Help your Infant Communicate

Your guide to communicating with your baby from day one

Language Development

• Research shows babies as young as seven months old are aware of how sentences are organized.
• Speaking "baby talk" or parentese can help infants learn language.
• Repeat words, babbling and gestures to your baby from the beginning, then repeat your infant's words back to her as she acquires a vocabulary.
• Research shows babies exposed to sign language can sign five to six months before they can speak words verbally.
• It's never too late to start signing with your child–just start with basic signs (eat, milk, more) and incorporate them into your daily routine.

ou probably can't wait to have a real conversation with your baby, but you'd be amazed at how much you can say to one another long before she surprises you with her first word. Whether you're chatting verbally or trying your hand (literally) at baby sign language, here's how to open the lines of communication with your infant.

When babies learn language

A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical School found infants learn language earlier than previously thought–babies just seven months old may be aware of how sentences are organized and can pick specific words out of fluent speech well before they can talk.

Infants show they're able to understand language early on by responding to directions, understanding words or pointing to family members, says Sara Bingham, author of The Baby Signing Book. And while motor skills needed for speech develop between 12 and 18 months, those needed for signing develop between six and 12 months. "Because babies gesture before they can talk, they can learn to sign before they can speak verbally," Bingham says.

Baby talk from 0-6 months

Studies show speaking "baby talk" with infants can help them learn language. Most adults speak differently to infants than they do to other adults. Infant-directed speech or "parentese" is slower, has a higher pitch, longer pauses, more repetition and simplified sentence structure. Studies show babies not only prefer parentese, but it helps them learn language by focusing their attention and making it easier for them to recognize individual words and patterns.

"The lyrical way we talk to babies naturally draws their attention," says Bingham. "Deaf parents do the same sort of singsong, but with their hands ‘parentese' becomes ‘gesturese.' All babies are born with the ability to react to both–babies babble with their hands and voices, but with hearing parents there's a drop off in the amount of gesture babble their infants use."

In the first few months, your baby plays with sound by experimenting with pitch, blowing raspberries and coughing for attention. "At this stage, your face and hands are more interesting than objects," says Bingham.  "Focus on interactions between you and your baby, don't always make it about the toys." When your baby "talks" to you, answer back. Imitate and repeat the sounds she makes, pause so she can respond–and you'll be having a "conversation" in no time.

"Label what they're seeing, what they're doing and what you're doing using simple words and signs," says Bingham. "I call it ‘narrating their world.'" So, when you're going through your daily routine, talk about what you're doing. "Say and sign ‘bath' and get really excited and eventually you'll notice a response," says Bingham.

"When we teach signing, we focus on key words–nouns and verbs. Signing makes you emphasize nouns and verbs and it slows down your speech. You also end up repeating the word more often." Repetition is key, she says. Repeat words, babbling and gestures from the beginning; then repeat your infant's words back to her as she acquires a vocabulary.

By end of 6 months your infant may:

• Babble with inflection
• Respond to her name
• Respond to sound by making sounds
• Babble chains of consonants (usually sounds for m, b, d)
• Use her voice to express pleasure and displeasure

 

Baby talk from 7 to 12 months

Babies usually start communicating with their own signs around eight or nine months, such as waving "bye bye" or lifting their arms to show they want to be picked up. When they start to speak, they usually start with nouns, such as "ball," or social words, such as "hi."

"When they reach the point of saying one word, up the ante and emphasize two words, such as "pretty flower," "brown doggy," or "cookie gone," says Bingham. "Then, when they're at the two-word level, up it again so you're always one level above where they're at and expanding on what they're saying as you help them learn."

By end of 12 months your infant may:

• Try to imitate words
• Say a few words, such as "dada" and "uh-oh"
• Understand simple instructions, such as "Please drink your milk"

Baby talk from 12 to 24 months

Typically babies can say between 10 and 20 words by the time they're 18 months old, although signing can help increase their vocabulary. (When Bingham's son was 17 months, he had 80 words in total–20 were verbal, 60 were signs.) To help encourage your child's speech and language development, read, sing and talk to her. Teach her signs or gestures for common items or phrases, especially those that seem to interest her most. And ask her questions, acknowledging her responses even if she's hard to understand. Studies show by 18 months, children can pick out grammatically correct sentences, even though they may only be able to say two words together.

By the end of 18 months your child may:

• Point to an object when it's named
• Recognize names of familiar people and objects
• Follow simple directions, such as "Bring me the shoe"
• Say up to 20 words

By the end of 24 months your child may:

• Ask for common items by name
• Use simple phrases, such as "more milk"
• Begin to use pronouns, such as "mine"
• Ask one- to two-word questions, such as "All gone?"
• Say up to 50 to 100 words

Baby signing tips

Research shows babies exposed to sign language can sign five to six months before they can speak words. And it's never too late to start, says Bingham, whose children learned fastest during their second years. "I think the ‘terrible twos' have a lot to do with frustration because they can't make themselves understood," she says. Here are some tips for signing with your infant:

1. Start with basic signs (eat, milk, more) and sign and speak at the same time, exaggerating your words and gestures.
2. Incorporate signs into daily routines while playing, singing and reading.
3. Speak in normal sentences, signing key words only.
4. Start slowly and add to your repertoire (and theirs) as they grow and their interests change.
5. Don't feel pressured or expect them to perform–make it fun and motivating.

All children develop differently, but if at any point you're concerned, talk to your doctor who may refer you to a speech pathologist. Other resources include the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (asha.org) in the U.S, and the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (caslpa.ca).