Baby Babble – It’s Important

We generally take it for granted that babies will do ‘baby talk’ or babble.  It is actually an important part of language development.

Recent research has analysed baby’s babble and found that the quality of the babble is related to how easily a child learns to talk and the size of their vocabulary, as well as how clearly they can make sounds.

 

It doesn’t seem to matter what language a child is talking – their babbling is very similar!

At about 3 – 6 months, babbling sounds need to include sounds made in different parts of the mouth, including the lips (like b and p), and using nasal properties (like m and n and ng) and using the tongue (like d), as well as a range of different vowel sounds.  They need to be able to join some sounds together and repeat them (like dada, baba).

Your baby, in making these sounds, is learning to plan out the patterns needed to make these sounds.

In parts of Australia there is a screening program, designed by Speech Pathologists, that is used by Child Health Nurses to try to identify children who are at risk for speech difficulties.  Some of the questions relate to the kind of babbling babies are doing, as well as questions about their feeding and eating and socializing. If queries are raised about any of the answers to the questions in this program then the family is able to have several visits by Speech Pathologists.

When I see children who look as if they have dyspraxia, parents often tell me they have been quiet babies.  This sometimes becomes really obvious when a little brother or sister is born who is much noisier with their vocalising.  Vocalising simply means making sounds that are not speech.

So babbling has been found to be an important precursor to talking successfully and it is a good indicator of possible potential difficulties. Not always, but often.

Dyspraxia is not the only reason a baby is quiet.  The other most common cause is hearing loss or at least intermittent hearing loss.

An important part of babbling to think about is whether your child is using a range of different sounds and moving from one sound to another sound.

If you do have a quiet baby or your baby does not seem to meet this criteria then early Speech Pathology intervention can help to ensure that they get a good start to speech development. They can tell you how best to interact with your baby and encourage as much babbling as possible, as well as encouraging a good range of sounds.

Talk to your baby constantly, so that they develop a good memory for the sounds of speech.  Exaggerate how you say words and phrases, using lots of tune in your voice.  And have fun with making lots of sounds and noises together.