Signs your baby is about to talk

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Signs that your baby is about to talk is a question that many parents care about. Knowing the milestones of a child's speech will help parents equip themselves with the necessary knowledge to recognize whether their child has a speech delay or not.

1. Early language development milestones

Maybe parents don't realize, but the baby has communicated with his/her parents since the moment he was born in his own languages ​​- non-verbal language such as crying, frowning, arching his body, wriggling his limbs.. . to express their needs. Over time, most parents will be able to basically understand what a baby's crying means to know how to meet their needs before they cry. Regular and consistent parent-child interactions early in life are important to help babies learn to communicate in a structured way and create a connection between parent and child.
When the baby is 2-3 months old, the baby begins to turn to the mother to listen to the story every time the mother speaks and can start making different sounds as a way to respond to the mother's story; By 4 months of age, your baby will start babbling and may begin to imitate some of the sounds and intonations that parents often say. Babies will also be able to distinguish their own crying to express their will with their parents; When babies are 6 months old, babies and parents seem to be communicating with each other, they can answer mom's questions with specific sounds, especially when their name is called. Your baby's babbles will gradually become more speech-like with the consonants "m" and "b". There are many cases when the child is 2 years old but can't say "e, a" babble, can't say single words, compound words..., now the problem doesn't really appear at the 2-year-old stage but already can last from 0 to 6 months.

2. Signs your baby is about to talk

Receptive skills (listening - understanding skills) often develop before expression skills (talking skills), so parents can fully observe the child's receptive expression and response efforts. With the information that the child receives, these are the signs that the baby is about to learn to talk. The sooner the signs a baby is about to talk, the sooner the child can talk:
2.1. Babies try to make sounds When babies are 10 months old, they may suddenly make sounds that sound like a meaningful word for the first time, usually these are “ba ba” and “ma ma” . These sounds for children are all signified by the child for one or several certain meanings, although simple, this is all that the baby can do for the baby to learn to speak at this stage.
2.2. A very important sign that a child is learning to speak is that he seems to understand more and more what his parents say, understands simple and frequently repeated words like mom, dad, holding, balls, water, cakes... In addition, babies can understand and recognize other family members or specific names of domestic animals.
2.3. Children know how to respond when waved "goodbye." Children begin to follow simple instructions from parents such as "wave hello" or know how to respond with actions when asked to "sweet mom". This is an important milestone in language development and a very clear sign that your baby is about to start talking.
2.4. Try to talk in babbling voices Babies learn to talk by babbling in long sequences like adults are speaking in sentences, this is how they are mimicking the speech patterns, facial expressions and voices of adults around them. This baby is about to start talking can show up in the baby imitating your parents calling on the phone. Your baby's long babbling is a sign that he's ready to talk.

3. What to do when you notice signs that your baby is about to talk

When you notice the signs that the baby is about to talk, parents should be persistent in talking to the child as much as possible, often repeating the names of familiar objects or patiently describing what the mother is telling the baby, Talk about the activities of children and others.
Always talk to your child even when he or she is playing, bathing, or doing a favorite activity. This will help your baby learn to speak quickly by relating what he sees - hears - does and feels the sounds described by his parents.
When the baby babbles or points to an object, ask the child to imitate the sound and then tell the child the name of the object.
Always pay attention to the speed of parents' speech must match the speed that the child can understand, ie need to speak slower than usual, especially emphasizing the words that parents want to teach their children by speak loudly, prolong or raise the sound higher.
Always patiently expand the topic by adding relevant information about the issue that the child is interested in, for example if the child points to the dog, parents can tell the child about the dog's interest What to eat or what to eat, how to sound...
It should be noted that children should not be asked too many questions but should only discuss their activities, speak clearly to provide information. The language stimulation in the period when the baby learns to speak should be kept in a happy state, this is not a monotonous, stressful job, imposed by a formula that will make children boring and slow to accept.

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