The Babble Conversation
Parent engages baby in a back-and-forth 'conversation' of sounds, babbles, and coos. The guide helps the parent listen for specific sound patterns, consonant variety, and conversational turn-taking, revealing where the baby is in early vocal development.
Opens a guided voice session in TogetherTime.
What you'll need
No materials needed. Baby should be awake, alert, and happy. Parent and baby face-to-face.
How it works
- 1~15s
Okay, here's what I want you to do. Make eye contact with your child and just start talking to them in a warm, sing-songy way. You can say anything -- 'hi there, sweet baby!' -- and then pause. Really pause. Give your child a good five or six seconds of quiet while you look at them and smile. Does your child make any sound back?
Watch for: vocalizes_in_response_to_speech
- 2~20s
Now try this -- when your child makes a sound, repeat it back exactly. If they says 'aaa,' you say 'aaa.' If it's 'bababa,' you say 'bababa.' Then wait again. I want to see if they does it again when they hears you echo it. This is like the world's simplest game of catch, but with sounds.
Watch for: participates_in_vocal_turn_taking
- 3
Let me ask about the sounds themselves. When your child babbles, what sounds do you hear? Are they mostly vowels -- 'aaah,' 'oooh,' 'eee'? Or are there consonants mixed in -- things like 'ba,' 'da,' 'ma,' 'ga'? And do you hear the same sound repeated, like 'babababa,' or different sounds mixed together?
Watch for: variety_of_consonant_vowel_combinations
- 4~10s
Let's try something while you're close together. Wait for a moment when your child is looking somewhere else, and then call their name in your normal voice. Not loud, just natural. Does your child turn to look at you?
Watch for: responds_to_own_name
- 5
One more thing -- throughout this whole conversation, how would you describe your child's attention? Was they locked onto your face the whole time, or drifting in and out? Looking away and coming back? How long were the longest stretches of focused attention on you?
Watch for: sustained_attention_during_face_to_face