Did you know that your baby is already learning to talk, even at birth? Well, babies hear voices from the time they are born, and therefore, start to learn the art of conversation quite early. By the time your young one is two years old, his vocabulary has evolved and he can start to express ideas through words. Teaching baby to talk is significant for language development in your child, and this is dependent on the quantity and quality of your words. Since speaking comes naturally to babies, you’ll be well on your way to developing an able communicator simply by interacting with your young one naturally.

When and How Talking Ability Develop

Children develop differently, but you can predict young one’s language skills and progression. Before taching baby to talk, know the development of talking ability. Here’s what you will expect.

Nine Ways on Teaching Baby to Talk

1. Respond to Cries

Crying is one of the ways a baby learns to communicate, and in the first year crying is the key communication system. When you respond to your young one’s cries, babies learn that you hear them and they perceive the world as a place where their needs are met, making them feel safer.

2. Talk with Your Baby

It feels quite odd to have conversations with a baby, but as we have already mentioned, they learn to speak through conversations. This is also an important way on teaching babies to talk. The act of conversing tells the child that when he produces sound, he will get a response. If you coo, expect your child to coo right back at you. This is a very simple interaction, and you can help your child practice to structure a conversation.

3. Create a Communication-Rich Environment

Your baby will develop receptive communication skills even before expressive skills. In other words, your young one will be able to comprehend what you are telling him even before he is able to speak on his own.  It’s important to raise your baby in an environment that is filled with conversation, as this makes him able to speak naturally. The important thing here is that you don’t have to make the baby speak correctly. When you speak correctly, your baby learns to speak correctly as well.

4. Correlate Words with Actions

This is one of the best ways in teaching babies to talk. For example, if you see your baby touch his feet, take the opportunity to teach him by saying something like “feet.” If the child hears his daddy speaking, you can say “Daddy’s home.” If he becomes excited when the cat comes into the room, you can say “here’s your pussy cat.” The point is to teach the names by describing the actions.

5. Talk about Baby’s Actions

Telling a baby what he is about to do helps him understand your language. You can tell the baby, “You are going to clean up” just before a bath, or “It’s time to feed” as you prepare the baby to eat. When changing the baby’s diaper, you can say “You need a diaper change.” This helps the baby to develop his language, and he also learns to understand what he is supposed to do and hence becomes active in that action.

6. Talk about Your Actions

You don’t just talk about the baby’s actions, but your actions as well. Self-talk helps the baby make sense of what is going on around them. You can describe your actions as you relate to the baby. You can say something like “I’m going to put you to sleep now” or “Daddy’s going to feed you today.”

7. Tell Stories and Sing

Stories and songs are an integral part in teaching babies to talk because of their repetitive nature. They teach your child to communicate, and you will find your child producing car engine sounds to tell you that he wants the story of car.

8. Read a Lot

Books with colorful photos are great and these don’t have to be cartoons. Look for books that have rich language and varied photos. You can start reading books at any age, and you can easily gauge what sort of books your baby likes and dislikes.

9. Play Word Games

Speaking is more exciting to the child when you make it a game. You can start a “what’s this” game, whereby you ask your kid to name objects, colors, and numbers in your surroundings. You can make the game fun by starting with objects that you know the child already knows, such as cars,and then sneak in new objects and words. With older children, you could have a more complex game of “what happens next.” Tell a story, and then let your child tell you how it ends or what happens next.

To learn how to deal with your babies’ mistakes when learning to talk, watch the video below: