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Home › Articles › Speech and Language Issues › The Power of Talk

The Power of Talk

Why It's OK to Be Chatty Kathy Around Your Baby

By Teri Brown

Pages:  1  2  3  

How These Findings Help Parents

According to Dr. Le-Bucklin, birth to 3 years of age represents a critical time of rapid brain growth and language development. A child's exposure to adult talk during this time increases his academic potential and language capacity. While parents tend to focus on a child's speech, a parent's language output deserves equal attention.

"Children are developing their language skills even before they utter their very first recognizable word," Dr. Le-Bucklin says. "Even though it may seem silly to speak to a baby who doesn't appear to speak back, it's important for parents to know that early language exposure can have a profound impact on their child's future language ability. Children who hear more than 30,000 words a day from birth to 3 years of age have significant advantages in terms of language development and future academic success. Talk has proven benefits regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic status."

Dr. Le-Bucklin says this means parents no longer have to search for the perfect educational toy for their children. Parents and interactive caregivers are the best, most effective educational "toy" their child could ever have. She sees this as a health education message.

"Everyone knows that exercise is important for the body," Dr. Le-Bucklin says. "But not everyone knows just how important talk is for the brain. Live conversation with an adult is like exercise for a child's brain. Like exercise, making talk a part of one's daily routine naturally comes easier for some than others. However, everyone can learn to increase their language output to their children with motivation and practice."

Tips for Talking

Dr. Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin gives the following tips for using the power of talk with your child:

1. Talk to your child during normal, everyday activities. For example:

  • During meals, talk about the food your child is eating. Talk about the color, taste and texture of the food. Talk about how the food makes you feel. For example, you can say, "You're eating peaches. Peaches are bright orange. They taste sweet! I love eating peaches!"
  • Baths provide a wonderful opportunity for naming body parts. Each time you soap, rinse or dry off a body part, talk about what you are doing and name each body part. "I'm soaping your head now. OK, it's time to soap your arms! Now, where's your belly? Here it is! I'm going to soap your belly!"
  • Think out loud. Whether it's your grocery list or your ideas for your upcoming sales pitch, speak these things out loud to your child.

2. Read to your child.

  • Point out pictures in the story and talk about them.
  • If you are tired of reading "baby books," read your favorite stories out loud.
  • Poetry is a wonderful way to expose you and your child to new words and creative word usage.

3. Sing to your child.

  • You can sing common children's songs like "The Wheels on the Bus" or "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."
  • Play your favorite music and sing out loud. You have a captive audience!
  • Instead of saying things, you can sing them.
  • Make up your own songs. Be as silly as you want! Have fun!


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