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 

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

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/

Teaching Babies to Talk - How We Talk to Babies Is Key

Recent Article on Babble.com confirms that how parents react to the noises and speech attempts a baby makes is key to baby speech progress.  When learning to talk babies need to learn what words mean and how mothers and fathers help them to do that is an important skill to learn.

The Science Of Talking To Your Baby 
A mom’s responsiveness to her baby’s talk and movements predicted the age at which the babies reached milestones like saying their first words, having 50 words in their vocabularies, putting two words together, and speaking in the past tense. Mom’s response predicted these milestones over and above the baby’s own vocalizations and gestures at those ages.

I followed this principle and other research findings closely when I wrote my ebook : " How to Teach Baby to Talk" and you can see the idea in use by a father here in this Youtube Video.
He begins trying to get the baby to copy him, then ends up copying the sounds the baby makes. But the important thing is they are having a conversation or interaction at the baby's level of development. The father is tuning in his baby talk to what makes the child happy and entertained.

My ebook " How to Teach Baby to Talk " gives tips and games to help with each stage of a baby's journey to learning to talk from birth to age three years.

Baby Talk is Bad ?

Baby Talk is Bad for Children, but not for Babies !

The"baby' is often used to describe young children of various ages up to about 3 years. In terms of learning different skills and development it is better to be more precise, and talk about young children as:

1. "infant" - under 1 year old
2. "toddler" - 12-30  months
3. "child" - 1 and 2 above and everything else up to 16?

When people say " talk to babies like they are adults" they are correct, but under the age of 12 months, using "baby talk" in ADDITION, supplies infants with many benefits. It is not a case of  baby talk OR adult talk, but BOTH.

Infants need to hear different types of talk and each teaches babies something different about the human voice and talking.

Each type of talk could be called "baby talk"

1) Baby Talk - A way of talking to babies using a special voice- also called Motherese, Parentese, Caretaker speech,  - high pitched, lilting, sing song voice where the actual words are the same as in adult speech, but spoken in a different way.

Research has shown that babies like, enjoy and pay more attention to "parentese" than the normal fast, flat, joined-up speech adults use to talk to each other.

2) Baby talk for "practice" - repetition of sounds for the pure joy of baby discovering  his own voice and practicing how to make the individual sounds in words.

3) Baby Talk - Mirroring - where the parent repeats the same sound the baby makes to create a conversation. This video below is an excellent example of 'mirroring"

 term

This video below shows three types of talk
"Parentese" - adult words spoken with special lilting voice
Mirroring -  repeating the sounds baby makes
Entertainment - the joy of repetition

Infants (under 12 months) learn different things from each type of speech. In various cultures and many different languages, parents and family members use similar types of " baby talk" called " infant-directed speech', 'parentese" or " motherese" when they talk to their infants.

Infants Become Toddlers

The point around 12 months when a baby changes from being an infant to a toddler marks a big leap forward in language learning. At this stage first words, like mama, dada, cup, hat, cat, no,  appear and it becomes essential to say words clearly, show your toddler the shapes your mouth and lips make. It is also the time when Mirroring 'baby talk",  that copies how infants talk, should not be used with toddlers. Once they begin to actually say words, they need clear, correct speech to copy. They need "parentese" , " motherese" - normal language spoken slowly an clearly with short sentences and a musical lilt.

Before 12 months, babies speech development needs are very different from the later months and years.  Babies will learn to talk well without baby talk, it is true, but it is not BAD. It is beneficial for bonding for the adults and infants it seems perverse to withhold it in the mistaken belief  that it is doing harm before the age of one year, when in fact it is does a lot of good.

Below is a list of links to articles by professionals in the child brain, speech and language development spheres, and other sources where "baby talk" is explained and encouraged for the good effects it has.

"Beweave" it or not, baby talk helps babies learn language. Research shows that babies prefer to listen to our silly baby talk from birth.     

Baby Talk: Communicating with Your Child -- Roberta Golinkoff, PhD 

Adults may feel silly when they talk to babies, but those babies will learn to speak sooner if adults talk to them like infants instead of like other adults, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Erik Thiessen

Carnegie Mellon Study: Adults' Baby Talk Helps Infants Learn To Speak 

For a complete program of activities stretching from birth to age 3 years, you can learn how to best use the different types of "baby talk" while you teach your baby to talk

Reading To Your Child

Reading To Your Child

One of the best things you can do for your child is to read to them.  Right from the first weeks of life, every day if possible, reading to your child has huge benefits.

