If your baby keeps on babbling unintelligible words (or sounds for that matter), feel good about it. Latest study has shown that babies like hearing their own voices as it encourages them to babble some more. This is necessary for your baby's communication development.
Parents said that the research was conducted by Mary Fagan, an assistant professor at the School of Health Professions of the University of Missouri. The research involved 43 babies, 27 of whom could hear while 16 were suffering from profound hearing loss, who hardly make repetitious sounds.
During the experiment, the babies with profound hearing loss received cochlear implants. After receiving said implants, they began making more repetitive sounds. After some considerable time, the 16 babies were already babbling just like the babies who were born without hearing problems.
Babies are Active Listeners
According to Fagan's research, which was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, a baby's ability to hear has a lot of impact on baby's communication development. Her research only proves that babies aren't just passive listeners, but they have a good sense of awareness of the sounds that they hear.
"The research tells us that infants are motivated by hearing the sounds they produce, so these sounds are functional in some way," Fagan said. In fact, Fagan mentioned that other researches support the idea that babies form mental representations of the sounds that they make. It just shows that the more sounds they make the better that they develop their speech skills. So encourage your baby to make more sounds by talking to him.
Baby Communication Development Guidelines
According to Kamloops Children's Therapy, it is important to monitor baby's communication development as it will give you an insight whether your baby is developing normally or a trip to a speech therapist is a must. Although each baby will develop differently, there are certain guidelines that will help you determine any developmental delay.
Generally, your baby will start laughing and smiling between 3-6 months. You will start hearing babbles between 6-9 months. He would be playing with different sounds and will start turning towards new sounds. He will also identify his own name and will laugh and gurgle with familiar people.
Take note of your baby's communication development and learn to identify red flags. Remember that when it comes to speech delays, early intervention is a must.
