Literacy coaches in the Boston area are working to close the literacy gap between low income children and their middle class peers by encouraging parents to talk to their babies and children. As simple as it sounds, the more words a child hears, the easier it is for him to read and write.

A study published by professor emeritus of human development at the University of Kansas Betty Hart and the late Todd Risley of the University of Alaska found that middle class parents speak an average of 300 more words per hour to their children than do their low-income counterparts. Vocabulary at age three correlates with third grade language scores.

So the three year, $555,000 initiative Early Words, run by ReadBoston and funded by Staples, endeavors to reach out to the community through workshops designed to encourage parents to talk to their children.

Literacy coaches offer fun ways to get parents talking to their children. They remind parents to keep a running commentary on what is going on throughout the day. They encourage them to read signs out loud and to ask children to pick out colors and numbers in their everyday activities. ReadBoston plans also to educate day-care providers and preschool teachers on the importance of talking to young children.

The language spoken doesn’t matter; research has found that children who have a large vocabulary in one language pick up another language more readily than those with smaller vocabularies.

Simply talking to a child, not encouraging him to be quiet, and encouraging him to initiate conversation at a young age can make a significant difference in language use by grade three.