There are various speech sounds that babies make such as babbling or cooing and these may be considered also as baby talk. It is interesting to know that babies around the world produce sounds that are more or less similar. Parents may just be very excited waiting for their real first baby words.
However, babies’ speech development may depend on the baby talk skills of both the babies and the adults around them.
Parents though have to understand that baby talk starts at birth through the non-verbal cues that their babies are manifesting. Babies smile, they cry and squirm and at times make faces like grimaces. These non-verbal cues tell parents of their emotions and their needs. Parents have to learn more about these types of first signs of baby talk so that they may be able to provide all of the needs of their babies.
There are also developmental tasks that parents should be aware of especially those that are related to speech development. The rate at which babies learn to communicate starting with their baby talk may vary from one baby to another. However, if parents observe that their babies are somewhat delayed in their speech development, they need to consult with their doctors to determine what is causing it. There may be problems with the parts of their speech organ that need to be dealt with medically.
Baby talk is improved by the time the babies are about three months old. They begin to coo especially when they are happy and playful. At six months, they should be able to babble different sounds although they are not yet able to associate it with any meaning.
They also start to respond when their names are being called. Baby talk is further enhanced when they reach 9 months old. They are now able to identify a few words that are used often like “no” or “bye-bye.” At 12 months old, they can already use a combination of consonant together with vowel sounds that they can form into simple words like “mama.” They also begin to understand very simple instructions.
Baby talk continues to develop as babies grow physically and mentally. When they are about 18 months old, babies are already able to say at least 10 simple words though they may have their own versions of the words that the adults use. At the age of 2, they can now put together words to form short phrases. They also start understanding not only the physical objects but simple abstract concepts as well.
As they grow, their baby talk advances as well and in time, they learn to communicate not only with a few words but are already able to completely comprehend what the adults around them are talking about.
