When I start working with a young client and their family, I often will ask the parents or caregivers about the types of sounds the child is making. Many times, parents are unaware that there are several stages of sound production, and these stages often can predict the child’s readiness for spoken words. Shortly after birth, a child produces what we call reflexive sounds which are uncontrolled vocalizations such as crying, burping, and sneezing. Around 2 months of age, the child begins to produce some early sounds called cooing and gooing. These sounds are produced in the back of the throat and include back consonants (e.g. k and g) and back vowels (e.g. ahh). Between 4 and 6 months of age the exploration and expansion phase begins where the child engages in more sound play, producing sounds such as growls, squeals and raspberries. If the child has normal hearing, the child also produces some babbling with consonant vowel (CV) (e.g. ba, ma) and vowel consonant (VC) combinations (e.g. ab, am) using some bilabial (lips together) sounds (p, b, m), which are early developing speech sounds. By 7 to 9 months of age, the child begins producing syllable chains at the reduplicated babbling stage, where the child produces long chains of the same syllable (e.g. babababa, dadada). Finally, the child enters the variegated babbling stage between 10 and 12 months. At this stage the child continues to use CV syllables and also produces syllable chains of varying sounds (e.g. Ba-Da-nah). At the variegated stage, the sounds produced are more speech-like. These sounds have more adult-like intonational patterns (rise and fall of voice/pitch) and prosody (rhythm of speech, stress, emotion, changes in loudness) where a child sounds like they are producing an exclamation or asking a question. Following the variegated babbling stage, a child produces their first words.
Encouraging your Child to Babble
Caregivers are often unsure as to what sounds their child is making. I will ask the parents/caregivers to pay attention to these sounds and start writing them down. I will also ask when the child is making the sounds. For example, is the child engaging in more sound play when they are alone in their crib or when they are in the bath? These questions help me understand where the child is developmentally with their sound production, it helps me understand if the child is vocalizing regularly and when they are more vocal. and it also helps me learn if the child is producing any early speech sounds. A child with adequate hearing should be babbling around 7 to 9 months of age. If a child is not babbling or if a child is not advancing to the reduplicated babbling stage, I recommend several things to consider:
- Interactions do not need to be limited to just during playtime. They can occur anytime and should occur multiple times throughout the day (e.g. during feeding, bath, dressing diaper changes, play).
- Make sure you are facing your child so that they can see your face and mouth.
- Engage in sound play such as producing raspberries, sounds of exclamation such as “wow”, “ahhh” and “Uh-oh”. Often the more animated you are, the more the child will attend to what you are saying. Pause to allow your child to respond.
- If your child responds with a sound, imitate your child, and then pause again to allow your child to respond again. This helps your little one learn that they can initiate communication and also elicit a response from you which encourages a back and forth communicative exchange.
- You can also produce some reduplicated babbling chains (bababa) using early developing speech sounds (these are bilabial sounds such as b, p or m). Pause and wait to see if your child responds. Often a child will stop and look at your mouth. You may see them attempt to put their lips together. They may respond with a vocalization, or they may try to imitate you. If your child imitates you back, continue to produce the sound then pause.
Communicating with your child should be fun and interactive. If you have questions or concerns with your child’s speech production, contact a speech-language pathologist. They will help determine if a speech-language assessment is recommended.
Lanza, J.R. & Flahive, L.K. (2008). LinguiSystems guide to communication milestones: 2008 Edition. East Moline, IL: LinguiSystems, Inc.
Mitchell, P.R. (1997) Prelinguistic vocal development: A clinical primer. Contemporary Issues in Communication Sciences & Disorders., 24, 87-92.
Reeni Krafft, M.A., CCC-SLP is a nationally certified Speech-Language Pathologist and the owner of Without Limits Speech & Language Therapy, Inc., a private practice located in Columbia, MD.
