at what age does baby start to speak?

From birth, an infant knows how to make himself understood, in particular by crying, then by babbling and gestures. Language learning begins in the first days of life and is gradually enriched over the months.

Despite your possible misunderstanding of the words that baby produces, his will always remains the same: to communicate with you. To help you situate yourself in your baby’s linguistic awakening, here are the different stages through which children go:

The first tweets: between 1 and 5 months

What is fascinating is that all babies in the world, from birth, whether French, Spanish or English, tweet the same way. These are “vegetative” or “reaction” sounds (mainly vowels) which reflect their well-being or their discomfort. In France, parents regularly summarize these tweets emitted from 2 months by the onomatopoeia “areuh”. Most of the time, they are accompanied by body language that allows him to be understood by his family. For the newborn, twittering is a game, he discovers his voice, varying the sound intensities, enjoying his vocalizations.

The first syllables: between 6 and 9 months

The first syllables a baby emits vary according to the linguistic environment in which the child is growing up: a little Englishman will not babble in the same way as a little Portuguese one, for example. French babies usually start by learning common syllables such as “pa”, “ba” and “ma” as they set up the consonants. Hence the first papapapa and mamamama who make parents drunk with admiration, however it is still just babbling. On the other hand, if they see that you are happy with the sounds they make and that you encourage them to reproduce it, the children persevere in this way and quickly associate the “dad” with his father and / or the “mum” with his father. his mother.

Very quickly, the diversification of the syllables spoken by the child intensifies and around 8 or 9 months, he has acquired 5 or 6, such as “pa, ba, ma, da, di, to…”. The vocalizations often give him great joy. This is why some little ones are so talkative, even alone in their bed: they have fun modulating their voice, varying the intensities, rates, syllables and intonations. Other children, less demonstrative, nonetheless record a variety of sounds that will feed their repertoire when they dare to take the plunge.

Learning first words: between 9 and 15 months

If we put aside the essential “dad” and “mom”, the child begins to learn and to pronounce his first word. The latter varies according to the centers of interest of each one, it can be the name of an object which is dear to him or which he wants. Most of the time the words are retracted like for example “bron” for bottle or “to” instead of cake. At this stage, the word becomes, for the child, an increasingly interesting tool for communication, a word can express a whole sentence for example “candy” means “mom give me a candy”, it is what is called the word phrase ”. This is called the period of generalization during which each animal becomes a “cat” or each man becomes a “dad” for example. He has understood the meaning of a word and he applies it to everything that looks like it.

Learning the first 50 words may take a long time, but everything will speed up afterwards. The child will collect an impressive number of words overcoming the syntactic difficulties of his language (chords, pronouns, tenses, homonyms …) Take the opportunity to stimulate him as much as possible, in order to enrich his vocabulary and ” help them learn their language. Our tips to help your child in this step are to tell him stories, organize games or sing him nursery rhymes.

Read also :
Language delay in kindergarten: when to worry?

Pronounce a sentence: from 16 months

Again, from child to child, the age at which they speak their first sentences varies a lot. Some dare to start very early, from 16 months; unlike others, who have focused more on psychomotor development, will take longer and will not speak until much later, around 30 months.
Generally from 18 months, children start to have a rhythm and to combine words, to form mini-sentences, the most common are for example: “mum pati” or “dad dodo”.
The child understands the things, the events, the actions of the daily life, he is able to show the parts of his body, the familiar objects and even to go to seek his blanket if you ask him. He begins to form small sentences using the “me” and especially possession and negation are emerging. He quickly enriches his vocabulary and understands much more than he can express it. Gradually, he will add to his mini-sentences prepositions (in, above), articles (one, one), pronouns (I, you). He builds his first coordinations: “mum is gone and dad is in the garden”.

What if baby doesn’t speak?

Your child takes a long time to speak, he only utters a few words, does not make sentences… when to worry, and how can you help him / her?
The first help is benevolent observation. If your infant is very quiet, if your baby says no words at 18 months, if he does not combine words at 2, if your child in kindergarten has trouble making himself understood, ask yourself about his development: is it harmonious? Or do you see a significant gap between your child’s psychomotor development and language development? Does the delay persist over time? In case of disharmony or persistent discrepancy, you can consult a health professional, who will give you his opinion, and advice so that you can help your child. But do not panic, each child evolves at his own pace according to his awakening, it is up to him to set his own stages.

Tips to help your child in language acquisition

  • Speak to him slowly, mainly during the care you give him (bathing, changing, eating…). Comment what you are doing by articulating clearly. Communication with parents and family is very important for the awakening of babies.
  • Sing regular little songs and rhymes to him, and don’t hesitate to walk the talk by miming actions to help him memorize. Encourage him to finish the sentences of the nursery rhymes he knows.
  • If your child mispronounces a word or constructs a sentence poorly, do not repeat it systematically by stopping at the form. Access his query, but rephrase it correctly so that he can learn the correct wording.
  • When you play with him, let him organize the games in his own way and encourage him to talk by asking him simple questions: “What is it?” “, ” who is it ? “, ” what should I do ? “
  • Read them often small books adapted to their age, a pleasant way to enrich their vocabulary.

Pauline Gaudry

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