Baby Talk

I have found some interesting info related to infants and speech development:

To Baby Talk or Not to Baby Talk?

One question that is often raised is whether adults should speak to infants in "baby talk". A study I reviewed indicated a strong correlation between the quality of the parents' speech and infant speech perception performance. So the short answer is: do not use baby talk.

(Source: Journal of Developmental Science)

Milestones of speech recognition and development

• The beginning signs of communication occur during the first few days of life when an infant learns that a cry will bring food, comfort, and companionship. The newborn also begins to recognize important sounds in his or her environment. The sound of a parent or voice can be one important sound.
  
• As they grow, infants begin to sort out the speech sounds (phonemes) or building blocks that compose the words of their language. Research has shown that by six months of age, most children recognize the basic sounds of their native language.
  
• As the speech mechanism (jaw, lips, and tongue) and voice mature, an infant is able to make controlled sound. This begins in the first few months of life with "cooing," a quiet, pleasant, repetitive vocalization. By six months of age, an infant usually babbles or produces repetitive syllables such as "ba, ba, ba" or "da, da, da." Babbling soon turns into a type of nonsense speech (jargon) that often has the tone and cadence of human speech but does not contain real words.
  
• By the end of their first year, most children have mastered the ability to say a few simple words. Children are most likely unaware of the meaning of their first words, but soon learn the power of those words as others respond to them.
  
• By eighteen months of age, most children can say eight to ten words.
  
• By age two, most are putting words together in crude sentences such as "more milk." During this period, children rapidly learn that words symbolize or represent objects, actions, and thoughts. At this age they also engage in representational or pretend play.
  
• At ages three, four, and five, a child's vocabulary rapidly increases, and he or she begins to master the rules of language.
  

(Source: NIDCD Speech and Language Developmental Milestones)

6 weeks old

(click to enlarge)

Megan is six weeks old and is totally digging her life of leisure: sleep, eat, poo, sleep, eat, poo. To attain that lifestyle in grown-up society you'd either be in prison or at an exclusive mediterranean resort.

Megan is smiling and cooing a lot these days - especially when we're smiling and cooing at her. Her social instincts are kicking in and she's engaging us frequently for smiles and chats about history, politics, and Canada's Top Model. She is also interested in her surroundings - she takes in the sights as we walk her around the house and follows us with her eyes when we lie in a chair or on the floor. We expect her to spontaneously predict Beethoven's 5th Symphony any day now.

What you're really here to see are the latest pictures, so.... view slideshow!

Sign language (and more pics)

Janna posted a comment with a link to Wee Hands, a sign language program offered by the Bob Rumball Centre for the Deaf. They teach infants sign language starting at four months. Megan is only a month old right now and is only just starting to control her hand movements. However, I have noticed she has considerably control of her legs - is it possible to sign with one's toes?

In other news, I have added a pic to her one month posting (below) and also added a bunch of pics to the slideshow.

View slideshow!

One month old (and this time I mean it)

"Dahling!"

I have been informed that my last post was incorrect: Megan was not a month old on Friday. However, just for the record, she was exactly 4 weeks old. You can understand my confusion. We will be posting a one-month-old picture of Megan in the next day or two, so stay tuned!

Megan is 1 month old tonight!!!

In the past few days Megan's interactivity has increased markedly. She is smirking at me and has grinned exuberantly for Lori on several occasions. She is also reaching for our faces when we talk to her; she's touched my goatee, though she is still uncertain what it's all about. She is still gurgling.

Megan is also demanding a lot more face time these days. And bouncing. She loves to bounce. And she likes to stare at the ceiling as she bounces. We have an exercise ball as our bouncing device.

I heard on the radio about a program for infants (this might be the website, I'm not sure if it's the same one mentioned this morning) which starts teaching them to read at 1 month of age, once their eyesight has improved. It's a controversial idea, but the advocates state that harnessing an infant's colossal learning abilities to read as well as speak makes more sense than waiting several years when their abilities to absorb new information and concepts has diminished. Critics say that infants may not be learning to read, but simply learning to respond to stimuli and positive feedback. Are they really distinguishing letters? Phonetics? Whatever the case, there are three-year-old twins who are reading at a Grade 2 level. There is also a 15-year-old who has a voracious interest in language and reading, so there could be benefits beyond strictly recognizing characters.

Megan is 3 weeks old!

I don't remember how things were when I was three weeks old, but I can tell that things are becoming really interesting for Miss Megan. During the past week she's been demanding a lot more attention, more 'face time', more talks, more songs, and more interesting sights. She is no longer content to sit and stare at the same patch of ceiling; Megan wants to examine the ceilings everywhere, as her mom or dad pace the length and width of the house. Today she also seemed to enjoy sitting perched in daddy's arms, facing outward so she can see everything right-side up.