Parents and Babies Should Live Life on the Babble
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iStock/Thinkstock(IOWA CITY, Iowa) — Before babies learn to speak, they babble, which is actually a form of baby-speak.
Although parents think babbling is cute, it’s also an opportunity for mom and dad to communicate with their infants and consequently, accelerate their vocalization.
A new study out of the University of Iowa and Indiana University says that it’s all about how a parent responds to baby that holds the key to facilitating their language and communication.
Researcher Julie Gros-Louis says 12 mothers and their eight-month-old children were observed interacting over a period of six months and the chief finding was that moms who actively try to understand what their babies say and respond in kind will boost developmentally advanced vocalizations.
Furthermore, babies with interested moms also directed more of their babbling to them.
On the other hand, mothers who weren’t as engaged and tried to divert their infants’ attention away from babbling did not improve their babies’ language and communications skills as quickly.
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