Through the eyes of a child: 6-12months

The Communication Trust has produced 4 excellent videos for parents. Take a look at this one for babies between 6 and 12 months

Activities and Tips for Parents to Help Develop their Child’s Speech, Language and Communication Skills.

We currently live in a very fast paced world; sometimes we take for granted the skills we need to be effective and successful communicators. During my pre-school language groups I try to take the time to discuss with parents the importance of means, reasons and opportunities.

In brief, this model is a holistic approach to describe communication, and was devised by Money,D. & Thurman, S (1994).

Means refers to HOW we communicate e.g. speech, signs, pictures, gestures etc.

Reasons is the WHY we communicate e.g. wants/needs, feelings, choices, requesting information, giving information etc. Giving your child choices is really important!

Opportunities is the WHEN, WHERE and with WHO we communicate e.g. time and place, shared communication system, family, friends etc.

Therefore, according to Money, D and Thurman, S; to be a successful and effective communicator ideally you need an element of each aspect. These means, reasons and opportunities are important to bear in mind when interacting with children. Please see below for a few suggestions of things you can do with your child to help them become successful, effective and confident communicators.

Nursery Rhymes and Singing:

·     Working on a child’s language skills. They can hear the rhythm and flow of language, speech sounds, and words; it helps them connect words to actions, to understand and remember words.  They also help attention and listening skills.

·         Increases their confidence. 
·         Helps with their pre-reading skills.
·         You can let your child make a choice of which song to sing, giving a child choice is really important; it gives them a reason to communicate.
·         Use songs that have actions and repeating lines, this helps maintain their focus.
·         Try stopping in the middle of the song and encourage your child to continue with the next action or word.

Daily Routines: Daily routines provide a good opportunity to help your child to learn new words.  Mealtimes and bath-times can give you a chance to reinforce some new words without even thinking about it!  Choose some Key Words that you will use every time – this helps your child learn through repetition. Just like us, children will have some days better than others. Tiredness, behaviour, time constraints etc. can all have an impact on the ability to learn new words.  But as often as you can, try to use these natural routines to help your child learn and use these common words.

Bath Time: During bath time you can use the words ‘wet’, ‘wash’, ‘dry’ etc. lots of times to show your child what these words mean. You can also name body parts e.g. ‘wash your feet’ ‘dry your tummy’ etc. Always make it fun!

Meal Times: offer constant opportunities for learning. Children benefit from the social aspects of eating together; learning how to take turns and sharing. This is a great time to talk about different foods; developing their vocabulary. Meal times can provide an opportunity for your child to use his/her language to request things.  Help your child to repeat some new words ‘more’, ’hot’, ’yummy’, etc. Name things as you put them on the table. Give your child a choice of foods & drink – juice or water?  This gives you child a reason to communicate and helps them to ask for things in a meaningful & functional way.

Reading Books: Story-time is a routine which is enjoyable for you and your child. It is a rich language activity, it can help develop your child’s attention and listening, their understanding, extend their vocabulary and; develop their reasoning skills.  It also provides a fantastic opportunity to introduce your child to literacy; letters and written words and the concepts of beginning and end.

Books aren’t just for bed time; they are great for any time of the day! Again, give your child the opportunity to choose a book and show you what he/she finds interesting to talk about. Again incorporate some Key Words e.g. – book, again, finished, my turn etc.

Play: Is a fantastic opportunity for you to interact with your child, and is an enjoyable way for your child to learn:

·         They can become familiar with objects, touching, textures, looking etc.

·         They can practice new skills

·         Improve motor skills and co-ordination

·         Integrate many of the senses i.e. touch, sight, smell etc

·         Learn about communication i.e. turn taking, asking questions etc.

·         Learn about language i.e. vocabulary

·         Learn about other people

·         It is a safe way to release excess energy and reduce the build up of any frustration.

General Hints and Tips:

During play and day time routines these tips can really help your child:

·         Comment on what your child is doing but, try not to ask too many questions

·         Show your child that you are listening and interested in what they are saying by repeating what they say.

·         Follow your child’s lead during play activities

·         Play pretend games e.g. tea parties

·         Allow your child plenty of time to respond

·         Talk to your child about what you are doing every day e.g. when you are in the car, doing the washing, cooking etc.

