“IF YOU’RE CONCERNED, FIRST CONSULT AN AUDIOLOGIST TO CHECK YOUR TODDLER’S HEARING AND THEN A SPEECH THERAPIST. DON’T WAIT IT OUT FOR TOO LONG.”
Your baby’s non-verbal communication is a bit of a guessing game. Hours of research have gone into helping parents “read” their baby’s messages – for example what different cries may mean – but it can still feel like enrolment for a detective course may be the only answer.
Then it happens. One memorable day your little one trumpets her first word. In delight and disbelief you drop whatever you’re doing and take your child in your arms and beg her to repeat it. She does.
Then the magnitude of this moment begins to sink in. Your baby has entered the talking world!
But did you know that this process all began in the first two months of life, when your newborn used her lips, tongue and palate to make those little baby sounds?
Between the ages of 4