Baby Talk : Babies Learn To Talk By Hearing Baby Sounds New Research Confirms

Should You Use Baby Talk With Infants?

New Research from  Montreal confirms that young babies are more interested in the high-pitched sing song voices they hear, compared to normal adult speech levels parents and other adults naturally use when they are talking to young babies.  

Prof. Linda Polka of McGill's School of Communication Disorders and her team in the journal Developmental Science.Reasearcher says In the meantime, parents' intuitive knowledge to use a high, infant-like voice to speak to babies is "right on," 

The  experiments allowed babies to control a machine that gave out different levels of the sound "eeee" and babies showed they liked the high-pitched level better. But not only that, the researchers found that babies like to thear the voices of other babies. 

When the babies heard the high pitched sounds, they showed they preferred them and moved their mouths more.

In this video a 6 month old baby girl smiles and moves her mouth when hearing  a high-pitched "ee" sound. 

Using the high pitched " motherese" that comes naturally to adults has the effect of getting a baby's attention. And when you have  a baby's attention, the baby is learning, and his brain is developing.

So parents who mimic the way babies talk are giving their babies a head start in the process of speech development.

This confirms my own experience and supports the activities I describe in my e-book " How to Teach Babies to Talk" . It also shows that the mantra " don't talk baby talk to babies if you want them to learn to talk well" does not follow for babies under a year old. 

If you want to read more about how babies learn to talk and how to help them go to this page and read more articles of other research and what the parents who are already using the book have to say.

How to Teach Babies to Talk

The McGill University research was reported in a Science Daily press release 

Choosing a Baby Stroller - Top Tip and Not What You Expect

Choosing a Stroller to Help Baby Talk?

It may be just a bit unlikely but its true, the model of stroller or push chair you purchase can have an impact on the rate at which your child's speech evolves. Regardless of what you call them (parent-facing pushchair, rear facing stroller, backward facing stroller), when you look at what sort of stroller or push chair to purchase opt for one where the baby is facing you, or that is reversible. Reversible strollers and push chairs can have the child either facing you or facing forwards. The younger the youngster, the more essential it is that they are facing the parent or carer when out in the stroller for any length of time .

When the baby is facing you, you can speak to your baby about their environment. You can also see what is ahead of you before baby does and you can make short stops to talk about something exciting for your baby. You can also take evasive action if you see dogs ahead that may not be well-trained or under owner control, in case they bother or engage in unfriendly play with your child.

Young babies and toddlers need to be able to see you , to feel safe. It's a common sight in the streets to see a baby or toddler, often older than two years , sitting in a forward facing stroller, with a pacifier or soother, in his or her mouth. Presumably this is to keep the child quiet because they cry and fret and generally don't feel happy or secure in their stroller, or, maybe they are feeling bored having no-one to talk to and they quite naturally fuss about that. Think of all the opportunities those babies miss out on for talking with the parent about their surroundings. Think of all the conversation they miss and having the world explained to them. Of course, intelligent parents know that the more often you speak to a infant the more the child learns. So by having baby facing you in the stroller, you can help baby to talk

By facing the parent or carer and being spoken to in the course of a trip in the stroller, the baby will be more engaged, interested and focused on objects or events around them . Every thing in the outdoors that we take as ordinary is new to a baby and sometimes frightening. There is so much taking place in the world outside the home, that the baby needs the parent to focus on specific things, describe them, talk about them. This is how a child or toddler's vocabulary grows. Each new word learned and every new experience grows your baby's brain. Use every single chance during a journey with baby in the stroller to increase his or her word-bank and explain the world to your baby. So whenever feasible select a backward facing stroller and help baby talk.

Ella Jackson is a retired teacher and educationist who taught children in Nursery School, Kindergarten, all stages of Primary School as well as home tutoring numerous children with learning difficulties such as dyslexia. During her career she was involved in educational research in primary schools and has a special interest in theories of learning, using the arts in education and language development. She is also the mother of three grown up children. Her ebook "How to Teach your Baby to Talk" is a 96 page, illustrated guide for parents and carers on a sure method of teaching babies to how talk

Age Babies Should Start Talking

Parents wonder at what age their babies should be talking. 

The age babies should start to speak and say real words differs a lot from one baby to the next and depends on how much encouragement to talk the baby gets from the parents or carers. 

The usual baby speech development follows a pattern where the first real words can be expected any age between ten months and fifteen months.  

A Lot to Do With Parents and Carers

Parents and caregivers need to realize that the age babies start talking depends a lot on what the parents or carers do to encourage their baby to start talking right from the day baby is born.

Many of the babbling sounds babies make before a real word is produced have a purpose. A baby makes the first cooing sounds at around six weeks to two months,  eh, ah, oo, then later will add a consonant to make, meh, bah, goo. These are the best sounds a baby can say with the strength of the muscles in the mouth, throat and face. And the baby is actually trying to communicate. He hears your voice, sees your mouth moving and thinks,  " Wonder if I can do that? ".

