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Talking to Your Baby to Support Language Development
In baby’s first year, communication from your baby will be a series of coos, smiles, grunts, cries, or gurgles. Words will come later but, in the meantime, caregivers can do so much to support baby’s communication- all that we need to do is laugh with, talk to, sing to, read to and smile at at our baby. Here are some ways you can connect with your baby while encouraging language development:
- Smile at your baby when baby is looking at or cooing at you
- Make eye contact with your baby when baby is communicating with you and talk back to him/her
- Mimic your baby’s facial expressions and exaggerate yours
- Participate in back and forth “conversations” with your baby- this turn taking behaviour will teach your baby about how we communicate to others
- Play Peek-a-Boo and other simple games with baby throughout the day
- Position baby to be face-to-face with you as you talk with your baby
- Read to your baby each day and instill the love of reading from early on
- Sing to your baby throughout the day. Song is another form of language and an easy way to inject more words and phrases to baby’s daily routine.
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