In the first month or two the baby will not understand any of the words you are saying but he will begin to recognise patterns in the way you read and the words will be embedded in his memory ready to be matched with a meaning in future months and years.

Reading to a young baby is very calming for a baby who keeps crying for no apparent reason. The sound of ريدينغ , especially poetry or nursery rhymes can even send a baby to sleep! It is a strategy worth trying by an exasperated parent faced with a baby who keeps on crying and you feel you've tried everything else..

As babies grow into toddlers, reading to them helps them to understand what books are and how to handle them; that they have pages, that the pages get turned, the pictures relate to the story. As your child grows one of the benefits of reading to them is that they hear words we don't often use in daily life. It's not every day you can walk down the street and point out a zebra or a camel crossing the road!

But the main point of all this reading to children is that it is great fun, a terrific bonding experience and also helps with a baby's learning to talk. The more words babies hear every day, the more words they will learn. The more words a child can say makes learning to read so much easier. And it only takes five or ten minutes a day.    

How you read to your child will depend on your child's age. The books you choose will differ too. This excellent book "Baby Read-Aloud Basics" gives really useful tips on the books to choose and how to read with your child at different ages to get the most fun and pleasure out of reading to your child.

Speech in children

Speech in Children

It is true that almost all children learn to speak eventually. Mainly speech in children develops simply by the child copying the parents, other family members and people the child meets on a daily basis. Some children learn to talk much earlier than others.  This can be because of differences in how the parents and adult caregivers talk to the child. 

Several research studies have found that the use of a special way of talking to babies called " parentese" or "motherese" or "child directed speech" helps babies to learn new words faster. "Parentese" appears to be a natural way for adults to talk to children; a kind of sing song, high pitched voice that concentrates on long drawn out vowel sounds. 

Sometimes this way of talking is referred to as "baby talk" but sometimes the term "baby talk" is also used for the way some adults talk to babies and toddlers using the immature words babies use when they are still learning how to speak correctly. The difficulty is that it isn't made clear which "baby talk" people refer to when they state whether it is useful or beneficial.

This way of talking to babies is found in countries around the world so it seems to be instinctive. From this it can be judged that "parentese" has been useful for the species as a way to develop speech in children. 

Researching speech in children is becoming easier with the development of hi-tech brain monitoring equipment which lets scientists monitor brian activity in very young babies. It has been shown now that babies prefer to listen to "baby talk". they prefer the higher pitched voice and focus on it in preference to normal adult speech patterns. So not only are parents hard-wired to use baby talk, babies and hard-wired to pay attention to it and that it is an important part of the development of speech in children.

Learn the best way to use baby talk when teaching babies to talk in the ebook Teach Baby to Talk

Help Baby to Talk - easy start

When babies hear the same sound spoken over and over they will start to want to say it themselves. When baby is in the first few weeks and months we can make this process even better by focusing on the simple sounds "Oh" "Ah" "Oo". These are the first sounds you will hear a baby make because they are the easiest.

Each sound is made in the same way and the only difference is the shape of the mouth and lips. So as well as repeating these first sounds back to baby ( mirroring ) we can increase the number of times baby hears each of the sounds, by playing games in a "communication game".

A "Hide and Reveal"  Game to play

Hide your face behind a scarf, a book, a magazine - just for 3-4 seconds, then move the object away, open your eyes wide as you look at baby and say "AH! " . The aim here is to make the baby curious, not to scare him. If you keep your face out of view for longer than a few seconds  and if you shout, the baby will get distressed and cry -  the opposite effect of the delight you want. Repeat this about 4 or 5 times  and the baby  will come to understand the game and look forward to it.

Repeat the game several times a day. Each week change the sound you make so one week it is AH!, the next week, make it EE! then the next week OO!

Huron Daily Tribune > News > Local News:

Parents don’t need a teaching degree — but they do need to teach

By Kate Hessling
Tribune Staff Writer

Published: Friday, April 8, 2011 11:35 AM EDT

HURON COUNTY — Let’s face it: Learning does not begin in preschool or kindergarten.

