Toddlers and Childcare
How Children Learn to Talk TODDLERS AND CHILDCARE 10
- and how Parents can help them
F
rom within the womb, infants are tuning in to the sounds of their native language. Research shows that from birth, infants prefer the sounds of their mother’s voice to others and they can distinguish between sounds in words. As children grow, the more oral language input they receive, the more likely they will become competent and confident talkers. There is no replacement for ongoing rich dialogue with young children. In today’s digital world, it is important for parents and caregivers to find a balance between children’s passive engagement with digital technologies and opportunities for shared conversations with adults. Learning to talk is a complex process that involves both biological and environmental
factors. For most children, key stages of speech development to toddler age include: • Cooing: contains vowel sounds such as ‘oo’, ‘ee’ and ‘a’. • Canonical babbling: contains consonant and vowel blends such as ‘da’, ‘ma’ and ‘pa’. • Conversational babbling: long strings of speech that may include first words. Although not formal speech, conversational babbling sounds like a conversation, with pauses, inflections (e.g., raising the pitch at the end of the sentence) and hand gestures such as pointing to objects or people. • Two-word utterances: putting words together in the correct word order such as ‘more milk’, ‘no sleep’ or ‘my dog’. • First sentences: children use familiar words
Your Local Families Magazine – Brisbane Issue 12 - October/November 2015
and new words in short sentences to make statements and ask questions. In these early stages of learning to talk, it is critical for children and adults to engage in turn-taking. When a baby coos or babbles and adults respond, the infant is learning the rules of conversation. This includes maintaining eye contact, taking turns to speak (or vocalise), and using inflections. As children grow, these rules are applied in more sophisticated ways and become integral to building social relationships with peers and adults in a range of social settings including playgroups, childcare centres and schools.
Adult support for children’s oral language Adults often support children’s speech development instinctively. Along with reading