While there are plenty of effective ways to help develop your child’s speech-language skills from birth, one method that’s just as fun as it is powerful is reading aloud. From birth, babies’ brains make trillions of connections - and they do so best by hearing those they love speak, whether through singing, reading, or simply talking.
Reading aloud is an especially great opportunity, though, as your baby is hearing your voice and being exposed to various sounds, colors, and pictures. From birth to 3 months your child will begin to coo, quiet or smile when you talk, and smile at those around them. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) encourages building on these early milestones through the “Teach! Talk! Mirror!” method, which can be easily implemented into reading time.
You can teach your baby what conversation sounds like by pausing after speaking, leaving space for them to smile or coo. Talk to your child by looking at them as you read, stretching out different words, and using fun intonations. Mirror their reactions to the story—their facial expressions and sounds, whether it be smiles, laughter, or cooing. Practicing coo-ing can be especially helpful because they’re familiarizing themselves with how important vowels are for basic communication.
4 to 6 months is when babies begin to babble, exploring their own voice through different sounds like “pa”, “ma”, and “ba”. They also begin to look in the direction of sounds and pick up on changes in tone of voice. At this stage, your baby is learning to focus on different aspects of their surroundings - colors, shapes, and voices. As you continue to read to them, you may notice them pay attention more to books with brighter colors and textures, and react more to changes in your tone. Here, ASHA encourages parents to listen to and imitate these new mouth movements and vocalizations with excitement. They also advise parents to acknowledge all efforts to communicate by talking about, pointing to, and naming their child’s interests, whether they be in their general surroundings or present throughout the story. Doing this not only encourages your child to communicate but also helps them give meaning to everyday words.
Between the ages of 7 to 12 months is when babies begin to understand and identify words and people heard and seen on a daily basis. They can listen attentively to short stories and songs, string together longer combinations of sounds (“bababa”, “mi-te-da-ma”), use gestures for basic communication, and imitate simple speech sounds. Now, as you read, you can switch from stretching out sounds and using funny intonations to speaking naturally with correct and clear speech sounds. You can also encourage your child by imitating and adding one or two words to their speech sounds to help build up their communication skills.
Around 1-2 years is when you may begin to notice your child use many new words on their own or together (“dog”, “no mom”, “eat now”, etc.), follow one-step directions, listen attentively to longer songs and stories, and give names and point to the pictures in books as you read about them aloud. According to ASHA, this stage is a great opportunity to start using bigger words, point to and describe objects and pictures, and motivate them to do the same. The vocabulary you’ve been building up by reading to them over time will come into play here as they attempt to communicate through 1-2 words. You can start giving your child choices when picking out a story, giving them the chance to verbalize their wants, and also ask them questions and make observations about the book as you go along.
Reading aloud to your child from birth is an incredible and fun way to help them make new connections and develop strong communication skills from an early age. Remember, though, that reading together can be a positive experience at any age - it’s never too late to give this method a go!
Post contribution by: Yusra Khan, B.S., SLP Aide
References: Identify the Signs (ASHA)
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