Part III: Pre-linguistic skills in early language development

Onto my final post about pre-linguistic (or pre-language) skills in the little tykes..IMITATION and TURN-TAKING!

My dear friend, David, was sharing with me about how his 11-month-old daughter, Elliana, is starting to intentionally imitate his sounds (which obviously brings him so much joy.) Here are a few things I told him and his wife, Sarah, to watch out for:

• Does the child imitate sounds and sound combinations?
• At about 9-12 months, a baby should start to attempt to imitate sounds (ie., short words, environmental noises, and vocal play like blowing raspberries.)
• After they imitate single sounds, they will soon imitate short, simple words
• Does the child engage in vocal turn taking or turn-taking play activities?
• When a child is babbling and making noises, does he/she take turns with you if you imitate his/her babbling? For example:
• Baby: “dadadada”
• (pause)
• Momma: “bodadida”
• (pause)
• Baby: “dadadada”
• Does your child attempt to engage in turn-taking activities (like rolling a ball back and forth with his/her parent or caregiver?)
• Turn taking is an imperative skill in social communication that begins in a child’s play activities… it is a big red flag if he/she does not engage in turn-taking play

Soon after a child begins to imitate sounds, they begin to imitate simple words (like “ba” for “bottle”.) After they imitate simple words, they’re on the right road to spontaneously using single words!

So, to summarize how I respond to a parent’s question, “When will my child talk?”, these are the key characteristics I pay close attention to in their child:

1. Communicative Intent
2. Babbling structure
3. Imitation and turn-taking

All of these skills must develop prior to a child’s intentional use of words independently.

Please let me know if you have any more questions about pre-linguistic skills by leaving a comment!

Happy babbling!