Why Talking to Your Baby When He’s too Young to Understand Gives him a Head Start.

Language comprehension is one of the most important – if not the most important – key to intellectual development. It’s one of the 14 fundamental areas of development that work together during the first 1000 days of a child’s life to lay a solid foundation for future brain development. It is a child’s ability to link meaning to speech sounds.

You can start developing this important skill straight after birth by creating a language rich environment for your baby. Simply give a running commentary of everything that happens – as if he or she can understand every word.

Also, make sure to respond and talk back when your baby starts to coo and babble, as if he is actually talking.

From 6 months onwards, when babies typically discover that words are symbols that represent meaning, the babies of talkative parents find it easier to discover the meaning of words because by then they’ve already learned to associate certain words with certain experiences and objects – they just need to link the meaning to the associations that they’ve already formed.

This explains why the babies of talkative parents typically understand more words by the time they’re 2 years old. And, because their thought processes are more advanced and more detailed, they react more intelligently, learn faster and have better memories.

They’re also more popular because understanding what other children and adults are saying is essential in developing good social skills and learning how to negotiate and take the lead in a group.

In summary, one of the most valuable things that any parent can do to give a child a head start in life is to focus on building language comprehension. And, the best way to do this is to talk, talk and talk some more from as young an age as possible.