成人快手

Did you know that from as young as 2 months, babies are starting to understand what a conversation is and can take part in conversation-like exchanges?

Even though they are way off saying words, they will still try and respond to you if you leave gaps when you talk.

Studies have shown that the more babies take part in back-and-forth interactions with adults, the more activity they have in the part of the brain responsible for language production and processing.

The short video below explains the science behind taking turns with babies and why it's so important for their development.

What do babies learn from taking turns?

  • The back and forth of conversation and how to take part in a conversation
  • The sounds of the language that they're going to learn
  • How to coordinate their own mouth muscles to make those sounds
  • How to recognise faces and emotions and facial cues
Tiny Happy People Taking Turns Science
Image caption,
Listening and turn taking are all developing baby鈥檚 social and communication skills.

When do babies learn about taking turns?

At around 3 months old, you might notice your baby wants to join in with your conversations more and more.

They are figuring out that conversations mean to take turns and that we use our mouths, voice and breath to take these turns.

At this age, babies learn a lot about the sound patterns in their language and how they can use their muscle movements to be able to join in.

Cooing is what happens before your baby knows how to skilfully link their breath, mouth and tongue movement. The brain areas in charge of speech production at the front of the brain work hard to try and master this skill and practise making the right connections.

Babbling comes later. Babbling is a combination of consonant and vowel sounds. It is often single syllable sounds like 鈥減a鈥 or 鈥渂a鈥.

It's really important to react to your baby when they make these sounds. Coo or babble back and then pause. Give them plenty of opportunity to respond.

When you pause, you're showing them with your face that you're listening to them. When you then respond to their sounds as though they're telling you something really important, you're showing them how to take turns in a conversation.

Tiny Happy People Taking Turns Science
Image caption,
Listening and turn taking are all developing baby鈥檚 social and communication skills.

Taking turns around Tiny Happy People

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