·         Try not to put too much pressure on your child to talk or say words they find difficult

·         Try not to criticise or directly correct your child when he/she makes an error with his speech sounds, just give them the correct model.

·         Get on your child’s level when playing; don’t be afraid to get on the floor with them.

·         Try and get your child’s attention by saying their name first, or tapping their arm before you ask them to do something, or are making comments about things around them.

·         Use simple repetitive language

·         Make learning language fun!!!!

   By Georgina White

Should I leave my baby to cry? Is controlled crying good?

For those of us who long ago decided to ignore the advice of Gina Ford or mother-in-laws who stated that babies should be left to cry, there is  scientific evidence which not only supports our gut instinct but also shows that leaving a baby to cry can have long term, damaging emotional effects. I was reminded about the study by 'The Mother' magazine www.themothermagazine.blogspot.com.  


The study carried out at used brain scans to show that long term harm can be caused. 'If you ignore a crying child, tell them to shut up or put them in a room on their own, you can cause serious damage to their brains on a level that can result in severe neurosis and emotional disorders later in life,' said Professor Margot Sunderland, a leading expert in the development of children's brains and a British Medical Association award-winning author.

We need to be  confident enough to listen to our instincts and reject the  theories of so-called baby experts such as Gina Ford and Channel 4's Supernanny, Jo Frost, who preach strict discipline, routine and controlled crying.


Crying to me, as  a speech and language therapist, is communication. It's too easy to see the crying as a behaviour on its own. It's a symptom of an underlying issue. The baby is trying to tell us something. If we can sort out the problem, we can stop the crying. Leaving a baby to cry is teaching him that his attempts to communicate are not important and so he will learn that this is not a worthwhile activity. It doesn't however take away the reason why he was crying. He will still be hungry, thirsty, anxious, etc

My first baby cried almost all the time but I never left him to cry. I picked him up and cuddled him and he stopped. I much later found out he had serious glue ear and so it hurt him to lie down. When I picked him up it made him feel better.  How awful would I have felt if I had listened to the advice everyone freely gave me to let him cry? Incidently, why is it when you have a new born everyone thinks you cant make decisions for yourself and gives advice about anything and everything when they wouldnt normally dream of doing so?

I  hear about so called 'good babies' but what is it that makes them good? Is it because they aren't communicating? A baby who just lies there may be easy to have around but I much prefer one who wants to interact. Most will want to, given the opportunity. Jayne, excellent nursery teacher I know told me about a visit to a friend and her baby. The baby lay in his carrycot in the same room while the adults chatted. Jayne went over to the baby and interacted with him. When she stopped, he cried. The parent was probably not very pleased but the baby had really enjoyed Jayne's attention and interaction and wanted more. He was unhappy when she moved away and protested in the only way he could. Babies are pre-wired to enjoy and benefit from interaction. We need to remember that communication is about listening too. We must be better listeners.

For adults to have good mental health, they need to feel appreciated, loved and secure. This study shows that babies do too. How appreciated, loved and secure do they feel if they are left to cry?

You can read more by Margot Sunderland in her excellent book, available from Amazon 

  

Baby Talk

I am doing a training session this weekend for the lovely Shelley Ensor of Little Signers Club. She has new trainee baby sign teachers and I am going to look at the development of communication in babies and toddlers with them. You might think that not a lot goes on in this time.... do they say much before 2? You would however, be mis-guided if you thought that, as there is so much that happens. Babies are pre-wired for communication but need stimulation to trigger the necessary brain connections. Babies are born innately sociable and from a few weeks old are learning the social rules of communication e.g. turn taking.

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!

Related articles

• Busting The Top 7 Language Learning Myths (Part VI) (globalenglishblog.com)
• The Linquistic Genius of Babies (whatmotherssay.com)

Scientific study shows the voice of mothers activate a baby's brain and learning

By Ruben Dagda as seen on examiner.com

Scientists from the University of Montreal and Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center in Canada attached electrodes to a group of 16 24 hour  old babies to monitor brain activity. After performing the study, the researchers found the following  remarkable result: the voice of  a mother but not of a nurse, doctor or a stranger robustly activate the language processing centers of the brain in the newborn.   In other words, this is the first study of its kind that shows that the voice of mothers is unique and babies inherently recognize their mother's voice possibly even inside the womb. More importantly, theelectroencephalography and MRI studies show high resolution scans that pinpoint the activation of the Wernicke's area of the left hemisphere of the brain, the brain area that is specialized in language development and recognition in human beings.

