May is Better Speech and Hearing Month.
Once a child is born, he or she starts gaining crucial skills for proper development. The basic building blocks for typical and healthy child development includes the development of speech and hearing communication. It is important for parents to be aware of developmental milestones because communication begins at birth.
Through a four-part series of blog posts, we will be highlighting important communication milestones for babies between the ages of one to 24 months. This series will help parents know what to expect as their baby develops. Note that every child is different, and some reach these milestones sooner or later than others. If your child is not achieving these developmental milestones, consider contacting your pediatrician or family health physician.
One to three months is an exciting time for parents because babies make a lot of progress in communicating. Your baby’s personality will start to show through as you have two-way “conversations,” exchanging smiles and oohs and aahs.
Listed below are some typical milestones, enhancement activities and red flags for your baby’s hearing and speech development at this age.
Typical Development:
- Pays attention to faces and surroundings
- Smiles at the sound of a parent or caregiver’s voice
- Calms to caregiver’s voice
- Smiles with social contact
- Coos and makes sounds when talked to
- Imitates some sounds and facial expressions
Activities
- Smile at baby
- Talk, babble, coo to baby
- Sing to baby
Red Flags:
- Does not respond to a sound
- Does not look at face
Babies main form of communication at this age is crying. They may cry to let their parents know that they need something, or because they are overwhelmed by all of the sights and sounds of the world. Sometimes they cry for no clear reason, so as long as your baby is not sick or hurt, try not to be upset if your baby is crying and you can’t console him or her right away.
For more, visit the Children’s of Alabama Hearing and Speech Center website: https://www.childrensal.org/hearing-and-speech
