成人快手

One simple way of fast-tracking your baby's learning is to pay attention to the things they're taking an interest in, name those things and talk to them about them.

Speech and language therapist Cristina explains why this works.

A mum and her little boy playing with cups.
Image caption,
Joint attention happens when you and your baby are looking at the same thing or the same event and your baby recognises that you're both sharing this experience.

What is joint attention?

Joint attention is a term often used by speech and language therapists, which simply means paying attention to the same things as your child.

When your baby takes an interest in something, try and take notice of what things they're concentrating on.

Make lots of eye contact with your baby. If you look at and point out the same things they're already looking at and talk to them about those things as you go, they're more likely to pick up on the words you're using and make connections between the words and those things.

A mum and her little boy playing with cups.
Image caption,
Joint attention happens when you and your baby are looking at the same thing or the same event and your baby recognises that you're both sharing this experience.

How does joint attention work?

Joint attention with your baby activates lots of areas in their brains that are connected to socialising and language learning. These include areas associated with processing sounds and eye movements.

It is also particularly good for the development of the temporal pole, this is a part of the brain that is involved with understanding emotions and remembering the meaning of words.

Annie Price's son Sonny looks through a pair of toilet roll tube binoculars as she looks on.
Image caption,
Making binoculars with toddlers is a fun way of focussing on objects you can both see in the home and garden.

How to build joint attention

There are lots of activities that you can try with your baby to try and practise joint attention with them, from newborn stage upwards.

No matter what activities you try, remember to get down to their level and make plenty of eye contact with them. Use a really animated tone of voice too as this will help them to hold their attention with you.

Annie Price's son Sonny looks through a pair of toilet roll tube binoculars as she looks on.
Image caption,
Making binoculars with toddlers is a fun way of focussing on objects you can both see in the home and garden.

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