In a study about the importance of talking to young children, researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley found that by the age of 4, “an average child in a professional family would have accumulated experience with almost 45 million words, an average child in a working-class family would have accumulated experience with 26 million words, and an average child in a welfare family would have accumulated experience with 13 million words.” (Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Lives of Young American Children, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1995)