RICHIE MCFARLAND CHILDREN’S CENTER

11 Sandy Point Road

Stratham, NH  03885

(603) 778-8193

www.richiemcfarland.org          

Brain Development and Speech

 

Much has been written about the development of the human brain and our ability to influence it. Many new and expecting parents are interested in doing all they can to ensure their baby’s healthy brain development. Some parents, encouraged by recent research, feel they may be able to make their baby smarter by providing stimulation to enhance the natural wiring phase in children’s brain development. In the area of speech and language development, one form of stimulation has been proven to make a difference. Infants and children who are engaged in many verbal interactions tend to show more advanced linguistic skills than those who are not conversed with or read to. Because language is fundamental to most of the rest of cognitive development, the simple action—taking and listening to your child—is one of the best ways to make the most of his or her critical brain-building years, reports Zero to Three, a national, nonprofit child development organization.

 

You can find more specific child development information and educational resources for parents at www.zerotothree.org

 

Four specific aspects of parent caregiving appear to be associated with language development:

 

¨ shared attention during an activity or experience

¨ responsiveness to a child’s communication attempt that is related to the topic and content

¨ verbalizing social routines

¨ providing language models

 

It is important to note that none of the language stimulation techniques involves flash cards, videos or any form of training device. The most effective method to stimulate language is through loving, responsive and consistent interactions with a child and the people who love him. The most intensive period for speech and language development for humans is during the first three years of life, when the brain is developing and maturing. During this time, parents and caregivers are engaging in a variety of forms of communication with the child. They respond when the infant cries; they provide the sounds and words that become the building blocks for language. By six months of age, most children will recognize the basic sounds of their native language. By the end of their first year, most children understand and can speak several words.

 

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders publishes the following milestones for development of speech and language. Because children’s development can vary, these milestones represent a general age and time when most children pass through these periods.

 

Birth to Five Months—Babies will react to loud sounds and turn their head toward a sound source. They will watch your face when you speak and make noise when you talk to them. Laughs, giggles, cries or fussing noises are all common sounds for babies to voice their pleasure or displeasure.

 

Six to Eleven Months—Babies understand no. They will babble using sounds like ba-ba-ba or ma-ma-ma. They will try to communicate by actions or gestures and will attempt to repeat sounds they hear.

Twelve to Seventeen Months—Toddlers can spend about two minutes with a book or a toy. They will follow simple directions accompanied by gestures. They will answer simple questions nonverbally and point to objects, pictures and family members. Even though their pronunciation may not be clear, they can say two to three words to label a person or object. Most toddlers also try to imitate simple words.

 

Eighteen to Twenty-three Months—Children this age typically enjoy being read to and can follow simple commands without gestures. They can point to simple body parts such as nose and understand simple verbs such as eat and sleep. They can correctly pronounce most vowels and the consonants n, m, p and h, especially in the beginning of syllables and short words. They will also begin to use other speech sounds. Most children will say between eight and ten words although pronunciation may not be clear. They will ask for common foods by name and make animal sounds such as moo. At this age, they will also begin to combine words such as more milk and use pronouns such as mine.

 

Two to Three Years—By 24 months, children usually know about 50 words and can pronounce about 40 of them. They understand some spatial concepts such as in and on. They know pronouns such as you, me, and her as well as descriptive words like big and happy. Their speech is becoming more accurate but they may still leave off ending sounds and be best understood by close family and caregivers. Most children this age will answer simple questions and speak in two to three word phrases. They typically use question inflection to ask for something such as My ball? They will also begin to use plurals like shoes or socks and regular past tense verbs such as jumped.

 

If you have questions about your child’s speech and language development, contact your health care provider or The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at 800-241-1044 or www.nidcd.nih.gov (Go to the Health Information section and click on Parents).

 

- Published by Seacoast Newspapers