LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND YOUR BABY

When your baby is born the first way that she can communicate with you is through crying and body language. Pretty soon she will be ready for the next step in her language development which is cooing and then babbling. At about 5 or 6 months your baby will start imitating sounds. At about 9 months she will start to try and imitate words such as baba and dada. She may begin to combine gestures with sounds such as hand waving when hearing "by, by".  After that she will learn to understand words, you’ll know this is the case by her correct pointing at items. At around 12 months your baby will begin to understand simple commands with gestures.  At 15 months she will understand simple commands without gestures. At this time her vocabulary should consist of about 4-6 words with a lot of random sounds and tones for expression. Finally your baby will begin learning to say words and her vocabulary will grow with her development. Talking to your baby at every age and stage is the best way to help develop and increase her word vocabulary.  I mean from the day you meet your baby you talk to her.  Tell her everything from how much you love her, to how long you waited for her, how much heartburn she gave you, where she is, what she is doing and on and on.  When your baby starts trying to copy you, answer. She’s trying to have a conversation with you. Whatever language age or stage your baby is in, engage with her on her level.  Babies as young as 2 or 3 weeks old can have a back and forth cooing conversation while maintaining nice eye gaze with you.  The trick is fostering this kind of engagement at just the right time for your baby, when she is ready to engage with you.  Sing to your baby. Sing the same songs over and over again.  Your baby will love to hear your voice and she will learn the words in the song that you sing over and over again.  When your baby is a little older you can help to foster language development by singing familiar songs and leaving words out of the sentence that she can proudly fill in. 

Understanding Engagement and Disengagement Cues To Improve Communication With Your Newborn

Babies use cues and signals to communicate with us.  By recognizing our baby's cues you can begin to communicate with him at a very young age. Your baby may provide engagement or disengagement cues.  This means that your baby will let you know when he’s able to engage or interact with you and when he can’t. If your baby demonstrates wide eyes, eye contact, smiling, cooing, sucking, smooth hand and arm movements or reaching toward you, he’s ready to play and interact with you. Your baby is likely to demonstrate engagement cues when he’s in a quiet alert state.  If your baby is closing his eyes, looking away from you, hiccuping, fussy, arching or stiffening his back, or demonstrates jerky and uncontrolled movements, you can bet that he’s not in the mood to play and interact with you just yet. When this happens your baby is probably in the active alert or drowsy state. It is important for you to be able to read your babies engagement cues because your baby may not be ready to interact with you when you have planned to interact with him.  Therefore it is so important to let your baby take the lead and follow his cues to catch him at just the right time for optimum interaction and learning.

When you follow your baby's cues and catch him at just the right time, the communication interaction with your baby will bring you wonder and joy.

Understanding Your Babies Behavioral States

It is important for parents to recognize that we can help teach our children "Self Calming" habits. "Self calming" is an infant's ability to use self calming behaviors to console himself without external intervention. "Self calming" is when your baby learns to use his own body to calm himself such as sucking to relax rather then relying on you to pick him up and rock him. You will begin to learn to read your baby’s cues and understand his needs in time.  Knowing an infant’s behavioral states will help you to capitalize on the just right time to foster his learning, communication, and "self calming" behaviors.

Behavioral states are divided into two categories, the sleep state  and the awake awake state. Understanding our babies awake states will help us identify what our babies will benefit from in each state. The awake states are  1) The quiet alert state 2) the active alert state , and 3) the crying state.

  

In the first awake state, the quiet alert state you will notice minimal body movements, regular breathing, bright face and eyes, and visual attentiveness.  It is during this quiet alert state that you will find the greatest opportunity to interact and stimulate your baby's development. This period of alertness provides the infant with the chance to interact and learn from her environment. Take advantage of this quiet alert state by talking to your baby, making eye contact, providing visually stimulating objects, holding her hand, giving her a massage and interacting with her.  It’s during this time that your baby is ready to bond with you and learn about her surroundings.

 In the second awake state the active alert state you will notice irregular breathing, movement, and your baby might be sensitive to stimulation. During this time your baby might need outside consolation such as a feeding or diapering or to be held and soothed. If your baby is not hungry, tired, or soiled, she might be able to employ some self calming techniques during this state. It is during the active alert or the drowsy state that you might want to help your baby learn to console herself. By “helping her”, I mean allowing her the opportunity to engage in self calming behaviors.  In other words, don’t be too quick to pick her up during these times. Allow her the opportunity to learn how to self calm or self regulate.  This is a skill that will be very helpful to her and you later. Infants console themselves or self calm by bringing their hands to their mouth, sucking, gazing around their environment, or by changing their position.  

The third and final  awake state is the crying state and needs no description.  Your baby is actively crying and communicating to you that she’s uncomfortable and needs you to make the world alright again for her.

When your bond of trust has been formed and your baby has learned to employ some self calming techniques he will begin to self regulate.

Self Regulation is your infant or child's ability to adapt to the environment and integrate or take in all of its stimulation and organize it in a healthy manner.

Stimulating Your Baby's Visual Development

The single most important toy you can offer your baby during the stages of visual development, birth to 8 months, is a carefully selected mobile. It is during these early stages that the mobile will build his visual system as well as allow for hours of interest and learning. A mobile of bright colors and strong contrast is highly recommended. At first your baby will focus on the mobile’s contrasting colors.  Your baby will then learn to follow the movement of the mobile, strengthening his tracking skill, teaching his eyes to move together as a team, and building his visual attention. Your newborn baby can hear and is ready to listen to music.  A mobile should come with music that your baby can listen to with or without the movement of the mobile.

