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...
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
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
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
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 😊