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Language Development & Communication
Listening & Understanding
WiseTip: LD-UND-M0003-P01A

Have face-to-face play and interaction with your baby.

0-3 months
Play
WHY IT MATTERS

Studies have shown that children can focus on adults' conversations and hear the language used around them from infancy.

1
  1. Jusczyk, P. W. (1997). Language, speech, and communication. The discovery of spoken language. Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT Press. (Level III)

Parents who interact with infants and toddlers on a face-to-face basis through eye contact and talking about what they are seeing and experiencing help them build attention, language and learning skills.

2, 3

  1. Brooks, R., & Meltzoff, A.M. (2005). The development of gaze following and its relationship to language. Developmental Science. 8:535–543.

  2. Rudd, L. C., Cain, D. W., & Saxon, T. F. (2008). Does Improving Joint Attention in Low-Quality Child-Care Enhance Language Development? Early Child Development and Care, 178(3), 315–338.

Neural studies in young infants have found that parents maintaining eye contact with their infants and sharing about things together play a crucial role in their speech processing. Such interactions specifically enhance their attention to relevant social information about the speaker and the objects the speaker is referring to.

4
  1. Parise, E., Friederici, A. D., & Striano, T. (2010). "Did you call me?" 5-month-old infants own name guides their attention. PloS one, 5(12), e14208. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014208 (Level IV)

A systematic review of 60 studies also found that when talking to children,

parents’ contingency

Parents' Contingency - Talking to children when they are paying attention and oriented to hearing and processing what is said.

and their efforts in pre-literacy activities, such as introducing and reading books with children, are critical in supporting language development in the first three years of life.
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  1. Topping, K., Dekhinet, R. & Zeedyk, S. (2013) Parent–infant interaction and children’s language development, Educational Psychology, 33:4, 391-426.