Babies Won’t Listen To Just Any Babble!

The title from this blog is the headline from an article that appeared in the L.A. Times. 

I can’t express how overjoyed and proud I felt when I read this headline and the accompanying article.

I have believed from the time I had my own children that children were intelligent from birth and that they responded to my voice and its message instantly.

I watched this interest and connection expand and explode as each child grew and became more articulate. At that time I suspected, but was unsure, that this apparent phenomenon was true of all children.

I have now been a daycare provider for twenty three years and have proven to myself that it is true for all children. We had great success with every child who joined us, but the best success and reward was with children who came to the daycare at a very young age.

We often began caring for three month old infants and we were constantly amazed at the comprehension level and early verbal skills.

I am particularly excited that the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” concluded that infants did not respond to babble. In the experiment, a second language was used as a control, which I personally feel baby talk also falls into the control category. Instead of responding to the babble, the children in the study responded to the correct language they had been hearing that sounded like their current experience.

Those researchers already knew that infants respond to learning something new, and in fact, their brain wave activity bore a surprising resemblance to that of adults primed for important incoming information.

They also concluded that well before a baby begins speaking their native tongue, their in born drive for information makes them a discriminating judge of who is worth listening to.

When we wrote our book Smart Parent Smart Child, we emphasized our own experience and success of communicating with children from birth about everything we expected and what was happening.

The book was written ten years ago when our philosophy was termed “revolutionary”, I hope that now it will go mainstream.

Know that you  are your child’s invaluable teacher and revel in the fact that they are coming to you for even more information and a language they are already hearing correctly spoke.

Do

-Speak in clear and concise sentences.

-Repeat information and directives as needed and give them time to react and respond.

-Respect their intelligence and ability at all times.

Maximize their potential and enjoy it!!!

Good luck!