How to Talk to Your Baby to Promote Language Development

While you are soaking up the snuggles of the early months with your baby, language development might not be in the forefront of your mind. The way you speak to your baby has a big impact on their language acquisition. Your baby’s language skills in infancy often predict their skills in later stages of language development. Here are my top tips for communicating with your baby to give them a head start in their language skills. 

What is the best style to speak to my baby?

Parent-ease speech is a way of speaking to infants with grammatical speech that makes language more accessible to their brain. Parent-ease is not “baby talk” which is nonsensical/silly words and sounds, rather, it involves a few key components: 

• Higher Pitch: When speaking to babies adults tend to use a higher-pitch. Babies are naturally more tuned in to higher frequencies so this is a great way to engage with them. 
• Exaggerated Intonation: Babies will tune in to the rhythm and patterns of language when speech includes exaggerated rises and falls in tone.
• Slower Pace: Babies have more time to process what an adult has said as there are more pauses between words and phrases with parent-ease speech.
• Simplified Language: Repetition and the use of short, simple sentences help babies understand basic words and phrases.
• Exaggerated Facial Expressions: Parents help their baby connect to nonverbal cues as they change their facial expressions. 

How is parent-ease important for overall development?

• Language Acquisition:Babies will learn language easier when speech is presented in a slow and clear style because it allows them to differentiate between sounds, syllables, and words.  
• Attention and Engagement: Compared to typical adult speech, the exaggerated tone and facial expressions with parent-ease capture their attention. 
• Emotional Bonding: This style of speaking offers comfort and affection through communication. 
• Cognitive Development: Parent-ease speech helps babies learn that sounds and words have meaning. 

How can I easily incorporate parent-ease into my day?

• Narrate Your Day: Simply narrating to your baby what you are doing as you are doing it is a natural way to incorporate parent-ease. Narrating a tour around the house or yard is also a great activity.

• Get Face to Face: Babies are naturally drawn to faces and are more engaged when faces are close up. Allow your baby to see your facial expressions and the movements of your mouth up close and personal.
• Imitate and Repeat: Follow your baby’s lead and imitate any coo or pleasant vocalization they make. Try to engage your baby in a “conversation” where you take turns making simple sounds.
• Be Patient: When modeling simple sounds for your baby be patient! It’s amazing what sweet sounds we might miss from our baby if we jump in too soon. 
• Get On Their Level: During Tummy Time on the floor lay down next to them and label toys or items that seem to be catching their attention. 

These seemingly simple modifications to your speech can have a big impact on your baby’s language development. Parent-ease will lay the foundation for other skills like babbling, and the long-awaited sweet first words.

~Laney