Before even when babies start learning to speak in varied languages, say Spanish or English- they coo and babble. They tend to play with sound. This is what you call baby talk. But what about the baby's first words? When do you hear them? Speech development in your baby takes place within the first two years of life. This is when the brain develops at a fast pace and babies learn to talk. The first words that come out of your baby’s mouth are a significant milestone especially when you have long been waiting for that first real “dada” or “mama.” Few milestones are as exciting and thrilling as the first words of your baby. These tips will help encourage the talking skills of your infant.
Improvise The Chatting Sessions
Talking to your infant very often will teach him vocabulary and also encourage the very first words. Offer constant narration while doing your regular tasks. Try introducing your baby to new words when you take him to an entirely new environment.
Respond Quickly
It always works to follow the interests of your baby. Allow your child to serve as your guide when trying to talk about something new and interesting. Take, for instance, if you find your baby babbling at the sight of a dog, make this the subject of conversation. Try repeating the term “dog” while pointing your baby at the canine.
Puppetry Always Works
Come up with your own puppet or go for a store-bought model. You can even cover your hand with a sock and get going. Regardless of how you do it, you can easily engage the language and imagination skills of your infant by creating different voices and new characters. You will find your infant babbling and cooing and even trying to talk back to the hand in no time.
Have Your Focus On Repetitions And Routines
Regular activities like meal times, bath times, and changing times are perfect scopes of having some good conversations with your child every day. These are times when they start picking up phrases and keywords while associating them with different activities.
Introduce Model Speech
If you want your infant to build good language skills, talk to him in short and slow sentences. Wait for your baby to try and even respond to what you said when he is fully prepared. Introduce play sessions where you can help your child in recognizing words and objects.
Try Out Your Mimicry Skills
Move on to say “Dad dad dad dad dad” to your tiny tot regularly, several times during the day. Mimic everything your infant utters to get him in the right mood to speak. Even babbling can help in brain development.
When trying to encourage a baby's first words, one thing you should always remember is that some infants start talking very early while others take time to utter their first words. You never know, your baby might be on a roll with words!