How Baby Talk Helps Speech Development Longridge

"Goo goo, gaa gaa..." Do you find yourself lapsing into this sort of nonsense talk with your baby, then feeling guilty because of all those books you've read telling you to talk in proper sentences? Relax because talking with your baby should include silliness, rhymes, pulling faces and sticking out your tongue, in fact all the funny things that seem to come naturally, as well as simple stories and naming things.

Most importantly, don't wait until your baby says that first word before you talk to him or her, because the first year of your baby's life is just about the most important of all as far as speech and language development is concerned. By the time your baby is nine months old, at the time when health visitors often carry out hearing tests, he or she will already show the signs that good language skills are developing. These signs include an interest in noises, turning towards even quiet sounds, lots of apparently meaningless 'babbling' sounds of the 'b-b-b-b' and 'd-d-d-d' variety, and making eye contact with you when you are talking or playing together.

Your baby won't be saying words yet, but will have the foundations of speech already laid down. Don't forget that good language skills are closely linked with good reading later on. It may seem a long time until school, or even pre-school, but your baby is already making a start in literacy.

So how can you make sure your baby has a head start in speech development, without pressuring or hot-housing him or her? It's easy - just do what comes naturally. Take your cues from your baby.

Eye-contact You can look your baby in the eye and smile right from day one. This is communication - the beginnings of speech. It won't be long before your baby smiles right back at you, and when he does, just do it again. Talk to him at the same time. He'll love to hear you.

Copying When you cuddle your baby and look into his or her eyes, as well as talking you'll find yourself making face and mouth movements, from smiles to puckering up like a kiss. Within a very few weeks, your baby will copy these movements, and this will be good practice for speech sounds later on.

Nonsense Add some silly sounds to your mouth movements, and your baby will copy these. By about six months he or she will be able to put several sounds together, although the sound combinations won't be words yet. The easiest sounds for a baby to copy are the ones made at the front of the mouth, where it's easy to see the movement. That's why 'b-b-b-b' is a favourite. Incidentally, it's also probably why 'baby' is the name for a baby.

Listening Watch your baby turning to sounds around. Babies can hear very quiet sounds, but cannot cope with too much noise. If your baby is irritable, it may because of too much noise stimulation, so it's a good idea to turn radios and TVs off for a while every day, to give your baby a chance to hear other, less strident noises. The best noise of all, of course, is the sound of your voice as you play ...