Baby Communication: From Baby Babble to Preschool Chatter

One popular way to communicate with a child this young is through sign language. Notes Tracy Kunce, MS, CCC/SLP, a speech-language pathologist in the Chicago suburbs, "Sign language is a wonderful way to enrich the language environment and ease communication with little ones who aren't speaking much yet."

Parents can begin teaching a baby signs for common words such as "more," "eat," "sleep," and "all done," between four and six months of age. With consistent reinforcement, many children will begin using these signs between ages seven and 11 months to communicate their needs and desires. To this day, my sons, who are now three, remember the signs for "more" and "please."

Two great books from which to learn more about this approach are Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, by Acredolo, Goodwyn, and Abrams, and Early Sign Language Basics: Early Communication for Hearing Babies and Toddlers, by Monta Briant. (Here, we've made baby signing simple. Check it out!)