科學日報（2012年11月16日）----小時候學會游泳的孩子，將比一般的孩子發展得更迅速(更早到達發展里程碑)。
ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2012) — Children who learn how to swim at a young age are reaching many developmental milestones earlier than the norm.
格里菲斯研究學院的研究人員，在三年中調查了澳大利亞、新西蘭和美國的7000個5歲以下兒童的父母。
Researchers from the Griffith Institute for Educational Research surveyed parents of 7000 under-fives from Australia, New Zealand and the US over three years.
緊接著，又有180個3~5歲的兒童參與了更加深入的測試，使它成為世界上最綜合的幼年游泳研究。
A further 180 children aged 3, 4 and 5 years have been involved in intensive testing, making it the world's most comprehensive study into early-years swimming.
主管研究員羅賓·約根森教授說，研究表明：參與幼年游泳的小孩子，比一般的孩子學會各種技能的能力要更早。
Lead researcher Professor Robyn Jorgensen says the study shows young children who participate in early-years swimming achieve a wide range of skills earlier than the normal population.
“這種技能中有許多是像學前幼兒園到小學常規學習環境的轉變技能。
"Many of these skills are those that help young children into the transition into formal learning contexts such as pre-school or school.
研究也發現，不管她們的社會經濟背景如何，會游泳的人群與不會游泳的人群之間的區別是十分明顯的。
"The research also found significant differences between the swimming cohort and non-swimmers regardless of socio-economic background.
然而，兩個社會經濟背景更好的測試組，比兩個稍差的的測試組在測試中表現更好；四個工程科學學會的測試組表現，比一般測試群體表現更佳。
"While the two higher socio-economic groups performed better than the lower two in testing, the four SES groups all performed better than the normal population.
研究者也發現，研究群體和一般群體之間也不存在性別差異。
The researchers also found there were no gender differences between the research cohort and the normal population.
除了身體發展更快，小孩子們在視覺運動的技能取得的成績要更好，比如剪紙、著色和繪製線條與形狀，還有數理關係任務等。他們的口語表達，像一般讀寫和計算方面一樣，表現出眾。
As well as achieving physical milestones faster, children also scored significantly better in visual-motor skills such as cutting paper, colouring in and drawing lines and shapes, and many mathematically-related tasks. Their oral expression was also better as well as in the general areas of literacy and numeracy.
“許多這樣的技能在其他的學習環境中很有價值，當過渡到學前學習，或者小學學習時，它們對小孩子也會很有幫助。”
"Many of these skills are highly valuable in other learning environments and will be of considerable benefit for young children as they transition into pre-schools and school."
這個研究項目是格里菲斯大學、Kids Alive Swim項目和澳大利亞游泳的共同課題。
The study is a joint project between Griffith University, Kids Alive Swim Program and Swim Australia.
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