Experts upon experts have stated — based on an abundance of research — that parents truly are their child’s first teacher.

Last week, Dr. David Walsh, founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family, and author of “No! Why Kids Need It and How We Can Say It,” presented evidence that in order to instill self-discipline and raise self-reliant children, a parent’s job begins at their child’s birth.

“Talk, talk, talk, talk — read, read, read, read,” he said, noting that is the recipe for success, as research shows a child with a greater number of one-to-one conversations and whose parent regularly reads to them is going to be able to read much easier than a child who does not have as many one-on-one conversations to or isn’t read to that often.

He said it’s critically important for economically at-risk families to understand this concept, because it’s proven the number of one-on-one conversations a child in poverty hears gives the child a knowledge of only one-third of the words learned by a child not living in poverty.

By the time a child living in poverty enters kindergarten, the child has been read to 24 times, Walsh said. A child not living in poverty has been read to about 2,000 times by the time he or she enters kindergarten.

“Can you image the disadvantage?” he asked, as he stressed we need to help parents understand how important this is — and how important it is to engage their children in conversation.

He said it has to be personal interaction — not media, as primary language is acquired through the feedback loop between the child and the caregiver. Walsh said a lot of evidence shows having a television on actually interferes with a child learning its first language.

Yet 28 percent of babies under the age of 2 now have television screens in their bedroom, Walsh said. He attributed this fact to the plethora of products like Baby Einstein DVDs that target babies 5 months and older because that’s when children can focus eye sight and sit up.

He said the smartest thing about this product is the name, because it sends a threat to parents that if their child doesn’t have them, the child will be stupid.

Walsh said there’s no research stating it’s beneficial, and Disney actually was ordered to provide a full cash refund for any purchase of the Baby Einstein DVDs because they used deceptive advertising.

He said the images of the videos are harmless — but the end result is that they wire a baby’s brain to orient to screens before it can crawl or speak. And it results in a child expecting to be constantly entertained.

Baby Einstein, My Baby Can Read, Brainy Babies and Baby Mozart are just some of the products out there targeted to anxious parents who are afraid their child won’t get off to the right start, Walsh said. But while all of them promise to give children an advantage, there’s no evidence any of them can do so, he said.

That’s because a child’s real world experience is much more rich than what a child can get from a screen, Walsh said.

“Creativity and imagination should come from the child — not the screen,” he said.

Walsh stressed he is not “anti-technology.”

Huron County has a Parents as Teachers (PAT) program through the Huron Intermediate School District, according to Rebecca Gettel, Huron County Great Start Collaborative director.

PAT offers parents the knowledge and skills to help their children build a foundation for academic success.

It is a free home visiting program and is open to all families with children ages birth to 5. Home visits take place monthly and a trained parent educator gives parents developmental information and activities for their child(ren).

The information includes methods to enhance parent-child interaction that promote social and emotional development and age appropriate language, mathematics and early reading skills.

For more information about the local PAT program, contact Great Parents Great Start, located at 711 E. Soper Road in Bad Axe, or call (989) 269-3485.

Read the full version of this article in the Huron Daily Tribune or online in our e-Edition.

Speech Development Oral Motor Skills | Caring for Baby

Speech Development Oral Motor Skills | Caring for Baby: "Why chewing is important for speech development
Cherie Lyden
March 24, 2011

The introduction of solids in your baby’s diet is not only important for nutritional reasons, but for the developmental of oral motor skills. These are the actions of the mouth, lips, tongue, cheeks and jaw as they suck, bite, chew and lick. These motor skills work the same muscles in the mouth as those which are needed for speech development.

When foods are introduced into your baby’s diet, it’s important that as your baby’s feeding skills develop, that textures change from liquid to solid. Different textures require different oral motor skills, which are important for speech development. For example, pureed and lumpy food encourage chewing. Chewing helps develop the use of the tongue by giving it a good workout, which is important for many different speech sounds, i.e. t, d, k and g, as well as speech development. Solid foods help develop and strengthen the jaw, as well as the lips and tongue muscles, which are required for speech. The lips also help to keep food in the mouth, and is important for sounds m, p and b.

A delay in introducing solids with different textures as your baby develops, can lead to a fussy infant unwilling to accept new tastes and textures, as well as a delay in chewing and muscle development, which can affect speech sounds later on.

