Sydney, Feb 5 (IANS) Children with below average language skills can perform nearly as well as their normally developing peers if their parents make a few simple changes in the way they interact with them.

Researchers worked with four and five-year-olds attending pre-schools in Sydney's Mount Druitt area, and their parents.

They taught the parents (mostly mothers) of children with language difficulties to use simple strategies to develop their child's language skills.

The strategies were used while reading books and during everyday conversations and included: pausing to allow the child an opportunity to talk about a topic of interest to them; asking open-ended questions; and encouraging the child to talk more on their chosen topics.

'When adults were taught to speak less, children were able to speak more,' said Susan Colmar, a lecturer at the Faculty of Education and Social Work who led the research with Louise Davey, research associate from the University of Bath.

Colmar said these findings confirm earlier studies she has conducted.

'The children who received the book-reading language-intervention for four months improved, on average, five times more in understanding language (receptive language) than a control group, and made 10 times the gains of typically developing peers,' Colmar said.

'In terms of talking or speaking (expressive language) the children involved in the intervention made two-and-a-half times the gains of the control group, whilst the typically developing comparison children's scores did not improve at all.'