language skills

by Gerry Haggard

There are joys that come with the presence of a tiny child in the home. There are also important responsibilities placed on the caregivers. One of these is modeling beginning language skills that serve as the foundation of learning to read.

How can caregivers communicate with an infant? That very small person’s first attempt to communicate is crying, telling someone that he has a need. Listening parents learn to identify reasons for the crying. An adult can respond, meet the need, and speak in sentences of three words. “Are you wet?” etc.

Even before the age of six months, the baby begins to babble using vowels and consonant sounds that compose his home language. From birth on, singing and listening to nursery rhymes provide modeling for the sounds and words we want the child to produce.