposing such young children to television programs should be discouraged, especially television shows with no educational value.<ref name="Children, wired – for better and fo"/> Parents should engage children in more conversational activities to avoid television-related delays to their children language development, which could impair their intellectual performance. However, in a study conducted by Dr. Birken of the Hospital for Sick Children, it was found that watching television while interacting with a parent of caregiver is actually beneficial for children who are bilingual. The study spanned four years, from 2011 to 2015, and was based on parent report and clinician observation. Over the four years it was found that if a bilingual child had interaction with an adult while watching television they did not experience language delay and it in fact helped them develop English, their second language.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/toddlers-screen-time-linked-slower-speech-development-study-finds|title=Toddler's Screen Time Linked to Slower Speech Development| vauthors = Akpan N |website=PBS|access-date=1 December 2018|date=2017-05-04}}</ref>