How to Teach Your Baby to Talk
Play music., Talk to your baby while you are pregnant., Find a multi-lingual environment., Sing educational songs., Respond to your baby., Take cues from your child., Describe what you are doing., Describe what your baby is doing., Speak with your...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Play music.
You can do this as you would normally, listening to music on a stereo or through the speakers of your car.
Avoid putting headphones directly on your stomach, as this can overstimulate your unborn child.The recommended volume for your child to best enjoy music that you play should be at about the level of the ambient noise made by a washing machine.
Children begin to hear and make sense of sound in the womb at about 25 weeks into your pregnancy.Exposing your child to music in the womb does not guarantee that your child will be mathematically inclined or musically apt.But by engaging your child with sound, you give it practice at discerning differences in it.
Simple melodies will be less overwhelming for your child.Consider songs you might put your baby to sleep with, or childhood songs like:
The ABC songYou are my SunshineHush Little BabyTwinkle Twinkle Little Star -
Step 2: Talk to your baby while you are pregnant.
Children can recognize the voices of parents and other family members that it has heard while in the womb.By talking to her or reading her books, you will help her begin learning about sound while still in the womb., Different languages follow different rules of stress and intonation.
Studies have shown that your newborn will have the ability to identify her native tongue, so she might benefit from being familiarized with other languages.You might consider:
Watching foreign films.
Sitting in on classes teaching language.
Doing light volunteer work with an ethnically oriented outreach program. , While it is unlikely that your child will learn the song you are singing in the way young children or adults do, familiarization with common childhood songs may encourage her learning of it after being born.There are many songs for you to choose from, including:
One Two, Buckle my Shoe One Potato, Two Potato Three Little Piggies Months of the Year Song , Your baby likely won't be able to articulate words until she is between the ages of 10 and 13 months.Instead, she will coo and cry as a means of communication.
Respond to these as you would normally, and don't fret over using baby-talk.
The cutesy language used to communicate with young children might actually help hold your child's attention and stimulate language learning.Try to match coos and cries with the objects she directs her sounds at.
Instead of bringing her a bottle, ask, "Does baby Tiffany want her bottle? Dada will bring you a bottle." Combine specific items with your spoken responses.
You might ask her, "Is this what you want? Does baby Gabby want her stuffed elephant?"
This is especially important while she is learning to coordinate her speaking with new vocabulary.
She might make a certain noise or cry when she is hungry or needs to be changed.
Respond to this as you normally would with spoken language, saying things like: "Little Emma feels like she needs her diaper changed! Do you need your diaper changed? Let's get you a fresh diaper!" "Is baby Bethany hungry? It's almost lunch time.
Let's go get your bottle ready." "Do you need more? More milk? Here you go."
When you interact with your baby or are doing something in front of her, describe the process as you do it.
You might describe what you are shopping for in the supermarket, how you are buckling her into her car seat, or even what you are making for lunch. "Does Kristin need help getting her toy off the shelf? I'll be right there, honey.
Just let mama wash these dishes.
Wash, wash, wash!" "Look, Sarah! Fido wants to come in from going potty outside.
Good boy, Fido." "What's daddy doing? Is he getting Amelia's favorite book? Look Amelia! I got it.
Hooray! Let's sit down and read the book together."
If she's clapping her hands, say "You're clapping so well, Amy!" When she gets excited to see a family member coming towards her, say "There's Dada, Meg! Are you so happy to see Dada?" This is natural for many parents, but by saying, "That's your toy! Are you playing with your toy?" you will help your baby make connections between items and words, as well as her own actions and name. , You may think that you are encouraging overly talkative behavior when you narrate daily life to your child, but this is not the case.Try not to worry about that, because your child will hear and understand a great deal, and she may even pick up on your hesitancy.
After all, even young children can understand facial expressions.
Children who are not talked to enough during language development are often negatively impacted later in life.Some research suggests that children in talkative families are more linguistically stimulated due to the regular exchange of language.
