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 

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/

My First Baby Milestones -first words

According to many "my first baby" books and websites,  a lot is written about all the practical aspects of looking after a baby. These are very important  but sometimes the "my first baby" articles don't tell you that by talking to your baby you will have a happpier baby who frets and cries less.

As a first-time parent, you are probably wondering when your baby's cooing will develop into his or her first words. Other questions about communication will usually come up too . As soon as a baby is born,  the lips and tongue start to acquire the capability essential to form speech. Plus, the brain also begins to match things up with their corresponding names. You need to be patient, though, as babies normally pronounce their first real words at 11 months and onwards.

The rate at which babies acheive this milestone will vary. If you want your baby will get to this stagephase more quickly you have to make an effort to help him (or her) do so.  And there is nothing tough about it. As a matter of fact , there are many of uncomplicated and exciting things you can do to teach baby talk.

How Do Babies Learn to Communicate?

Really your little one is basically mastering the capacity to communicate day in and day out . Each and every time he or she cries , you typically do your best to make him (or her) feel far better. The way you react and the manner in which you react to your baby's noise-making generally set the groundwork for language and how you help baby talk

By two months, your child is already capable of responding to your cues. Your cues are the words you say. In addition, the higher-pitched way in which you speak keeps him/her entertained and encourages understanding of words and sentences. That's why each time you speak to your little one, he or she stares back at you and makes cooing sounds in response. It's in this way that infants talk with their parents.

By the time your little one turns six months old , he or she will normally begin to babble. This will be a sequence of sounds a little like words, but which don't necessarily mean anything . Baby babbling is the way babies love practising and  exercising  the muscles of the mouth which they will bring into use later when speaking genuine words.  At first, the sounds will only be made up of vowels like ah. ow, oh, ee, uh. After that, his or her nonsense words will then contain consonants like m,b,d, because these are the consonants infants find easiest to pronounce at first . Inside a few months, your child will attempt to mimic your words and other sounds.

How To Teach Baby to Talk

Match up things up with names. - At mealtime , forillustration, give the names for eating utensils like the plate, spoon, fork, cup and the like. Each time you say the word, point to or hold the item and repeat the word at least three times.

Have fun . - Playing games like "peek-a-boo" really reinforces listening, mimicking and taking turns -all of which are required facets of carrying out a conversation.

Read together. --In the beginning , your infant won't comprehend the words you say. Nevertheless, reading to your baby will encourage his or her senses and foster an everlasting fondness for books, which will be an outstanding foundation for later accomplishment at school.

Prattle back. -- Each time your child babbles, say something similar in reply. For instance, if he or she says "ba ba", you might copy him and say "ba ba" yourself, or reply with something like "Hey, boo boo." The fun you can have with silly sounds, in fact make learning a lot more enjoyable. Just remember to pause for a short time to let your little one babble back to get used to the pattern of a real conversation.

Sing. -- Babies, by nature, have a fascination for music. Singing, therefore, is a terrific way of introducing a wide array of sounds and words.   Songs with animal sounds are great because they will delight baby and you can have fun with the sounds long before baby can actually say words.

Your little one's first word is, definitely, an exciting milestone. Remember , though, that babies develop at unique rates. You may also find out more about how to teach baby to talk by reading the "language and communication" section of My First Baby books. Also, congratulate yourself when your baby reaches the first words milestone and appreciate that you helped to teach your baby to talk.

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

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

Teach Baby to Talk - Review

A favourable and detailed review of my ebook appeared on another blog.
Quote
"I was very pleased with the way it was written, as if I was having a conversation with somebody and they were answering my questions as i read through this book, and they reinforced some of the harder to grasp parts. Yes, I can honestly say there were a few things I found that shocked me! "     Read the whole review

Baby Speech

Baby Speech - is all about practice

Baby speech is a topic that interests all parents and baby carers. They all are madly keen to hear a baby or toddler say its first words and most are keen to know how they can help this process. Some parents however have no idea that they play a role in helping their baby's speech to develop.

There is a frantic activity going on every second of the day and night in a baby's brain that organises the brain cells, grows new connections and lets some brain cells die.  Babies are learning something almost every second of the day. Recently I came across the expression " a baby learns what it lives" and I thought that was a brilliant and simple way to express how babies learn and gives a huge clue to parents and carers what they should be doing to help a baby learn anything, not just speech.  At a simple level we can apply the principal to any skill learning and get very specific.

Example
A child will learn to play the piano if it

1. has hands mature enough to move on the keys 
2. gets lessons
3. has an instrument to practice on -  a piano
4. has the time to practice every day and, most importantly -
5. the interest and encouragement of an adult, to practice every day.

You may see that we can apply that recipe to a child's learning anything.

