'Wealthy kids hear 23 mn more words than poor'

London, May 6 (IANS) Middle-class children hear 23 million more words than their poorer cousins of the same age, a British government adviser has said.

A collapse in parenting skills in poor homes with unstable families blights a child's prospects by the time they are three-years-old, said government poverty adviser Frank Field. He said middle-class kins hear 33 million words by the time they start school.

Wealthier children from stable homes will have heard 440,000 more positive comments from their parents than children from dysfunctional families by the age of three, Daily Mail quoted him as saying in a report on child deprivation.

He said the level of communication between a parent and child has a more drastic impact on a child's future than class, race or income. He warned the findings are only set to continue for future generations if action is not taken.

Downing Street dismissed the criticism, saying Prime Minister David Cameron took tackling poverty very seriously.