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Our key articles about... communication and learning to talk!

Your ‘Discover more...’ section has a range of articles linked to the skills your child is developing now – so you can always find the information you need. You’ve told us sometimes you’d like to understand what's coming next so we’re going to be sharing themed articles all in one place.   

This time we’ve put together key articles about speech, language and communication development – from supporting babies' first sounds to learning to talk and encouraging conversation.   

Everything you read in the app is written by experts and backed by research. Our content is created by our child development team, who are experienced early years teachers and researchers. 

Before words... 

Babbling, babies and bonding  

Oral exploration – how your baby’s mouth is their key to learning  

Chitter chatter: your baby’s voice is ever evolving  

The still face experiment and what it tells us about talking to your baby 

What babies and birdsong have in common 

Five ideas for supporting your newborn baby’s communication 

All babies make the same first sounds, no matter where they’re born, and have the potential to learn any language in the world  

Pointing it out – how pointing helps your baby learn to talk 

Verbal routines are fantastic for boosting communication skills... but what are verbal routines? 

 

First words and early speech skills... 

Are you hearing their first words?  

Help your child learn to communicate 

The art of conversation – more about the skills your child needs to master to communicate 

Why attention is an important part of learning to talk – and how you can help 

Time to talk?  

Wondrous words – how does your toddler learn new words and phrases? 

Learning how to talk is tricky – how to help when your toddler says words incorrectly  

Time to chat – how you support your toddler’s speech development 

Why everyday chats are great for your toddler’s speech 

 

Confident talkers and developing communication skills... 

Five big wins when your child can express themselves 

Keep calm and keep chatting – tips to help your toddler understand and say more 

Moving from words to sentences – what does your toddler need to know (and how can you help)? 

Words just keep coming and coming... 

How has my toddler learned so many words? 

“I goed park!” – why your toddler’s mistakes are more than just cute 

Your toddler learns verbs better when doing – pun intended 

Toddlers do the funniest things – and verbs help describe them 

Our top five tips for encouraging language when playing with toys 

Your toddler’s language and the emergence of emotional self-regulation 

 

Questions – how to use them to support language development... 

A little more conversation: the benefits of using open-ended questions 

How Wh- questions give your toddler an extra language challenge (and what is a Wh- question?)  

Unlock your child's vocabulary with higher-order language 

 

Learn more about the science behind communication and language development... 

How daily life supports your toddler’s language development  

Girls, boys and learning to communicate  

What does tennis have to do with your child's development? All about Serve and Return interactions 

Say my name, say my name, I might know you’re trying to get my attention 

Let them play with it! Why handling objects is important 

Did you know... children not only overextend words, but they underextend too? 

 

All about how books and stories help... 

Storytelling and its magic for applying words to real life 

New words and ways of saying them - how stories and play inspire imagination  

Why does my child love to join in with parts of familiar stories? 

 

Longer articles from our blog... 

Our five favourite speech and language activities for early years  

Nursery rhymes and language  

Speech delay during the early years - advice for parents 

Parental advice for tracking grammar development during early years  

 

We’d love to hear if having everything about one topic together is helpful – and if it is let us know which subject you’d like us to do next!  

Drop our child development team a message at askusanything@mffy.com to let us know what you think, and what you’d like to see on your today screen next 😊