Here is a brief overview of what to expect and when, as well as the types of food to introduce in the first 12 months:

Newborns
Babies are only able to suck and swallow at this stage, and they have an immature digestive system, therefore require breastmilk or formula as their primary source of food. The jaw action used in breastfeeding helps a baby to chew.

3 months
Babies have better head control, are able to put fingers in their mouth, and have a better range of mouth and lip movements. Their digestive system is still immature to receive anything but breastmilk or formula as their primary source of food.

4-6 months
Babies now have better jaw and lip control, with the ability to move their tongue up and down which makes it easier to suck, chew and move food to the back of the mouth to be swallowed. Usually around 4-6 months, babies show signs that they are ready to be introduced to foods, which complements their primary source of food, either breastmilk or formula. A baby’s digestive system is still maturing but from about 6 months, a baby needs more nutrients than breastmilk or formula alone can offer, therefore solid foods are introduced. These solid foods need to be varied, nutrient and energy dense and have a silky smooth texture (pureed or mashed), which will make it easier to swallow and digest. Breast milk or formula must be continued for the first 12 months of a baby’s life and always offered before solids.

Note: Some signs that a baby might show that he/she is ready for solid foods include the baby is able to sit upright, has good control of head and neck, wants to put things in his/her mouth, ability to suck pureed food from a spoon, interest in food, and not satisfied with the breast or bottle alone.

7-9 months
Solids should now be well established with a lumpy, mashed and finely chopped texture, as well as well-cooked or soft finger foods from about 8 months (avoiding hard foods that a baby can choke on i.e. whole grapes, nuts and raw carrots). With better eye-hand coordination, a baby will show interest in self-feeding, which includes finger foods and the use of a spoon. Finger foods are more effective than purees to encourage chewing and development of muscles in the mouth. Babies should be encouraged to drink a little water from a cup.

10-12 months
Solids can now be coarsely chopped and consist of more soft finger foods. Babies are more independent with eating and are able to chew food well, separating what needs more chewing and what can be swallowed. Lip muscles are now stronger and are able to hold more food and liquid in the mouth. Babies should be able to hold a cup to drink water from.

1 year onwards
Children should now be eating frequently i.e. 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day, and a wide variety of family foods. Children now start to develop a rotary chewing movement, as well as a more stable jaw, which accommodates the action of the tongue. As children continue to grow, their motor skills become more refined and they learn more oral motor control. This is an ongoing process, which continues to develop speech.

If you are at all concerned about your child’s speech development I encourage you to seek a referral for a qualified speech therapist.

Cherie Lyden is a Nutritionist and Mother – www.lydenvitality.com

Help Baby Talk with Rhythm and Pattern

This week we're thinking about how rhythm and pattern helps babies learn to talk.

Speech and language have a pattern. Each language has it's own rhythm and pattern. Human beings also love rhythm as experienced in music, dancing and poetry.  If you were ever taught a foreign language at school, you probably learned a simple song or poem in that language and you can probably still sing it or recite it word for word today, even if you can't remember other words in that language now!

So using rhythm and pattern when you to talk to your baby is a great way to delight your baby and embed the sounds and rhythms in baby's memory. Rhythmic actions and physical movement patterns also help baby's brain to develop at this time when the brain is at it's most ready to grow.

There are a number of ways you can do this.

One way is to create a movement series, like taking baby's hands and clapping them lightly together and saying:

Clap clap clap your hands, clap clap clap ( say the last "clap" louder)

Repeat the sequence several times ( at least three and up to six) until baby gets used to the idea, then hold baby's feet and tap them lightly together and say:

"Tap tap tap your feet, tap tap tap ( say the last "tap" louder )

Now you have the basis of a rhyming routine, you can say:
the clapping line first then the tapping line.

Do this routine several times a day for about a week.

Each week, think of a new line to add, like:

Tap tap tap your nose, tap tap tap.  ( touch baby's nose lightly with your finger)  ADD this new line to the previous lines in the series, so the whole routine gets longer each week. Instead of 'tap' or "clap" you could say "kiss" - "Kiss your knee"

As the weeks go by, baby will recognise the routine and anticipate what's coming next. Baby is learning about patterns and rhythms.

I'd love to hear how you and your baby enjoy this. So please leave a comment below.

Click this link to learn more about how to help baby talk