This could be a potential link to better performance on reading tests at older ages., Difficult phrases can trip even experienced speakers up, and these can be fun exercises for your child to practice.
You might repeat difficult daily expressions that you've become tongue tied over, or you might try some simple tongue twisters like:
She Sells Sea Shells Whether the Weather Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Bear , Children are sensitive to sound and can be easily upset by loud or confusing noises.
The noise level of neonatal intensive care units is 50 decibels, or the sound of regular conversation at home., It has been proven that reading has a powerful positive influence on your child's development, including her language development.Reading will help develop her imagination and also contribute the expansion of her vocabulary.
Familiar words will become reinforced in her mind, and enable her to start using those new words.
You don't have to wait until your child is old enough to make sense of the words on the page.
A book with colorful pictures can become a pre-nap teaching activity. , You only want what's best for your child, and when you think she should be at a certain level and she's not, it can be frustrating for a parent.
However, your child will learn language at her own speed, and it's important to be patient and encouraging with her while she makes sense of vocabulary and grammar., In most cases, there is nothing to worry about, but sometimes lack of speech, motor control, or other features can indicate a developmental delay in your child.Early recognition of a delay can frequently result in the issue being resolved.To this end, you may want to bring it to your pediatrician's attention if you notice: 3
- 4 months: poor head support, no babbling or infrequent noise-making, regular eye crossing, and a lack of social smiling.4
- 7 months: overly stiff or floppy body, difficulty keeping head steady, difficulty sitting, lack of noise response/social smiling, lack of expressed affection toward caregivers, and doesn't interact with objects.7
- 12 months: no crawling, lack of evenness while crawling (one month after starting), can't stand with assistance, lacks curiosity (especially with hiding games like peek-a-boo), speaks infrequently, and doesn't use body language.13
- 24 months: unable to walk by 18 months, cannot make sense or use of daily objects, cannot vocalize a minimum of six words by 18 months or two-word responses by 24 months, doesn't repeat and mimic words and actions, cannot follow simple instructions, loses previously mastered skills.3
- 5 years: speech delays (stuttering, lisping, difficulty with articulation), poor motor skills, and under-developed social/emotional skills., In the pre-linguistic stage (0
- 13 months) your child will babble, cry, coo, and imitate some sounds with poor control.
Toward the end of this phase, she might even begin saying, "dadada" or "mamama."Encourage these sounds and connect each with actions and objects throughout this phase. , In the holophrastic stage (10
- 13 months), your baby will mostly speak one word at a time, adding meaning through context and non-verbal cues.For example, she might say, "Dada" forcefully, indicating she wants her father to come to her. , The two-word sentence phase (at about 18 months) is where she will begin joining parts of speech together.
She will often put nouns with adjectives or verbs with modifiers in expressions like, "Bottle give," "Where dada?"
and "Not mama."
At this point, she'll probably make many linguistic errors, like "I catched it" or "I falling off it." This is normal, and part of the learning process.Encourage her efforts so she knows you are proud of her efforts at communication. , When she reaches the complex sentence phase (2.5
- 3 years) she will have some practice at speaking.
She'll start trying to put her thoughts in more complicated patterns.There are frequently many errors at this stage.
Do not punish your child for poor grammar; this can make her afraid of speaking and making an error.Instead, ask her to explain herself and describe her thoughts. , At the adult-like sentence stage (5
- 6 years), her grammar should be near native and her usage of even complex structures seamless.Continue to encourage reading and speaking around her, as this will still stimulate her linguistic centers and help her continue learning. -
Step 3: Find a multi-lingual environment.
-
Step 4: Sing educational songs.
-
Step 5: Respond to your baby.
-
Step 6: Take cues from your child.
-
Step 7: Describe what you are doing.
-
Step 8: Describe what your baby is doing.
-
Step 9: Speak with your child regularly.
-
Step 10: Do some articulation exercises with your child.
-
Step 11: Talk softly with your child during the exercises.
