Your Baby’s First Noun

A breakthrough moment in a child’s language development is the realization that objects have names. You can help your child reach this breakthrough moment by repeatedly exposing your child to a single object and stating that name of the object.

The best object to use is a ball. The object is extremely simple, so it is easy to process and remember. The word ball is short and simple to understand.

To teach your child the meaning of the word ball, choose a solid-colored ball. Red is the ideal color for this ball since red is visually striking and babies develop the ability to see red at a very early age.

At random times throughout each day, hold the ball one to two feet in front of your baby’s eyes. Look your baby in the eyes and clearly speak, "Ball." Move the ball slightly to refocus the baby’s attention and repeat, "Ball."

Repeat this up to five times and then offer the ball to your baby. To let this lesson sink in, allow your baby to play with the ball for as long as he or she wishes. Repeat this process a few times each day.

Eventually, you will see a glimmer of understanding in your baby’s eyes. Your baby will eventually comprehend that the object has a name. Your baby will know that the word ball is not just a sound that comes from people’s mouths, but a word with actual meaning. Once your baby gains the understanding that objects have names and words have meanings, your baby will begin to travel down the glorious path of understanding language.

To Sign or Not to Sign

A few years ago, it became stylish to teach babies how to communicate with sign language. Teaching babies how to sign has grown in popularity, and many are debating over whether sign language is beneficial, innocuous, or harmful.

It is true that babies can learn sign language effectively. Toddlers are even better at it. The benefit of a child being able to sign is that he or she will be able to communicate long before he or she could possibly speak. The child may also gain an early understanding of the interactive nature of communication. Clearly, these are positive aspects of teaching a child to sign.

Teaching a child to sign has its negatives, however. If a child can effectively communicate wants and needs through sign language, he or she will have little to no incentive to speak. Learning to speak is an extremely difficult task. The child has to experiment over and over to learn how to manipulate the mouth to make proper sounds. There is no incentive to struggle with the pronunciation of the word milk when one can just hold out a hand and squeeze the fist to make the sign for milk.

Learning to speak is a highly important developmental milestone. Unfortunately, some children have a great deal of trouble learning to speak. A delay in speech skills may be a small problem at first; however, the problem compounds rapidly as the child ages and approaches more advanced developmental steps. Since it is possible that relying on sign language may delay a child’s speech development skills, the parent should carefully consider whether the benefits of signing are outweighed by the potential risks.