Before their first words » Advices

Follow their lead

moon — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 19:18:54 +0000

Follow their lead. Talking to children about objects and events that have caught their attention is especially important for the development of language. It can help to look out for moments when your child expresses an interest in something, and then talk about it with them using both words and gestures. This is called contingent talk. Responding to children in this way reinforces their motivation to communicate and helps them associate the words you say with the things you are talking about.

Face-to-face interaction

moon — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 19:19:40 +0000

Babies are interested in their caregivers’ faces and enjoy making eye contact. During the activity of observing face-to-face emotional responses, the infant may initiate sounds like “aaaa” or “ga-ga-ga”, adding facial and gestural expressions. You can engage your baby this way when they are in your arms or playing on the floor, for example. These everyday interactions allow us to share affection, and discover what your baby is interested in. For example, you might notice where they are looking, or perhaps how they react to an unexpected sound. By tuning in this way and by responding to each other, you are laying the foundation for language learning.

Nursery rhymes and music

moon — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 16:38:32 +0000

Singing songs is a fun way to introduce infants to the rhythmic patterns that make up language. Children don’t care if we are professional singers or tone deaf! They enjoy listening and watching as you move to the beat of the song, or just sing with affection. You can also use more active songs, with emphasis on the important words and adding gestures and movements that accompany the words. Your baby may be able to complete a line or two if you stop singing before an important word and let them have a go. Singing can be a lovely way to build bonds and promote language at the same time.

Imitation

moon — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:38:53 +0000

Responding to your baby’s vocalizations by repeating them back to them can be very rewarding, especially in face-to-face interactions. Imitation can help the baby realize how sounds can have a communicative effect. You can imitate different aspects of their babble: for example, vowels or consonants and intonation patterns. You can also mimic facial expressions and gestures. Imitation facilitates the learning of early communicative exchanges and language.

Motherese

moon — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 16:39:13 +0000

When we talk to babies we tend to exaggerate our intonation, speak slower than we do with adults, use fewer words, make longer pauses and use animated facial expressions and gestures. This is called “motherese”. It can help to highlight keywords and make it easier for babies to break into language. We also tend to repeat information on the same topic in different ways. For example, imagine that you are playing with a child with a toy car that has caught their attention. You can talk about the car using different expressions: “Oh! A car! Look at this car. How nice. Is it driving off? Oh the car has gone! Bye bye car!”. You can also talk about the features of the car, for example, the noise it makes “Brum Brum …”, “toot … toot…”, what colour it is “the green, car”, or what parts it has “open the car door…”. We know that this kind of child-directed speech, pitched at the child’s level, facilitates learning.

Interpreting child talk

moon — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:39:26 +0000

Children enjoy playing at making different sounds, but at first they don’t always make a lot of sense. Treating what they say as if it were meaningful is a great strategy that should promote early communication. Children often use intonation to convey that they are asking a question or expressing interest even if they don’t have the words to do so. Adults can interpret these early utterances according to their rise and fall intonation and respond appropriately. This can enable infants to notice that what they say can have an impact and can be used to spark off interaction.

Expose your child to different communicative contexts, people and activities

moon — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 16:39:39 +0000

Talking in different settings and with different people provides a rich range of opportunities to use new words in new ways and can thereby strengthen language understanding. It is also important that children have the opportunity to hear the peculiarities of different people’s speech, allowing them to compare and extract the common features of the language of the community. Reading books is another great way to introduce children to a wider pool of words.

Interaction through book reading

moon — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 13:14:52 +0000

Book reading is a great way to help children’s communicative development. You could talk about the pictures, do the voices of the characters, add in songs, take turns in turning the page, or have fun finding characters you like. It’s fine to go at your child’s pace and you don’t need to read every word on the page. Instead, by talking about what has captured their interest, you keep them actively involved in communicating.

Talk to your baby

moon — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 13:14:54 +0000

Children come into the world ready to learn language. Through interaction with others, they are able to learn about the sounds, words, and grammatical patterns in the language of their environment. We just have to make sure that they hear the language around them. Hearing it in interaction is all the better. So talking to them about what has caught their attention can be a great way to enhance their language skills.

Harness the value of routines

moon — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 13:15:57 +0000

Much of babies’ everyday lives are routines –we do the same things several times a day, every day. The sheer repetitiveness of these activities makes them great opportunities for learning– babies can predict was is going to happen next! Common routines include getting up in the morning, or taking a bath a bedtime. Each family will have their own habits that babies get used to. When you have a familiar routine, if you stop at a given point in it, you might notice that your baby responds, expecting you to carry on in the way you normally do. For example, when you sing a song you can stop before a key word and look for their reaction. The familiarity of routines can give a valuable boost to language learning. For example, at meal time, you might talk about the things you always drink or eat (e.g., “Here’s your water! Mmmm fresh water!”) and these words, used in a routine context, would be particularly easy to pick up.