What really matters- First Words- Communicating what is on their mind. The first words were very controversial in the Burton household: was it “mama” or “dada” or was it really just more experimental babbling with no concept of mom or dad behind the utterance.  Whit began to mix first words with babbling and Proto words; and for that reason, it was hard to zero in on the first word or to say precisely when it took place. Certainly mom claimed she heard “mama” and I claimed she said “dada”, siblings claimed it was “uh-oh”; but whichever, she did start to have a concept in mind and then use the word to refer to it. Whatever, the first word, it is always an important one to them. In addition, to mama and dada, these words are usually labels that help the child communicate information, such as "ball", doll" or they may be social word like "bye, bye", "hi".  It is likely that the first "words" that your baby utters will be common objects in his environment.  If you have a family pet, expect that "dog" or "cat" (or their approximations) will  be sooner to appear than if you not have a pet. Babies may frequently try to pronounce a sibling's name:  the basis for many life long nick names among families!

From Whit’s point of view, they are not really her first words, because she has already used many words in the past (although we might not have recognized them as words).  What you are hearing around this time are the first clearly recognizable words.   Whit continued to babble and at the same time she was learning one word after another but it is a slow process. Most babies build up a vocabulary, so that by 18 months, they will have up to

ten words.

How to put it into practice-

Narrate, Narrate, Narrate! Even though Whit was not repeating any words I was saying to her, the research is clear it does have substantial impact. The more babies hear, the quicker they pick it up, the larger their vocabulary growth, and the sooner they are saying the words. So I kept describing in words what she was doing.

I also found out it takes time for babies to distinguish between subtle meanings.  What adults take for granted may be very confusing.  To Whit, "ba" means both "bottle" and "something to drink".  Whit may also say "ba" when she is hungry as she has associated her bottle with a sense of well being after being fed.  It is important for us to be aware of the circumstances in which she uses these early words, so that we can decipher what she really means.  By expanding Whit's words with other more appropriate words, we can help her to associate words with objects and events. 

By taking the time to carefully watch your baby, you will be able to anticipate what she wants before others will.  Share these findings with your partner, the baby's siblings, and the other primary caretakers.  Once her circle of family and caretakers begin to share this type of information,

she will become more confident in using first words, gestures or Proto words, and your baby will be well along the way towards expressive language acquisition.

Discovering & developing Whit’s story-