What is the practice?
This practice simply involves imitating and repeating your in- fant’s babbling sounds as part of your everyday interactions and play with her. Once the baby realizes she can get a parent to respond to what she is saying, start to vary the sounds you make in response to her babbling. This can catch her interest and get her to try new sounds.
What does the practice look like?
A father holds his son so that they’re facing each other. Dad lifts his son and asks, “How is my little man doing today? Can you say hello to Da-da?” Any time the baby makes a babbling sound or any other kind of sound, Dad repeats it and waits to see what his son will do next. They go back and forth “talking” to each other. Every once in a while Dad changes how he responds to see what his son will do. When Dad’s response is different, the baby looks intently at his father and tries his hardest to copy the sounds his father has just made.
How do you do the practice?
Try some of these simple ways to get your baby to babble more often and to try out new bab- bling sounds.
How do you know the practice worked?
- Does your child repeat the sounds that you both make?
- Does your child try to make different babbling sounds?
- Does your child use babbling sounds to catch your attention?
- Encouraging your child to babble and “talk” to you is more likely to happen during face-to- face interactions.
- Vocal play activities should be ones that your child enjoys and fnds interesting. The idea is to create a situation where vocal play occurs naturally.
- Imitate your child any time she makes babbling sounds or any other sounds.
- As part of vocal play, make a babbling sound that your child already makes to see if she will repeat it. Lap games and vocal play activities are great times to try this.
- Once in a while, introduce new babbling sounds into parent-baby play and watch to see what your child does. Imitate what she says and then repeat any new sounds she makes.
- Have fun! Show your enjoyment! The more your child sees your pleasure, the more likely she will feel excited too.
Take a look at more of baby’s babbling fun
Say It Again, Daddy!
Taylor and her father are playing together on the foor with her favor- ite toys and stuffed animals. Play time involves Dad describing what 6-month-old Taylor is doing and engaging his daughter in “conversa- tions” about all that is going on. Dad uses animal sounds like baa-baa and moo-moo as part of playing with toy animals, and he asks Taylor to say the sounds. She tries her best to repeat what her dad says. No matter what she says (for example, maa-maa for moo-moo), her father repeats the sounds which encourages Taylor to say it again. These little exchanges have become a favorite activity for Taylor who watches, listens, and tries to repeat almost all the sounds her dad says.
Happy Talk!
A few months have passed since 14-month-old Brynna has learned to say da-da, ga-ga, ba-ba, and make other babbling sounds. she loves to just lie in her crib after waking, repeating everything she can say over and over. Brynna’s mother plays a sound game with her when she goes into her room to pick her up. She looks at Brynna and says, “Has Brynna been talking again? What have you been saying?” This excites the baby and she starts babbling again. Mom repeats the sounds while talking to and describing what her daughter is doing. (“You are so good at saying ba-ba. Say ba-ba again!”) After three or four back-and-forth bouts of talking, Mom asks, “Can you say ga-ga, ga-ga?” Brynna tries to repeat what she hears. She doesn’t always get it right, but she certainly is pleased with her effort
Play Prompts Babbling
Nine-month-old Amber’s mother has found some fun ways to help her daughter make babbling sounds as part of games they play together. Amber has diffcul- ties with muscle strength and especially her facial mus- cles which makes it hard for her to make sounds. Mom has solved this problem by providing her daughter as- sistance and motivation to babble on! One game they play is Mouth Patting. It involves Mom gently patting Am- ber’s mouth while saying ma-ma-ma or some other bab- bling sound. This has the effect of getting her daughter to make the same or similar sounds each time her mouth is patted. When Mom stops, Amber gets excited and starts moving her lips to tell Mom to “do it again.” Amber’s mother tries different babbling sounds each time the game is played, and her daughter does her best to repeat the sounds.
