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Language Development & Communication
Promoting Communicating & Speaking
WiseTip: LD-COM-M0818-G01C

Name frequently used items and expand these words into a sentence when your baby tries to say the name of an item. For example, when your child says, “Me” and points to milk. You can say, “Oh, you want your milk?”

8-18 months
Caregiving
WHY IT MATTERS

Building children’s vocabulary through exposure to verbal language helps build skills and vocabulary for communication.

1
  1. Hart B & Riesly TR. (1995) Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore, MD: Brookes; 1995.
Talking to children during daily caregiving routines also helps them acquire listening, comprehension and communication skills.
2, 3, 4

  1. Girolametto L, Weitzman E. (2002). Responsiveness of child care providers in interactions with toddlers and preschoolers. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 33(4):268-281.

  2. Girolametto, L., Weitzman, E., Greenberg, J., (2006) Facilitating Language Skills: Inservice Education for Early Childhood Educators and Preschool Teachers, Infants & Young Children: January-March 2006 - Volume 19 - Issue 1 - p 36-46

  3. Honig, A. ed. (2014). Fostering Early Language with Infants and Toddlers. Montessori Life, 26(2), 28–31.

 In early childcare centre contexts, researchers found that the quantity of educator talk to infants during a mealtime was related to the quality of their turn-taking efforts and question use.
5
  1. Degotardi, S., Torr, J., & Nguyen, N. T. (2016). Infant–toddler Educators’ Language Support Practices during Snack-time. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 41(4), 52–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/183693911604100407
A researcher also reported that the quantity of infant-directed talk during mealtimes was positively associated with mothers’ tendency to extend their topic of conversation over multiple utterances as well as infants’ tendency to respond to the topic.
6
  1. Hoff‐Ginsberg, E. (1994) Influences of mother and child on maternal talkativeness, Discourse Processes, 18:1, 105-117.