Build Your Baby's Understanding: Match What You Say to What's Happening in the Moment

By Tamara Stein
Hanen Program Specialist

Babies’ understanding of language begins long before they start to talk. Though they may not be ready to say words, building their understanding is an essential step on the path to language development [1]. As a parent, there are many things you can do to support your baby’s understanding and build a solid foundation for them to use words later on.

What helps babies understand words?

The more you talk about what’s happening in the moment, the easier it will be for your baby to understand new words.

A recent study found that the number of words 6-month-olds understand is linked to how often they hear words that relate to the objects that they see in their daily lives [2]. In other words, the more you talk about what’s happening in the moment, the easier it will be for your baby to understand new words. This is because children develop language first through their experiences – what they see, hear, taste and, feel. As your baby hears you repeat words over and over, they will start to associate your words with their experiences. When they are ready, they will then start to say the words they understand.

Matching what you say to what’s happening at the moment

The first step to building your baby’s understanding is to pay attention what interests your baby and then talk about it. This means that you will be talking about the here and now – what your baby is seeing and experiencing right in the moment. There are a few simple strategies that you can use to help your baby understand the world around them. These strategies come from the Hanen guidebook It Takes Two to Talk: A Practical Guide for Parents of Children with Language Delays [1].

Step 1: OWL

OWL stands for Observe, Wait, and Listen. Use this strategy to figure out what your child is interested in and what they might be trying to tell you.

Get face to face with your child, and observe what interests them – are they looking at the ceiling fan? Are they interested in the light coming from the window? By playing close attention to your child, you will see what has captured their attention.
Wait to see if your child sends you a message – do they look at you? Smile? Move their arms? Treat any action, look, or facial expression as though they are trying to tell you something.
Listen for any sounds your child makes – do they babble when they spot a favourite toy? Do they giggle when their big brother makes faces at them? Again, treat any sound as though they are trying to tell you something.

Step 2: Follow your child’s lead by commenting on what they're focused on at that very moment

Once you’ve used OWL to discover your child’s interests, your response should match what they're focused on. Instead of talking about an unrelated topic, you can talk about what they're interested in. Here are some examples:

If your child is mesmerised by a whirling ceiling fan, you could say, “That’s the fan. The fan is going around and around.”
If your child moves their arms and smiles when they see their brother, you could say, “There’s your big brother, Ben. Hi, Ben!”
If your child turns their head when you try to feed them, you could say, “You don’t like this banana. This banana is too mushy.”

Step 3: Make what you say stand out

Once you know what to talk about, you can make what you say stand out by :

When you are matching what you say to the moment, try to speak in short, grammatically correct sentences.

Speaking in full sentences. Infants respond to the prosody, or melody of our voices, and it’s easier to pick up on this melody when we speak in full sentences. So when you are matching what you say to the moment, try to speak in short, grammatically correct sentences, and add enthusiasm and animation to your voice. For example, instead of just saying “fan” when your baby looks at the fan, you could say “That’s the fan!”.
Stressing important words. Saying the word that relates to what your child is interested in a bit slower or a bit louder than the other words in your sentence. In this case, you would stress the word fan.
Showing the meaning of words with a gesture, facial expression, or the actual object. In this example, you can point to the fan as you talk about it.

The more often you repeat important words, and the more often your child hears those words, the more it will build their understanding

Repeating important words. The more often you repeat important words, and the more often your child hears those words, the more it will build their understanding . Aim to repeat the key word three to five times in an interaction – as long as your child is still interested in what you are talking about! For example, when you observe your child looking at the fan, you can say, “That’s the fan!” (stressing the word ‘fan’ and pointing to the fan). If you wait, OWL again, and your child is still looking at the fan, you could make another comment, saying, “The fan is blowing on us.” If your child turns their attention to something else, make a comment about whatever has piqued their interest – making sure to always match what you say to what’s happening at that very moment.

By using these simple strategies regularly with your child, you’ll be building the bank of words they understand and laying the foundation for them to use them when they're ready.

For more tips…
Discover more ideas for building your child’s understanding in the
It Takes Two to Talk guidebook

References

Weitzman, E. It Takes Two to Talk: A Practical Guide for Parents of Children with Language Delays, 5th Edition. Toronto: Hanen Early Language Program, 2017.
Bergelson E, Aslin, R.N (2017) Nature and origins of the lexicon in 6-mo-olds. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114:12916-12921.