First Words — Catching Those Meaningful Sounds
Parent engages baby in a naming game using familiar objects and people. Agent guides parent to observe whether babbling is becoming meaningful — whether specific sound patterns are consistently connected to specific things, people, or requests.
Opens a guided voice session in TogetherTime.
What you'll need
3-4 familiar objects baby sees daily. Ideally another family member nearby. Baby in comfortable, alert state.
How it works
- 1~20s
Hold up one object at a time and name it clearly — 'Ball! This is a ball!' Do this for each object. After naming all of them, ask your child: 'Where's the ball?' Does your child look at or reach for the right thing?
Watch for: recognizes_familiar_object_names
- 2~15s
Now I want to know about your child's own sounds. Does they have any babble-words that seem to mean something specific? Like 'ba' always means ball, or 'ma' when they wants you, or 'da' for a drink? These count as first words even if they're not perfect!
Watch for: uses_consistent_sound_for_meaning
- 3
What about names for people? When your child sees you, does they say something that sounds like 'mama' or 'dada' or your name — and means it? Not just random babbling, but specifically when they sees or wants a particular person?
Watch for: uses_name_words_with_meaning
- 4
One more thing — gestures are partners to first words. Does your child point at things, wave bye-bye, shake head for 'no', raise arms for 'pick me up'? These gesture-words count just as much as spoken words at this age.
Watch for: uses_communicative_gestures