At What Age Do Children Start Talking
BellyBelly shares nine tips to help parents teach their babies how to talk.
From the first hello, parents have been teaching their babies how to talk. Some experts even think that a baby's understanding of language begins in the womb. Each day babies hear people talk, they are learning new words, understanding what words mean, and repeating sounds themselves.
BellyBelly, a website that provides evidence-based pregnancy, birth, and baby information, has recently published a blog article that offers parents nine tips to teach their children how to talk,see more here at when a baby boy should start talking?.
Tip #1: Communicate early – Long before babies can vocalize their wants, they are communicating. Babies may lift their arms to be picked up, shake their head for no, or point at toys they want. Acknowledge and respond to this early communication to encourage the child to improve his or her communicative abilities. Being understood is motivation for babies to learn new ways to communicate.
Tip #2: Be chatty – Babies learn through listening, so chatter away. Narrate actions to babies, and tell them what everything is. Point out things of interest. The more words a baby hears, the more words he or she will understand.
Tip #3: Talk often – The more a parent talks to a baby, the more words the baby will be exposed to. If out and about, carry the baby in a front-facing sling or use a parent-facing stroller to make communication easy. A study found that children benefit more from having talk directed to them rather than just being exposed to talking. The article quotes a study that says, "Infants who hear more talk have more opportunities to interpret language and to exercise skills such as segmenting speech and accessing lexical representations that are vital to word learning. As a result, infants with more exposure to child-directed speech are faster and more accurate to orient to familiar words in real-time, enabling them to learn new words more quickly and facilitating rapid vocabulary growth."
When Should Babies Start Talking More Information
Tip #4: Read books – Reading is the perfect way to help children build vocabulary. Reading to the baby from birth is a great way to get into this habit. Of course, the newborn will not understand what is being said, but he or she will feel comforted by the sound of the parent's voice. As babies become toddlers, they will begin to understand the stories and will add words to their vocabulary. Reading is a great way to improve language even as an adult, and parents can foster in their children a love of books that will last into adulthood.
Tip #5: Sing – Nursery rhymes, action songs, and lullabies are all great things to sing to a baby. No matter how bad the parent's voice is, the baby will love the sound of mom or dad's voice and will enjoy repeating any accompanying actions. As well as repeating actions, the baby may try to join in with the singing.
Tip #6: Babble – When the baby babbles, babble back. Repeat the sounds and rhythm of the child's noises, and engage in a game of copycat. Babies will love having their parent's full attention, as well as playing with and mimicking the parent. Introduce new sounds for the child to imitate, such as blowing raspberries and humming.
Tip #7: Listen – When a baby is trying to communicate, parents need to give him or her their full attention. Not only will this help the baby develop the confidence to learn to talk, but it will also teach the child how to be a good listener.
Tip #8: Elaborate – When a baby can communicate using short words, parents can respond in full sentences. While the child uses 'baby talk,' the parent should continue to use proper words. Although babies may not yet be able to speak in full sentences or say the correct words, parents will be creating a learning opportunity by responding correctly.
Tip #9: Take turns – Conversation is all about taking turns, so engage the baby in turn-taking games, such as peek-a-boo, from a young age.
BellyBelly is a website that provides parents with pregnancy, birth, parenting, and health information. The team is passionate about informing women and men so that they can feel confident and be prepared for pregnancy, delivery, and early parenting. BellyBelly reaches an audience of millions, and around one to two million people visit the BellyBelly website each month.