As a parent, you want to do everything possible to help your child develop normally. When it comes to speech, you can encourage your child by using games. Babies, even very young babies, love to play. Therefore, you can incorporate playtime into daytime activities, which actually promote development. In addition to being fun for the baby, this time is also great for bonding with the parent.
One of the best ways to connect to your baby is with music, whether being played or sung. For instance, you could sing something like “Hush Little Baby Don’t You Cry”, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, or “The Ants Go Marching’. When singing to your baby, use facial expression and tone variances, putting emphasis on words you want him or her to learn. You can also teach your baby about his or her body and language with games. In this case, point to your nose and say, “Mommy’s nose” and then point to your baby’s nose while saying, “Baby’s nose”. Repeat this several times and watch as your child begins to connect things in his/her mind.
Another great song that will help your baby learn proper sounds while actually preparing him/her for school is the “ABC” song. I remember when my son was around six months of age. I started singing him the ABC song and by age 18, he knew it completely. When he started preschool, he was already ahead of most children in his class. Therefore, choose songs or playtime for language but also for preparing your child. The same would be true by playing a game with him/her using different shaped objects. As you pick up the round one, you would identify it as “red and round”. For a square blue piece, show the child while saying “blue and square”. At first, it may seem that only you get it but believe me, your child is paying attention, absorbing everything you say and do.
We also recommend you start reading to your child at a very young age. In fact, many parents read to an unborn child, believing the sound of the voice is stimulating and bonding while the words spoken are being received by the child. Regardless, studies have proven many times over that reading to a baby is a great way to teach him/her to speak. Obviously, you want to choose simple books and possibly those with pop-up pictures, which babies love.