Vlach is an associate professor with the School of Education’s No. 1-ranked Department of Educational Psychology and is the director of the Learning, Cognition and Development Lab.

Vlach states that language is a powerful tool for learning, citing previous research that shows the importance of spatial language to children’s learning, especially as a precursor for entrance into STEM fields. Spatial words are terms like middle, top, bottom — anything that orientates the child’s position in a space. With her colleagues, Vlach tested how young kids could adapt their spatial language.

The experiment consisted of around 40 children at 4 years of age who were asked to look at an image with various blocks, one with a mouse on top, and to describe where the mouse was located using only words. Vlach and her team confirmed previous research’s assertion that spatial language at this age predicts their spatial skills.

However, their research also measured how children’s language changed across different spatial tasks. Vlach says that children that were not only producing spatial words, but adapting their spatial words, had better spatial skills, which is important in building children’s ability to communicate in the world and understand changes in orientation.

Vlach comments on the application of her research, saying parents can use spatial language in the playroom to help their children build spatial understanding. She reports that engaging children in activities like playing with blocks or working on puzzles could help kids become more successful in STEM fields later in life. Vlach notes that it is especially important to vary this language, so children are exposed to a different kinds of language.

Watch the interview with Haley Vlach ​on Child Trend’s website here.