-
Step 12: Read books to your child.
-
Step 13: Exercise patience with the stages of language development.
-
Step 14: Notice and address developmental delays.
-
Step 15: Respond to babbling as an infant.
-
Step 16: Interact with single word communications.
-
Step 17: Engage two-word communication with normal speech.
-
Step 18: Encourage more complicated language
-
Step 19: even if incorrect.In the multiple-word sentence stage (2 - 2.5 years) she will start putting the rules of language together.
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Step 20: Ask more complicated questions as her ability grows.
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Step 21: Carry on full conversations.
Detailed Guide
You can do this as you would normally, listening to music on a stereo or through the speakers of your car.
Avoid putting headphones directly on your stomach, as this can overstimulate your unborn child.The recommended volume for your child to best enjoy music that you play should be at about the level of the ambient noise made by a washing machine.
Children begin to hear and make sense of sound in the womb at about 25 weeks into your pregnancy.Exposing your child to music in the womb does not guarantee that your child will be mathematically inclined or musically apt.But by engaging your child with sound, you give it practice at discerning differences in it.
Simple melodies will be less overwhelming for your child.Consider songs you might put your baby to sleep with, or childhood songs like:
The ABC songYou are my SunshineHush Little BabyTwinkle Twinkle Little Star
Children can recognize the voices of parents and other family members that it has heard while in the womb.By talking to her or reading her books, you will help her begin learning about sound while still in the womb., Different languages follow different rules of stress and intonation.
Studies have shown that your newborn will have the ability to identify her native tongue, so she might benefit from being familiarized with other languages.You might consider:
Watching foreign films.
Sitting in on classes teaching language.
Doing light volunteer work with an ethnically oriented outreach program. , While it is unlikely that your child will learn the song you are singing in the way young children or adults do, familiarization with common childhood songs may encourage her learning of it after being born.There are many songs for you to choose from, including:
One Two, Buckle my Shoe One Potato, Two Potato Three Little Piggies Months of the Year Song , Your baby likely won't be able to articulate words until she is between the ages of 10 and 13 months.Instead, she will coo and cry as a means of communication.
Respond to these as you would normally, and don't fret over using baby-talk.
The cutesy language used to communicate with young children might actually help hold your child's attention and stimulate language learning.Try to match coos and cries with the objects she directs her sounds at.
Instead of bringing her a bottle, ask, "Does baby Tiffany want her bottle? Dada will bring you a bottle." Combine specific items with your spoken responses.
You might ask her, "Is this what you want? Does baby Gabby want her stuffed elephant?"
This is especially important while she is learning to coordinate her speaking with new vocabulary.
She might make a certain noise or cry when she is hungry or needs to be changed.
Respond to this as you normally would with spoken language, saying things like: "Little Emma feels like she needs her diaper changed! Do you need your diaper changed? Let's get you a fresh diaper!" "Is baby Bethany hungry? It's almost lunch time.
Let's go get your bottle ready." "Do you need more? More milk? Here you go."
When you interact with your baby or are doing something in front of her, describe the process as you do it.
You might describe what you are shopping for in the supermarket, how you are buckling her into her car seat, or even what you are making for lunch. "Does Kristin need help getting her toy off the shelf? I'll be right there, honey.
Just let mama wash these dishes.
Wash, wash, wash!" "Look, Sarah! Fido wants to come in from going potty outside.
Good boy, Fido." "What's daddy doing? Is he getting Amelia's favorite book? Look Amelia! I got it.
Hooray! Let's sit down and read the book together."
If she's clapping her hands, say "You're clapping so well, Amy!" When she gets excited to see a family member coming towards her, say "There's Dada, Meg! Are you so happy to see Dada?" This is natural for many parents, but by saying, "That's your toy! Are you playing with your toy?" you will help your baby make connections between items and words, as well as her own actions and name. , You may think that you are encouraging overly talkative behavior when you narrate daily life to your child, but this is not the case.Try not to worry about that, because your child will hear and understand a great deal, and she may even pick up on your hesitancy.
