From birth to 12 months old
Getting prepared to produce the first word
During the first year of life, the little ones are developing their vocal skills and abilities required to produce their first word and become a speaker. There are several stages in the development of their vocal skills. However, there is a huge variation among children’s behaviours in each stage. So, do not interpret the ages and path of development literally.
In the first eight weeks, most babies’ vocal sounds reflect their biological states and the activities that are in progress in the surrounding environment.
From the sixth to the eighth week, parent may hear their babies ‘cooing’—producing quieter, low-pitched, more musical and syllable-like sounds. Then babies will come to the vocal play stage in which they produce a wide range of sounds that very often glide from a higher pitch to low.
From four months onwards, babies start to produce syllables, like ‘ba’, or sequences of sounds, like ‘dada’ or ‘bababa’. As babbling continues, babies start to produce melodic utterances that reflect the intonation and rhythm of the language they have been hearing.
During the first year, language input and physical response from parents contribute to the core of their baby’s learning and language acquisition. English songs and continuous everyday-life parent talks are excellent inputs for babies to develop vocabulary, intonation and grammar. Language play, such as peep-bo, tickling games, and build-and-bash games, can also foster babies’ language development. And in parallel, nurture their muscles, brain and cognitive developments. Another source of language input is the English songs. Babies can be simply listening to the songs or they can listen and act together. Other sources of language input are: listening to English stories read aloud and participating in reading games. All can help prepare them well for literacy.
Along the miraculous language development, babies are busy exploring the world with their senses. To stimulate cognitive development, parents can also provide a range of objects or toys for babies, such as:
‧ fill-and-dump toys
‧ toys for stacking, nesting, and sorting
‧ toys with a variety of textures, shapes, sounds, colours and weights
‧ childproof books
Playing these toys together with babies can also strengthen the parent-child bond which will lead to healthier social, emotional and cognitive development.
