Researchers from the University of Iowa and Indiana University found that parents who listen and respond to their child's babbling can influence the infant's communication skills.
Babbling, or "twaddling," is the language-acquisition stage in which babies seem to experiment using articulate sounds, but not producing recognizable words.
The scientists gathered observations on the interactions of 12 mothers, together with their 8-month old infants. The communications were maintained by the parents for approximately 30 minutes a day, over a period of six months. The team took notes on the baby's babbling and how the mother reacted to it.
After analyzing the data, the researchers found that children who have mothers who responded to their babbling are more likely to develop their speaking skills early on. The babies learned how to transform babbling to more sophisticated sounds like consonants and words.
However, the babies whose mothers do not respond to their babbling developed their language skills later than the other group. Based on the researchers' observations, the mothers tend to redirect the infant's attention whenever they babble.
"The infants were using vocalizations in a communicative way, in a sense, because they learned they are communicative," Julie Gros-Louis, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Indiana and corresponding author of the study, said in a university news release.
After a 1-month follow-up period, the babies who have responsive mothers were able to use more words and gestures than the other group.
"Social stimulation shapes at a very early age what children attend to," explained Andrew King, a senior scientist in psychology in the University of Indiana and co-author of the study.
He further explained that the study implied how parents can shape their babies' development by being sensitive to their babbling.
Further details of this study were published in the Sept.1 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
