Language Development In Babies – Parenthood

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), language consists of a set of shared standards that allow ideas to be expressed in a logical fashion. It helps to be able to communicate, but language development in babies involves a long and complex process that begins in childhood.

In fact, from birth, babies begin to stammer. And, the majority of children, before they are one year old, say their first words.

Language development in babies

From birth to 6 months

Babies, before developing language, learn to distinguish and pay attention to sounds. Thus, during the first months of life, we can observe that, little by little, children begin to:

• Follow the sounds with the gaze
• Respond to changes in intonation

• Listen carefully to the music

Thus, at 6 months, most babies recognize the basic sounds of their mother tongue. In addition, during this first stage appear stammering, gurgling, laughter and the reproduction of sounds in a manner similar to language.

From 6 months to 1 year

Once children know how to identify and make sounds consciously, it is then that more elaborate communication begins to be established, so that certain actions can be appreciated in babies between 6 months and 1 year old. Indeed, at that age, the latter:

• Listen when we talk to them

• Understand the most frequent and common words of the mother tongue
• Respond to verbal orders
• Stammer groups of long and short sounds
• Stammer to get attention and keep it
• Communicate through gestures
• Mimic various sounds of language
• Use language to ask for things and express feelings, protests, acceptances, etc.
• Say their first words

1 to 2 years

From the age of 1, phonological processes improve. As a result, babies start making more precise sounds and saying more and more words.

In addition, gradually, babies then acquire the ability to vary language depending on the context and learning to maintain conversations. Thus, they develop the following communication skills:

• Understanding simple questions
• Attention to tales and songs
• Constant expansion of the word repertoire

• Formation of simple questions and sentences
• Use of language to obtain and transmit information

2 to 3 years old

From 2 years and up to 3 years, children perfect their language and formulate their first complex sentences, negative, interrogative, coordinated and subordinate. At this stage of development, we can observe the following actions related to communication:

• Use of words for almost everything
• Storytelling
• Correct use of tenses, people and verbal modes
• Language understandable by family and friends
• Naming of objects
• Distinction between proper and common names

The importance of the family in the development of language

Parents are the primary educators of children. Thus, the family plays a big role in the development of language in babies. Communication skills are therefore best learned if the close entourage is full of images, sounds and conversations.

In this sense, it is better for parents to stimulate the language of their children, thus facilitating the process of learning and cognitive development. To do this, they must:

• Use abstract and precise language
• Initiate conversations on topics unrelated to household issues
• Give the possibility to participate and to use language for functions different from those related to the expression of basic needs

Thus, by entering kindergarten, children know how to use language in most situations that require entering into a relationship with those around them. This is fundamental to benefit from a satisfactory school learning.