Children acquire language and speech skills, as the brain develops and matures. The period when children begin developing early language skills begins in infancy and continues until a child reaches age three. The first three years of life encompass the most intensive time for learning language.
Early language development begins with a child’s first milestones being achieved during infancy, as newborns begin to recognize the sound of their primary caregiver’s voice, and babies as young as six months start to recognize the phonemes of their native language. By one to two years, a child should have about fifty words and understand simple instructions. By age two or three, their vocabulary should grow to around 200 words, and they should be learning to join words together to form sentences.
Early language development is crucial to a child’s ability to communicate, understand ideas, and express emotions. Early language skills also support the child’s ability to think, socialize, and learn. There are a variety of ways that parents and caregivers can actively support the development of their child’s early language skills.
Encouraging Speech Development by Talking and Singing to Your Baby
Talking directly to your baby who cannot yet understand what you are saying might seem like wasted breath, but research shows that directing speech toward an infant has a direct, positive impact on speech development. Infants whose caregivers address them more frequently develop larger, expressive vocabularies by age two compared to infants who mostly overhear indirect speech.
So, parents can help their children develop speech skills from the very beginning by talking with their infants, as if they can already talk. Parents should use as many different words in different contexts as they can and speak more descriptively about objects in their environment and the actions they are taking. This helps children learn, early on, how words work.
Be sure to talk to your child during everyday routines and activities, as well. The repetition will help your child begin to understand how to form words and use language, as they continuously listen to you describing and explaining their everyday activities like getting dressed, nursing, changing diapers, going for walks, riding in the car, reading books, playing, cleaning, rocking, napping, taking baths, and getting ready for bed.
Additionally, parents can incorporate language more directly into interactions by singing songs and nursery rhymes. Using baby talk (a higher pitch and more melodious speaking voice) when directing speech to your infant can also help them listen more intently.
Interactive Play Activities to Build Speech Skills
When learning is fun, it comes naturally to children, and this is true even in the earliest years. Parents can help support speech development through interactive play with their infants and toddlers. Some ideas include:
- Encouraging imitation by copying the sounds and facial expressions your child makes and encouraging them to copy yours
- Playing simple games like peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, or tickling to encourage your child to pay attention to what you say and do
- Make a game of labeling objects like toys, food, and body parts
- Reading books and talking about the pictures
- Putting together puzzles and talking about whether or not the pieces fit
- Playing with puppets or dolls to have make-believe conversations
- Using books, toys, and everyday routines to encourage language skills
- Using pretend play to teach sounds and thematic speech (for example, saying “yum, yum, yum” when eating a toy cookie or snoring when you’re pretending to sleep)
- Encouraging speech while building with toy blocks (think “up, up, up” when stacking and “boom” or “crash” when the blocks topple down)
Every one of these “games” offers an incredible wealth of learning and development opportunities for infants. These types of interactions allow speech and language to wash over them and seep into their sponge-like brains. Plus, they simultaneously help support social, motor, and cognitive development. The more play and interaction you can have with your infant, the stronger their early language skills will be.
Professional Support for Early Speech Development and Communication
Parents should keep track of their child’s speech development milestones, tracking interaction, vocalization, and language acquisition to ensure proper development and learning.
If you are concerned that your child is not achieving early language milestones on schedule, our doctors at Children’s Wellness Center encourage you to get a professional evaluation and support right away. While every child develops slightly differently and small differences in development do not always present a reason for concern, early intervention for speech-language pathology can have a significantly positive impact on your child’s development and later success.
To learn more about early language skills and development or to request a consultation for your child, we welcome you to contact us.