 There are other crib toys that are available to stimulate, calm, and interest your baby.  These toys often have music, light, and moving pictures.  Your baby will enjoy these to. Don’t over stimulate your baby. Never have two toys on at once.  If your baby is tired, move the mobile out of his visual field and don’t turn the crib toy on. 

Over stimulation can cause irritability and make it difficult for your baby to relax and rest.

In general it is good practice to offer your baby varied patterns, objects, and pictures to look at.  Your baby will be interested in discovering new things and "figuring them out" by learning them visually. You can be creative about varying what your baby looks at by using pictures from story books, family pictures, and even wrapping paper and decorative gift bags. place these items in various places that he will have access to visually.

The Development of Eye Hand Coordination

By 8 months old your baby's visual system is mature.  By about 9 months old your baby is able to hold an item in both hands without dropping it, can transfer an item from one hand to the other, and grasp and release items voluntarily.  Your baby’s mature visual and fine motor systems will set the stage for the development of eye hand coordination. Eye hand coordination refers to the ability of ones eyes to direct attention toward a task, ones hands’ ability to execute that task, and the ability of both those things to happen simultaneously.  In realty your baby has been training for mature eye hand coordination activities since birth with all of the tracking and reaching he’s been busy with. Looking at you and reaching for you is one way your baby has been using his eye hand coordination skill at a very young age. Another way that your baby has been practicing his eye hand coordination skill is when at just a few months old he discovers his hands and moves and gazes at them repeatedly. Your babies practice with eye hand coordination skill will pay off at about 1 year old when he’ll be ready to play with items such as building blocks, nesting cups, shape sorters and pegs.  You can help promote the development of eye hand coordination skill by playing games such as bubble blowing and popping, and ball rolling and catching.

Gross Motor Development and Fun Gross Motor Games

After a baby has spent enough time pulling to stand and holding on to furniture and similar supports in her environment she will begin to feel comfortable in upright. When your baby is feeling stable she will begin to take steps.  This is a very exciting time for both you and your baby.  Walking is a very important milestone for your baby to achieve.  It will also set the stage for new and exciting opportunities for learning and development.  Once your baby has mastered walking she will be ready to move on to other stages of gross motor development.  Before you know it your baby will have blossomed into a toddler who’s running, climbing, jumping, going up and down steps, and kicking a ball. Give your toddler a lot of opportunity to experience, practice, and perfect her gross motor skills.  Outdoor playgrounds and indoor gyms allow for many motor opportunities for you and your toddler to enjoy. There are many gross motor play activities that you can encourage at this stage of your toddler's development. There are backyard toys such as a see-saw or a small slide that you can encourage your toddler to go on.  If you have ample space these items can be provided indoors as well.  You can play catch, throw, bounce, and kick a ball with your toddler.  Ride-on toys are another way for your toddler to develop her gross motor skills. Games such as “ring-around-the rosy” and “hokey pokey” are other fun ways for you and your toddler to practice, have fun, and continue to perfect her gross motor skills. If you have a small stepping stool you can help your toddler practice stepping up on the stool and jumping off of the stool.  Your toddler will love this activity and it will help her develop skill with stair climbing, jumping, and improved balance.  Another good way to use your stepping stool is to have your toddler sit on it. Since the stool does not have a back rest to lean on, your toddler will rely on her postural muscles to keep herself on the stool.  This activity is another way to build strength and balance. Another fun gross motor play activity you can engage your toddler with is getting down on the floor and pretending to be various animals.  They can demonstrate how they are a dog, lion, elephant or any other animal your toddler can imagine. Regardless of which gross motor play activities you choose, you and your toddler are sure to have lots  fun doing them.

Gross Motor Development and Fun Gross Motor Games

After a baby has spent enough time pulling to stand and holding on to furniture and similar supports in her environment she will begin to feel comfortable in upright. When your baby is feeling stable she will begin to take steps.  This is a very exciting time for both you and your baby.  Walking is a very important milestone for your baby to achieve.  It will also set the stage for new and exciting opportunities for learning and development.  Once your baby has mastered walking she will be ready to move on to other stages of gross motor development.  Before you know it your baby will have blossomed into a toddler who’s running, climbing, jumping, going up and down steps, and kicking a ball. Give your toddler a lot of opportunity to experience, practice, and perfect her gross motor skills.  Outdoor playgrounds and indoor gyms allow for many motor opportunities for you and your toddler to enjoy. There are many gross motor play activities that you can encourage at this stage of your toddler's development. There are backyard toys such as a see-saw or a small slide that you can encourage your toddler to go on.  If you have ample space these items can be provided indoors as well.  You can play catch, throw, bounce, and kick a ball with your toddler.  Ride-on toys are another way for your toddler to develop her gross motor skills. Games such as “ring-around-the rosy” and “hokey pokey” are other fun ways for you and your toddler to practice, have fun, and continue to perfect her gross motor skills. If you have a small stepping stool you can help your toddler practice stepping up on the stool and jumping off of the stool.  Your toddler will love this activity and it will help her develop skill with stair climbing, jumping, and improved balance.  Another good way to use your stepping stool is to have your toddler sit on it. Since the stool does not have a back rest to lean on, your toddler will rely on her postural muscles to keep herself on the stool.  This activity is another way to build strength and balance. Another fun gross motor play activity you can engage your toddler with is getting down on the floor and pretending to be various animals.  They can demonstrate how they are a dog, lion, elephant or any other animal your toddler can imagine. Regardless of which gross motor play activities you choose, you and your toddler are sure to have lots  fun doing them.