The acquisition of language is both a natural and learning process for children. This happens as they interact with people and things in their environment.
What can you read in this article?
- Language development of a baby
- How to teach your baby to talk
- Baby first words list
The process is gradual and comes at different paces for every child. Furthermore, the way you interact with your child can also determine how he develops his language skills.
The first five years of your child’s life are the most crucial as this is when the foundations for language development are built. So it is important to know the baby language development of babies and how to teach your baby to talk so you can guide your kid appropriately and substantially.
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Baby language development. | Photo by Singkham from Pexels
Language development of a baby
Language is divided into two major aspects – receptive language and expressive language. The former is the ability to listen and understand language while expressive language is defined as the ability to speak and convey messages. Your child should develop well in both these aspects so he or she can be a good communicator.
Birth
Babies are aware of sounds in their environment. They cry if it’s very noisy as they are still unfamiliar with most of the sounds they hear. To express their feelings, they make sounds. It is the infant’s way of communicating.
0-3 Months
Babies start to respond to familiar voices and will listen closely to anything that they are not familiar with. To express delight at seeing their parents or anyone familiar, they usually smile or make a ‘goo-goo’ sound. It is possible to differentiate their cries at this age.
4-6 Months
They start to respond to the word “no” and seem to be fascinated at other sounds such as music, the ‘whirr’ of electrical appliances, and animal sounds. At this point, a baby should be able to open its throat and make gurgling sounds. They are most likely able to sound out consonants such as m, b, and p.
7-12 Months
At this age, babies are already familiar with their names and will look at anyone who calls them. They will start responding to questions and requests.
They will also be familiar with the names of common household objects and can point at them when asked. This is the time when babies are most likely to say their first word as they are now able to combine vowel and consonant sounds.
Every child is unique and develops at his own pace. Try not to compare your child with other children as this can only cause undue stress and unnecessary pressure for your child.
Some of you may already be panicking after reading on the various stages of language development. The milestones enumerated above are just general ideas and should not be interpreted too rigidly. Remember some children can stay in one stage longer than others while some may go through each stage very quickly.
READ MORE:
Your baby’s milestone: When do babies say their first words?
24 Incredible milestones and changes during baby’s first year
5 ways how to teach your baby to talk
Instead of stressing yourself out, take a look at the following suggestions to help jump-start your baby’s language development, tips you can try to do with your baby
1. Integrate language learning in your baby’s daily activities
As a parent, it is definitely exciting, yet challenging for you to help develop your baby’s language development. Your role is very important as you are your baby’s constant companion.
You don’t have to wait for those ‘special moments’ to start helping your baby to develop language. Each moment that you spend with him or her is a ‘teaching moment’.
When your baby “coos”, say something in return. This will help your baby get the idea that the sounds that come out of his or her mouth can catch mummy’s or daddy’s attention.
Studies show that children who were responded to when they made sounds as babies had better cognitive skills when they were older than those who were just ignored.
However, experts say that parents should not respond to every babble as their babies grow older. Mommies and daddies should only respond to sounds that are comprehensible. This will help the little ones to determine which sounds are effective–making them work harder at repeating them.
2. Interact with your child as often as possible
You should find enjoyment in interacting with your baby. According to some studies, babies that are exposed to television, learn six words less than their non-tv-viewing counterparts.
Parents are advised not to let their babies watch any television at all. As you do things for him, pretend like you’re talking to an adult and explain what you’re doing in detail. You can also read stories or rhymes. Try to make communicating something really fun for your baby.
Image from Shutterstock
3. Talk to your baby the way he wants you to
You may think that baby talk is silly but experts say that this way of talking is actually beneficial for babies. Stretching out the sounds of each syllable actually helps babies become sensitive to individual letter sounds. This makes their auditory facilities more discerning. So start using that sing-song intonation when talking to your baby.
Babies also need to see your lips when you’re talking to them. Before they can understand any word that you’re saying, they first need to learn how to segment.
That means they have to see when one word ends and another one begins. Hence, let babies watch educational videos. Usually, in these videos, the person who is talking cannot be seen on screen. What happens is that the audio is not complemented by a related image which makes things really confusing for babies.
4. Help your baby learn the names of things
Object labeling is an important practice that parents can use to help their child’s language development. Parents can point to an object while saying, “This is ______.”
But this should be done normally with parents just following the lead of their babies. Make sure that your timing is correct so your baby can associate the right label with an object.
While doing object labeling, you can use exaggerated motions to attract your baby’s attention. This practice makes the experience, not just auditory but visual as well.
5. Allow your baby to interact with other people
It’s definitely tempting to keep your baby to yourself but experts say that babies learn words easily if spoken by a variety of speakers. Researchers discovered that a baby will have a hard time learning a new word if only one person is saying it.
Even if this certain person keeps on repeating the word, babies will still not get it. But learning a new word will become easy for babies if it’s spoken by many people.
When a baby boy or girl should start talking
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
Children begin to babble around the age of six months, and between the ages of ten and fifteen months. After about 18 months, they begin to pick up an increasing number of words and begin to combine them into short sentences.
Wondering if your child may be a late talker? When a baby should start talking?
Boys do have a tendency to speak a little later than girls. Language milestones are frequently met in a range, and females tend to be on the earlier end of that range.
Even though boys lag behind girls in this area, it’s crucial to remember that we’re still looking for them to fall within the usual range of language development.
A communication issue affects 15% to 25% of young toddlers. Baby Boys develop language abilities a little later than girls, but children who speak fewer than 10 words by the age of 18 to 20 months or fewer than 50 words by the age of 21 to 30 months are considered “late-talking children.”
It’s important to remember that these don’t have to be spoken precisely. Word fragments, animal sounds, environmental sounds, and sign language are all taken into account. You may once again review the stages above to keep everything in check!
While it’s true that boys typically display some skills a little later than girls, you should still keep a close eye on their development and contact your child’s pediatrician or a speech-language pathologist if you believe they are not hitting communication milestones.
Baby first words list
Excited to hear your baby talk real words? Watch out for these 15 words that are the most common to be in baby first words list!
- Dad/Dada/Papa
- Mom/Mama/Mommy
- Hi/Hey/Hiya
- Buba/Bub/Baba
- Baby
- Uh oh
- No
- Dog
- Ta/Tata
- Ball
Photo by Lina Kivaka from Pexels
Did you know that babies usually say Dad or Dada first not because Dad may be the favorite? (Sorry, dads!) One reason is that babies find the D sound easier to produce than the M sound. On that point, animal words that begin with a hard consonant are also typical first words, so don’t be surprised if your child speaks duck, dog, or cat first.
Find more first words here and Tagalog first words here!
Language development in babies is an exciting and educational journey for all children. If you’re a parent watching your infant grow day by day and enjoying the process tremendously, you will find this article beneficial as it is a good guide to aid with monitoring your child’s progress.
Republished with permission from theAsianParent Singapore