Hello Abigail! Of course, what questions did you have?
Hey Amanda! Thank you for having me over. I did have a few questions because I just became a first-time mom.
Well, every child learns at their own pace, their language development starts within the first few years of their life.
I mainly wanted to know what you did to start your child's language development, and how fast they were able to process everything.
Well for starters, the first form of communication a baby has is being able to cry for food, if they are sleepy, in pain or even for comfort (H., 2022).
What does each stage entail?
When babies start to age, before 6 months they are able to try to sort out the sounds of the language their parents speak.
That makes sense, I have noticed Jack look like he's trying to talk, it just doesn't always work.
Exactly, but sometime at 6 months your baby will be able to recognize the basic sounds that you make (H., 2022).
Not quite yet, it would be beneficial at this point, or even before to read to them, or talk to them a lot.
This means that when they are 6 months old, that they should be almost close to being able to speak?
But like I mentioned it is important to know that children grow at their own pace.
Like you said before, would reading, and talking to them as often as possible really make a difference?
Yes! the more you interact with them the more they can start picking up on the language.
I did not know that reading to them would actually benefit them from such a young age, I can't wait for my baby to understand me.
That depends, at 7 months they will still babble but they should be able to understand simple words duch as "juice", or respond to "come here".
When my baby was that old, she was able to coo at me, and babble, which meant she was trying her hardest to speak.
If you do try to get them to talk at what age can they have a conversation?
My baby is 5 months, what should be able to do?
They should be able to say 1 or 2 words by their first birthday (H., 2022).
By the time they are 1-2 years old, they should be able to follow simple commands, and answer simple questions.
I cant wait for their first word! I wonder what it will be.
What happens after that?
3-4 years is when they can answer, "who, what, when, where why" questions.
Absolutely! They should be able to talk to you about daily activities.
Lastly, at 4-5 years old they should be able to communicate easily and use adult grammar.
This is all so exciting! I know they do grow so fast, but it's almost impossible to wait.
So, they would be able to speak in sentences, and answer questions?
I complete understand how you feel. If I didn't read child development books, or go to classes, I would have been lost too.
Now that I know what the stages are for my child's language development, I feel more at ease.
Absolutely no problem! I was so glad that I was able to make it easy to understand.
Well Amanda thank you so much for being so kind to explain everything!