Babies first develop their understanding of language before they can begin to try to use any words. The process involves moving from babble to
- Learning that words have meaning e.g. learning about the names of objects through repetition in everyday routines
- Using single words
- Joining words together
- Putting words together in the right order
- Developing the social rules that apply to language
Children develop at different rates:
Stages of language and communication development
Age range | Listening and attention | Understanding |
Up to 3 months | · Turns towards a familiar sound | · May show excitement at familiar sounds, for example noises in kitchen, familiar voices or toys (rattle) |
3 - 6 months | · Watches face when someone talks | · Shows excitement at sound of approaching voices |
6 - 12 months | · Looks about in search of speaker | · Understands frequently used words such as ‘all gone’ ‘no’ and ‘bye-bye’. |
12 - 15 months | · Enjoys sound making toys/objects | · Understands simple instructions e.g. ‘Kiss mummy’ ‘give to daddy’ ‘stop’. |
Age range | Speech sounds and talk | Social skills |
Up to 3 months | · Makes random speech sounds e.g. cooing, gurgling. | · Makes eye contact for fairly long periods |
3 - 6 months | · Babbles to self using mainly vowels sounds, but some consonant sounds are present ‘e-e, oee, aarh, deeh’ | · Cries in a different way to express different needs |
6 - 12 months | · Uses gestures such as waving and pointing to help communicate | · Enjoys action rhymes and songs |
12 - 15 months | · Can say around 10 single words. | · Likes watching adults for short periods of time. |
It's fascinating and a fantastic achievement yet mostly we take it for granted. I'm looking forwards to Saturday to be able to share the insight!
Great post Libby! From a baby signing point of view, many parents laugh at me when I say they should start signing with their babies from a very young age - but I've seen first hand how much very young babies have to say!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Jen. I wish more people could see the benefits. It's a fantastic vehicle for interaction as well as other things but we need to do more research so certain influential bodies can see the validity. I think that needs to be a project soon!
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