The first chirpers
What’s fascinating is that every baby in the world, whether Japanese, Brazilian or Nigerian, chirp the same way. We summarize these chirpies emitted from 2 months old by the onomatopoeia ′′ areuh ", which is not necessarily the transcription we do elsewhere. But these first vocal essays are the same, regardless of the linguistic universe in which the child bathed. The newborn baby discovers his voice, changing sound intensity, enjoying his vocalises. For him, chirping is a game.
Even non-hearing children are chirping; on the other hand, they quickly abandon these vocal essays, because, deprived of the satisfaction of hearing the modulations of their voice, they quickly stop these experiments.
The first syllables
Issued from 7-8 months old generally, they vary depending on the linguistic environment of the baby: a little Hungarian will not babill the same way as a little Moroccan. The French baby usually starts by pronouncing the syllables ′′ pa ", ′′ ba ′′ and ′′ ma ". Hence the first dad and mama who make parents beat of love. Encouraged by so much recognition and interest, the child continues in this path (and his voice! ), and quickly associates the ′′ dad ′′ with his father and the ′′ mama ′′ with his mother.
Very quickly, he managed to diversify the pronounced syllables and, around 8 or 9 months, he acquired 5 or 6, like ′′ pa, ba, ma, da, di, to… ". Voice often give him great joy. This is why some little ones are so talkative, even alone in their bed: they have fun modulating their voice, varying intensity, flow, syllables and intonations. Others, less demonstrative, nevertheless record a variety of sounds that will fuel their repertoire when they dare to start.
Learning the first words
If you put aside the indetroneable ′′ dad ′′ and ′′ mom ", babies start learning and pronouncing their first words, which vary depending on everyone’s interests and their physical possibilities, around the age of 10 or 12 months old. Words are often retracted (′′ to ′′ instead of ′′ cake ", or ′′ boi ′′ instead of ′′ drinking ′′), but the meaning is there, and the word becomes an increasingly interesting tool to communicate their needs and make their personality emerge.
Learning the first 50 words is often a little long, as the baby has to be given time to understand the articulation between the word and the idea he designates, and to practice pronouncing very different syllables. Then, afterwards, everything speeds up: between 12 and 24 months, your child will learn and remember an impressive number of words, overcome the syntaxical difficulties of their language (chords, pronouns, times, disambiguation…). You must then take the opportunity to communicate as much as possible with him, in order to enrich his vocabulary and help him to own his language.
Learning the first sentences
Again, from one child to another, the age of a child pronouncing his first sentences varies a lot. Some dare to start early, from 16 months; others, which have focused more on psychomotor development, will take longer and only talk much later, around 30 months. There’s no need to worry.
Kindergarten coming soon, and he doesn’t speak well?
More than a problem, the entry into kindergarten of a child who does not speak well must be seen as a solution. Your child may not make the effort to express themselves well because they want to stay your baby, know you understand him perfectly and get ahead of his / her requests. However, in a community context, with a teacher who will not be able to spend all her time on a single student and the comrades they want to interact with, your child will be forced to progress in the way they express themselves. It is very common to observe flawless progress from the first term of school.
Language therapy for a speech therapy is recommended from 4 years old, if the level of language remains too childish or if the child has severe pronunciation difficulties.
Tips to help your child acquire language
Speak to him slowly during all the care you give him (bath, change, meal…). Comment him what you do by articulating distinctly.
Sing him regularly little songs and nursery rhymes, and feel free to join the gesture with the word by mimming the actions to help him memorize. Encourage him to finish the sentences of the nursery rhymes he knows, by hearing them.
If your child speaks a word wrong or builds a sentence wrong, don’t systematically take it back by stopping in shape. Access his request, but rephrase it correctly so that he can integrate the right wording.
When you play with him, let him organize the game in his own way and encourage him to talk by asking him simple questions: ′′ What is it? ", who is this? ", What should I do? ′′ ′′
Read him often little books adapted to his age, a pleasant way to enrich his vocabulary.
How old does a baby understand what they are told?
The baby’s understanding abilities are well preceded to those of expression. Research on this matter continues to amaze us: from his first few months of life, a baby has integrated and reacted to certain sentences. For example, a 3-month-old baby to whom his mom just says, ′′ you’re going to eat ", without even unbuttoning his blouse if she breastfeeding him, will see his child shake febrily, testifying to his impatience.
It seems admitted that a child answers their first name from 7 months old.
The signs that need to alert you
Language acquisition does not take place according to a specific timeline. And every child evolves according to their own pace, often correlated with their other learning (some, more physical, will focus on walking learning before starting to talk and enrich their vocabulary). But, without worrying, you have to pay attention to your child’s behavior and share your questions with your pediatrician or doctor if necessary.
How old does a baby say ′′ I
The job of the ′′ I ′′ to talk about self is generally acquired during the child’s 2 years. He understood that while belonging to the world around him, it is a clean and well-distinguished unit. He is then able to express his feelings, frustrations and subjectivity, which will help him get through the course of anger so specific to this age (and thus relieve his parents! ).).
Sign language for babies
Baby Sign Language (or LSB for Intimate) is a method developed in the 2000 s in the United States by two California academics, Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, to facilitate communication with tiny children. This technique can be used as early as 4 or 6 months, so with a little baby still unable to speak words. This doesn’t mean that the child will be able to sign words immediately (they need to have gained some coordination of their movements for this), but this teaching makes it possible to prepare the ground for, by 8 months, when he will start pointing fingers at the interesting objects, he can explain his requests and thus limit his frustrations.