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