A baby’s first words are always an exciting milestone for parents – was that “Mama” or “Dada” he uttered?
A baby learns to talk by listening to voices and sounds.Almost instinctively, as adults we alter our pitch and pace when talking to babies – we talk more slowly, raise the pitch of our voice and exaggerate the accents in words.Repetition helps them learn to understand speech and strengthens the language connections in the brain.
From birth and up to one year, your baby will reach amazing milestones as they move from crying to cooing to talking.
Babies develop at their own rate - some will do things at a young age while others may take a little longer.
Regardless of when they do start, here are some general guidelines that you can expect at each stage.
one month
From birth your baby will look at your face and listen to your voice. Your baby first learns to communicate with you by crying, whether hungry, upset or cold. By listening carefully to your baby and responding to his cries, you are laying the foundations for language.
two months
Your two-month-old baby begins to pay more and more attention to their world. The sound of your voice will be very interesting and baby will follow it around the room with great concentration. They will also start responding with a variety of cooing sounds, vowel-like sounds, and sometimes certain consonant sounds such as ‘g’.
three months
Your baby will recognise your voice by now and turn towards you when they hear you talking. They may also be making sounds such as “ahhh” and “gooo”. Baby will squeal when happy and content, sometimes startling themselves as they learn their own abilities.
four months
Baby will be smiling spontaneously and looking at people who talk to them. Babbling will have an almost sing-song high pitch sound to it. Be prepared for lots of repetition to the sounds your baby makes – they love the sound!
five months
Your baby has begun to imitate sounds and gestures and will use babble to get your attention until you respond. When you do respond to the cooing and laughing sounds, often your baby will repeat them to keep your attention. Baby will also respond differently to a variety of sounds e.g. the phone, vacuum cleaner, closing of doors, etc.
six months
Your baby is now using consonant-vowel combinations and the non-verbal language (use of gesture/facial expression) is becoming much more precise.
seven months
Your baby has learned how to wave goodbye and may accompany the wave with babbling sounds. Your baby can say “Mama” or “Dada”.
eight months
Your baby understands the word “No” and will play simple turn-taking games like ‘Peek-a-Boo’.
nine months
Your baby is responding to simple directions accompanied by gestures such as “come”, “give” and “hold my hand.” Baby will also pay attention to his own name.
ten months
Your baby is using his own language (jargon) to interact and have a conversation with you. He is also using intonation patterns that sound like familiar phrases such as asking, directing and telling off (e.g. will imitate telling Maddy the cat off!).
eleven months
Your baby can now say short, one syllable words such as “Mum”, “Dad”, “Bye”, and continues to talk in conversational ‘own jargon’ language.
twelve months
Your baby’s language skills are continuing to progress as he discovers more and more about the world and how he can get his needs and wants met.
slow starters
Being a slow starter doesn’t mean he is a slow learner. You can help your baby learn language by doing some very simple things:
- Talk to your baby when washing, dressing and feeding.
- Play simple games like ‘Peek-a-Boo”.
- Imitate your baby and respond to their facial expressions and gestures.Use picture books at bedtime and playtime.
- Name items in the environment and expand as they begin to understand, e.g. truck – big truck – big red truck – a man driving a truck – see the man driving the big red truck.
- Sing action songs and nursery rhymes.
- Turn off the TV as young children are unable to filter out background noise and need direct interaction to develop the skills for talking – social, emotional and cognitive.
Most children learn speech and language without any difficulties. As they build their ability to use language and sounds in speech, what they say will inevitably change.
In the early stages, what seems to be a number of mistakes is in fact your child using their existing ability to the absolute full. So encourage and praise them for their efforts rather than criticising or correcting them all the time.
delays or problems in speech
In a few cases, there are sometimes delays or problems in speech. The two most common forms are ‘delayed’ and ‘disordered’.
When children continue to make the common mistakes and their speech and language is developing slowly in a common order, it is referred to as delayed. The speech and language of children who make rare mistakes or whose speech and language is developing in an unusual order is called disordered.
In both these instances, an assessment by a Speech Language Therapist is required to make a distinction and to make recommendations for intervention.
Hearing and talking are linked so if you are concerned your child can’t hear properly visit your doctor as he may have subsequent difficulty learning to talk.
uniqueness
All children are unique and will start talking at a time comfortable for them. So don’t be worried if your child isn’t the first to ‘chatter’ at your coffee or play group – being a slow starter doesn’t automatically mean a slow learner.
