The first babbling of the baby
The language is the result of a complex learning in which the baby starts up his brain, his ears, his speech device and his ability to gesture. Although until now it was believed that the first syllables were universal, some studies show that the first sounds are influenced by the language of the environment, which makes parents a fundamental part.
Motor origin or communicative intention?
The origin of these first sounds produced by the baby can be simply a consequence of the movements that the child makes to suck, how to open and close the mouth, what would be called, the motor origin or on the other hand, those first babbles can have a communicative intention that goes beyond the motor origin.
Have reality, everything indicates that they are complementary theories, that is to say, that on the one hand, the child wants to say something and on the other, his organism, already more developed, launches him into it. In which there is no doubt, apart from the influence of motor origin or communicative intention, it is that the environment in which the child develops plays a fundamental role. Thus, the interaction of the environment with the child will be the first step for the child to communicate.
Importance of the environment
Parents should know that in language, as in other aspects of learning, such as learning to walk, the baby does so with an order, following a few steps, a sequence. Within that sequence, in addition, the speed or slowness to acquire the language is very different depending on each child, so that one more time than another in saying his first words does not have to mean a delay, simply his sequence follows a slower rhythm but not abnormal.
Sometimes, a child takes longer than another to reproduce his first babbles because he is receiving few stimuli from his familiar surroundings, that is to say, his parents do not sustain any communication with him and therefore, the child does not feel the need to respond through those first babblings. In other cases, the child simply seeks some security before launching into producing the language and needs to internalize what he hears before he starts talking.
In any case, it's not good obsess with the child talking or with it as soon as possible. Keep in mind that children understand many words before producing them. In addition, the difference between the beginning of the language between one child and another can be four or five months. Furthermore, at this stage, it must be borne in mind that the child is not only initiating in the language but is also developing other capabilities. For example, there will be children who have good motor development and slower language development, and others will start talking very soon but will start to move later.
Playful and natural interaction
In this interaction, before the child learns the language as such, the recommendation is that, when communicating with a child, parents do so with a certain musicality, with a marked but not exaggerated intonation, using direct messages that do not create confusion for the child and short words that he could reproduce, always at a slow pace and avoiding a babble that can confuse them.
It is important that parents get that interaction to happen in a playful and natural, that is, through a game, song or story that supposes a stimulus for the child and provokes his response. In addition, that the child goes to a daycare is, sometimes, the best scenario for the development of these stimuli.
Patricia Núñez de Arenas
