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.

Neural studies in young infants have found that parents who maintain eye contact with infants and share 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.

While the quantity of infants’ talk experience makes up a facilitative aspect of their language environment, interaction quality is also significant.

A review of 103 studies by researchers found that language delivered in the context of an adult-child interaction characterised by responsiveness and positive regard helps to scaffold children’s learning and encourages verbal behaviours. Exposing children to speech sounds at an early age by talking to them also helps build vocabulary in later months.

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5. Tsao FM, Liu HM, Kuhl PK. (2004). Speech perception in infancy predicts language development in the second year of life: a longitudinal study. Child Dev. Jul-Aug;75(4):1067-84. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00726.x. PMID: 15260865.

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

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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6. Topping, K., Dekhinet, R. & Zeedyk, S. (2013) Parent–infant interaction and children’s language development, Educational Psychology, 33:4, 391-426.