After all, even young children can understand facial expressions.
Children who are not talked to enough during language development are often negatively impacted later in life.Some research suggests that children in talkative families are more linguistically stimulated due to the regular exchange of language.
This could be a potential link to better performance on reading tests at older ages., Difficult phrases can trip even experienced speakers up, and these can be fun exercises for your child to practice.
You might repeat difficult daily expressions that you've become tongue tied over, or you might try some simple tongue twisters like:
She Sells Sea Shells Whether the Weather Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Bear , Children are sensitive to sound and can be easily upset by loud or confusing noises.
The noise level of neonatal intensive care units is 50 decibels, or the sound of regular conversation at home., It has been proven that reading has a powerful positive influence on your child's development, including her language development.Reading will help develop her imagination and also contribute the expansion of her vocabulary.
Familiar words will become reinforced in her mind, and enable her to start using those new words.
You don't have to wait until your child is old enough to make sense of the words on the page.
A book with colorful pictures can become a pre-nap teaching activity. , You only want what's best for your child, and when you think she should be at a certain level and she's not, it can be frustrating for a parent.
However, your child will learn language at her own speed, and it's important to be patient and encouraging with her while she makes sense of vocabulary and grammar., In most cases, there is nothing to worry about, but sometimes lack of speech, motor control, or other features can indicate a developmental delay in your child.Early recognition of a delay can frequently result in the issue being resolved.To this end, you may want to bring it to your pediatrician's attention if you notice: 3
- 4 months: poor head support, no babbling or infrequent noise-making, regular eye crossing, and a lack of social smiling.4
- 7 months: overly stiff or floppy body, difficulty keeping head steady, difficulty sitting, lack of noise response/social smiling, lack of expressed affection toward caregivers, and doesn't interact with objects.7
- 12 months: no crawling, lack of evenness while crawling (one month after starting), can't stand with assistance, lacks curiosity (especially with hiding games like peek-a-boo), speaks infrequently, and doesn't use body language.13
- 24 months: unable to walk by 18 months, cannot make sense or use of daily objects, cannot vocalize a minimum of six words by 18 months or two-word responses by 24 months, doesn't repeat and mimic words and actions, cannot follow simple instructions, loses previously mastered skills.3
- 5 years: speech delays (stuttering, lisping, difficulty with articulation), poor motor skills, and under-developed social/emotional skills., In the pre-linguistic stage (0
- 13 months) your child will babble, cry, coo, and imitate some sounds with poor control.
Toward the end of this phase, she might even begin saying, "dadada" or "mamama."Encourage these sounds and connect each with actions and objects throughout this phase. , In the holophrastic stage (10
- 13 months), your baby will mostly speak one word at a time, adding meaning through context and non-verbal cues.For example, she might say, "Dada" forcefully, indicating she wants her father to come to her. , The two-word sentence phase (at about 18 months) is where she will begin joining parts of speech together.
She will often put nouns with adjectives or verbs with modifiers in expressions like, "Bottle give," "Where dada?"
and "Not mama."
At this point, she'll probably make many linguistic errors, like "I catched it" or "I falling off it." This is normal, and part of the learning process.Encourage her efforts so she knows you are proud of her efforts at communication. , When she reaches the complex sentence phase (2.5
- 3 years) she will have some practice at speaking.
She'll start trying to put her thoughts in more complicated patterns.There are frequently many errors at this stage.
Do not punish your child for poor grammar; this can make her afraid of speaking and making an error.Instead, ask her to explain herself and describe her thoughts. , At the adult-like sentence stage (5
- 6 years), her grammar should be near native and her usage of even complex structures seamless.Continue to encourage reading and speaking around her, as this will still stimulate her linguistic centers and help her continue learning.
About the Author
Kathleen Wilson
Writer and educator with a focus on practical home improvement knowledge.
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