To apply it to baby speech learning we could say the baby needs

1. ability to hear and make sounds
2. lessons in speech - being shown how
3. an instrument to practice on - the mouth and voice (without a soother or pacifier in the way)
4. time to practice every day
5. the interest and encouragement of an adult, to practice every day

We know from research that babies start to develop language skills while they are in the womb because by 21 weeks, hearing has developed and they can hear the voice of the mother and anyone else close by. So through the fluid surrounding it, the baby hears the rhythm of speech and it's tone. We know babies can recognise their own mothers voice just after birth compared to other women's voices. Also, researchers at Leicester University in the UK discovered that at the age of 12 months babies can recognise  a piece of music that was played to them in the last three months while it was in the womb.

Babies' brains are also hard-wired for speech learning so the moment baby is born and discovers his crying reflex, he learns that ( if he has caring parents)  crying will result in getting the attention of the carer, being fed, carried, cuddled, changed, spoken to or ( really nice!) sung to. This last point, being sung to, shows how pleasure and entertainment are key ingredients in babies' learning. Parents need to be aware that boredom is a principal cause of crying and is as important to deal with as hunger or a dirty diaper or nappy. So a crying baby may just be saying " I need entertainment. Talk to me! Sing to me! Make a funny face! Tell me a nursery rhyme! "

Human beings in general repeat actions that bring them pleasure. So babies will begin their speech development by making short little cooing sounds; if those sounds get a reaction (like a smile, or mirroring of the sound back to them) they will repeat them over and over until they eventually develop, over a period of months,  into words.  Its worth repeating "babies learn what they live". It is a really useful thing to make a mental note say, ten times a day - "What is my baby learning right now?". Parents and carers do deeply influence what a baby is learning just by taking an action or not taking an action. Learn strategies for making baby speech learning a daily and entertaining part of your day.

How babies learn to talk

Scientists can now see and measure what is going on in a baby's brain as they learn language.

This video presentation from the TED series shows how the critical time for babies learning the sounds of their native language is the first 12 months of life.

Points made by the scientist Patricia Kuhl that have real significance for parents is that the babies didn't learn any new sounds from watching the teaching sessions on TV, but the babies who took part in the sessions with the live presenter did learn to recognise the new sounds. Apparently babies learning is being controlled by the social brain. So babies need to learn language form a human being not a computer or TV screen.

Another really enjoyable part of the presentation is the two mothers - one American and the other Japanese who are filmed talking to their babies using "motherese" ( also called  infant-directed talk, or adult baby-talk) that sing song, smiling, exaggerated way of talking that babies enjoy. I talk about using " baby talk" or "motherese" in my book "How to Teach Baby toTalk".

If you have any thoughts about the film, I'd love you to leave a comment. Enjoy!

Baby Gifts Delivered

If you don't have time to visit the new baby and parents, you may be looking for baby gifts that get delivered.

A recent article in the Huffington Post reported on a new survey in the UK that shows one-third of parents don't see themselves as important in how their child's speech and reading develops. Another UK survey also revealed that a large and alarming number of children do not possess a single book.

Friends. family and work colleagues looking for a baby gift that gets delivered can really help here. When giving a newborn baby gift, give a book!  There are special soft books and board books for babies - like these  eight book packs from Amazon that can be delivered direct to baby's home.

This adorable collection of very first books will tickle all of baby's senses, helping baby to learn to talk. Baby can feel, cuddle, and turn the pages, playing with each book in its special way. The colorful plastic rings can be used to attach the books onto a crib, a stroller, or a high chair or a car seat. A great baby shower or christening gift - and it gets delivered!

Teaching babies to talk by singing

I found a great video on Youtube which is a perfect illustration of how to teach babies to talk using singing.

Points to note before you watch the video:

Why would singing help the baby to learn to talk?

• The baby's gaze is focussed on the mother's face ( attention)
• There is no background noise ( no distractions )
• The mother sings a slow song ( a simple tune and the words are well-spaced out)
• The baby is enjoying listening to the song ( she smiles and gurgles)
• The mother sings the words very clearly ( good pronunciation )
• The mother stops singing and leaves a silence, prompting baby to respond. ( taking turns)
• The baby tries to copy the mother's singing ( mimicking what she sees and hears)
• The baby experiments making a wide range of mouth and throat muscles (practicing)
  

This little exchange between mother and baby shows important steps in teaching babies to talk.

The baby's talking skills are being developed by learning that:

1. hearing a song is exciting, fun and stimulating
   
2. communicating is about "taking turns"
3. she can move various muscles in her mouth
4. she can make l..o..n..g sounds by controlling her breath
5. she can make a wide range of sounds
6. her mother wants her to respond
7. her mother adds some "extra talk" ( she says "words" and "song" and "can you SING it?" )

The mother understand that one way of teaching a baby to talk is to sing to her. But more than that...
She understands the need to stop and create a silence - a space in the "conversation" when baby can respond.
This mother understand the techniques for teaching babies to talk.

Please leave a comment below.

Learn more about teaching babies to talk.