Baby talk

A baby’s brain is ‘hard-wired’ to pay attention to the sound of a human voice. Their mastery of language depends on listening to you speak. Long before your baby can form understandable words, they will respond to you with noises, facial expressions and body language. You can actively listen to your baby and encourage their language development in many ways, including:

· Accept that crying is the baby’s primary method of communication.

· Attend to their needs as soon as you can once they start crying, to let them know they have been acknowledged and understood.

· Spend some time actively listening to your baby’s cooing and noise-making by looking them in the eye and encouraging them with smiles and talk

· Talk to your baby frequently.

Toddler talk

A toddler may have a vocabulary of two hundred or so words and can start stringing words together to make simple sentences. Mastering grammar and sentence construction is difficult and your toddler will make plenty of mistakes. You can encourage your toddler’s language development in many ways, including:

· It is more important to listen attentively to your child, than correct their grammatical errors.

· Allow your toddler sufficient time to finish what they are trying to say.

· Don’t show impatient body language, such as sighing or

foot-tapping.

· Answer any questions using simple language.

· Spend some time each day doing nothing else but talking exclusively with your toddler.

· A child that constantly interrupts adult conversations may feel starved of sufficient attention.

Older child talk

By the time your child is in their later years of primary school, their language and conceptual abilities are sophisticated. They even alter their speech to suit the circumstances, for instance they may speak more formally in front of a teacher than they do with family and friends. Actively listening to your older child includes:

· Make time every day to listen exclusively to your child with no distractions.

· If your child tends to give ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers, try asking open-ended questions.

· Allow your child to have differences of opinion and respect their point of view.

· Try not to interrupt, lecture or criticise.

Teenage talk

The teenage years are typically a time of conflict, as the child starts to assert their independence from parents and authority figures. Communicating effectively with your child by listening and paying attention to what they are saying helps to sidestep potential arguments. Some suggestions on listening to your teenager include:

· Don’t expect them to always share your beliefs and values, and try to appreciate their point of view.

· They are more likely to listen to you, if you listen to them.

· Your attentive listening, empathy and understanding will encourage your child to confide in you.

· Let them know you are always available if they need to talk to you.

· Take an active interest in their life.

Getting help for any problems

There are services available to help families with any type of communication problem. For example you may need help if:

· You think your baby or child has difficulty hearing.

· Your toddler isn’t speaking at all by two years of age.

· Your child doesn’t understand what you say by two years of age.

· Your child stutters or has some other form of speech difficulty.

· You have problems communicating with your child.

Where to get help

Your doctor; Your community health centre; Maternal and child health care nurse; Family counsellor; Parenting helpline; Audiologist; Speech therapist.

Things to remember

· Listening to your child boosts their self-esteem and makes them feel worthy and loved.

· Make time every day to listen exclusively to your child with no distractions.

· There are services available to help families with any type of communication problem.

This information has been provided by the Better Health Channel and was last reviewed in October 2005. Material on the Better Health Channel is regularly updated, for the latest version of this information please visit: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au.