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Buggies and child speech delay examined on TV

New research into the effect of forward-facing buggies is featured in a TV news show 'Lost for Words' looking at why a growing number of children starting primary school have delayed speech and language.

The 'Tonight with Trevor McDonald' programme next Monday will focus on the lack of communication between parents and their children as a possible underlying cause for speech problems. The programme tracks two families who have pre-school children with delayed speech.

Among the research it considers is a study led by Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, developmental psychologist at the University of Dundee, on behalf of the National Literacy Trust, into how babies and young children are affected by the way their baby buggy faces. The study found that 65 per cent of buggies are designed to face away from the person pushing them.

The programme's producer, Angie Mason, said, 'The footage shows that children learning to talk at one and two years of age need the carer to interact and give them words.'

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