  The scientists used a couple of controls in their studies to help with the interpretation of their results.  The researchers also involved a nurse who is herself a mother in their studies and also ruled out the "novelty" aspect by having the mother talk to a nurse at regular intervals before birth. Amazingly, their results still held water and proved that a mother's voice is only recognized by babies as the brain scans only showed selective activations of the language areas of the brain.

 Bottomline- 

     It has been well documented that newborn babies do have some innate language capacities. Moreover, infants may not only learn to specifically recognize their mother's voice but also show adult-like responses in the brain to human voice at 7 but not 4 months of age. However,  scientists are only just beginning to understand what the cognitive capacities of newborn babies are and the mechanisms by which babies learn and vocalize language. Nevertheless, what these studies do not currently show is whether the mother's voice is also important for brain development and learning in the child.   Hence, future studies are imperative to determine whether there are any deficiencies seen in babies in which mothers spend less than the average or ideal time talking to their newborn babies.  Moreover, studies like this have never been performed in such young participants which stresses the fact that many exciting and useful scientific discoveries with regards to the developing infant brain can be discovered with such a low number of participants (16) and can help us understand the pathological basis for speech language deficiencies and autism. 

 Moreover, the implications of these clinical findings are broad and other leading hospitals in the nation that perform pediatric research should conduct future studies as to whether a speech-language deficiencies in the infant could partly be a result of low mother to infant contact and interaction, even at such an early age.

 At the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's Hospital, there are a variety of speech language pathology programs that  perform cutting edge research which also involve clinical trials. Right now, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is conducting a long term child neurology research registry. This is a large scale research initiative to store and track medical records of infants of all ages for statistical purposes. Moreover, this local clinical research initiative will help to elucidate the  etiology and root causes of many neurological diseases including infant speech language deficiencies.

   

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• Newborns need their mother's voice to really fire their brains up [Mad Science] (io9.com)
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Language learning starts in the womb!

I found this on examiner.com  and I thought it was worth sharing: Find them on Facebook!

A new study published on the November 5th online edition ofCurrent Biology reveals that newborns' cries already carry the mark of their parents language. The study has found that babies start to develop language elements in the womb, long before they first start to coo and babble.

The findings not only disclose that newborn human babies can produce different sounding cry sounds. They also reveal that neonates prefer to make the sound patterns that were typical to them when in the womb during their third trimester of gestation, explained Kathleen Wermke of the University of Würzburg in Germany. Unlike previously believed, the data in this study supports how important a baby'a crying is for seeding the development of language, added Wermke.

In the last trimester of pregnancy human fetuses can memorize external sounds, particularlymelody contours in music and language. Newborns prefer their mother's voice above other voices and can perceive emotion through intonation contours in maternal speech, also known as 'motherese' or baby talk. Babies' ability to differentiate between languages and changes in pitch is based on melody patterns.

The study's research team, led by Wermke, recorded and analyzed 60 healthy three to five day old newborn's cries, half of which were born to French-speaking families and the other half to German-speaking families. Clear differences were noted in the tone of the babies' cries, based on their maternal tongue.

French newborns had a cry with a rising melody contour, while the German babies had a falling melody contour cry. These melody patterns are consistent with the two languages, stated Wermke.

The data from this study show a very early native language impact, said the researchers. Infants can't match vowel sounds made to them by adult speakers until 12 weeks after being born, that skill depends on vocal control. However, they can imitate the tone of their mother's spoken language.

The fact that they can imitate melody contour, is probably due to their motivation to mimic their mother's voice to establish a bond. Since melody contour is probably the only characteristic of their mother's speech they can imitate, it could explain why it is found so early in a newborn's life.

Related articles

• Newborns need their mother's voice to really fire their brains up [Mad Science] (io9.com)
• Infants give mother tongue new meaning (theglobeandmail.com)
• Mum's the word: Montreal team finds newborns respond uniquely to mother's voice (canada.com)