Here's a Youtube video showing a 3 month old baby and her mother " talking"

Repeat Sounds Back To Baby

When you repeat the sounds baby makes back to baby and smile, you are showing baby that talking is a very important skill to learn and that you appreciate the sounds baby is making and the effort he is making. 

With this encouragement, baby will realise that a conversation means taking turns and start to 'reply' by repeating the sound or making a different sound. This is great fun - baby and you watching each other, making sounds, wondering what sound will come next, smiling and laughing. 

At this point the actual sounds are associated with the baby's brain loving the stimulation and something to learn that is also enjoyable. If he could, he would say " Isn't  this a great game?"  

Baby's Brain Development

So something amazing and wonderful is happening inside baby's brain. The brain cells associated with the following things are growing and being strengthened:

• making the mouth muscles move
• listening
• copying sound and movement
• sharing pleasure
• recognising emotion in a face
• learning about caring and  love

Baby Speech 6-8 Months

Around six to eight months of age, when baby starts to babble it can sound very funny like a foreign language. Baby is practicing putting sounds together in patterns, changing the tone of voice to a rising and falling, like in a conversation. 

These sounds have no special meaning but powerful learning is taking place. Baby is learning how to make all the sounds he'll need to start talking with real words.  

Baby Babbling

So when babies are babbling it is like their talking exercise program for strengthening the muscles in the mouth that will be used for saying real words. 

At this stage baby is not attaching any meaning to the sounds, but generally she or he will be enjoying the sound of his or her own voice! 

Beware of Pacifiers, Soothers or Dummies

it is important at this stage not to allow a baby to use a pacifier (soother or dummy) during the day, but only when it is naptime or bed time.   Sometimes at this stage, babies learn how to shout,  and loudly. 

It may be tempting to stick a pacifier in baby's mouth if you find that annoying but please don't.  Anything that prevents all that babbling and practicing will cause a delay in the age baby starts talking real words. Better to do something distracting like play a hide and seek game or sing a gentle song, but you may need to put up with it until baby gets tired of his own game.

Baby Speech 12-15 Months

By the time baby is twelve to fifteen months you should be noticing he is repeating certain sounds to show he wants something or wanting you to do something like give more food, juice or milk, or to want to be lifted. 

He may be saying mama, dada, papa when he sees those important people in his life. At this point you can say your baby has started talking!

You can learn more about what age babies should start to talk 

Ella

Raising bilingual children: The infant and toddler years

It used to be that speaking more than one language in the United States was common only to diplomats and immigrants who arrived speaking their native language and learned English. Today, the ability to speak a second language is becoming increasingly important, and science has shown the younger you start learning the easier it is.

So says an article in the Washington Times and I heartily agree.

Parents wishing to teach their baby or toddler a second language can use "How to Teach Baby to Talk" with confidence as it provides a sure method of teaching a baby or toddler how to speak any language with ease. The principles are explained in clear easy to follow steps. And once understood they can be applied to the learning of any language.

The only additional materials needed would be knowledge of nursery rhymes and songs in the target language and if possible, the same type of children's books in the target language.

Read the whole article here:

Raising bilingual children: The infant and toddler years

Baby Talk Helps Babies Learn Words Faster - New Research

Baby Talk Helps Babies Learn New Words Faster 

New research by researchers at Washington State University have investigated whether " parentese" or  "baby talk" helped babies learn new words faster.

Like many scientists before them,  the researchers concluded that using " the special tones and repetitions of " baby talk" or " parentese" did help babies learn to say new words faster. But what is surprising is the difference - a whole 60%  difference.

And the importance of one-to-one parent-baby conversations is a big contributing factor too.

“What our analysis shows is that the prevalence of baby talk in one-on-one conversations with children is linked to better language development, both concurrent and future,”

So the benefits  are not just short-lived but are long-lasting.

In my book " How to Teach Baby to Talk" I describe techniques of using baby talk and one-to-one parent-baby interaction starting from the day they are born. This research confirms this is a better way to help babies learn to talk, than simply making sure babies hear a lot of adult conversation.

The focus of attention needs to be getting the baby's attention and making sounds that the baby is interested in.  A higher pitched voice and a sing song tone that adults find themselves using naturally is after all, the best course of action and it's so much fun!

When the babies were 2 years old, parents filled out a questionnaire measuring how many words their children knew. Infants who had heard more baby talk knew more words. In the study, 2-year olds in families who spoke the most baby talk in a one-on-one social context knew 433 words, on average, compared with the 169 words recognized by 2-year olds in families who used the least babytalk in one-on-one situations.

So don't let anyone tell you baby talk is harmful to babies. Share this article with anyone who tells you baby talk is bad for babies.

Read the full report here:

http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/01/06/babbling-babies-responding-to-one-on-one-baby-talk-master-more-words/