From the moment they are born, children are a constantly absorbing information from the world around them. Though it may not be evident, newborns exhibit the understanding and development of many social skills that are precursors to more mature speech and language skills.
Non-verbal
Language is not always expressed through verbal means, but through a combination of body movements, gestures, and facial expressions. Your newborn will have already developed many non-verbal skills to communicate with others. Some of these include:
- Responding to sound
- and vocalizations
- Searching for sources of noises; typically, by turning their head or body
- Can easily be comforted by soothing and familiar voices
- Shows many different facial expressions like joy, anger, and disgust
Verbal Skills
Yes, they have verbal skills! Just because your newborn does not have words (and we would not expect any until closer to 1 year) they have many different vocal skills to express themselves! Some of these skills include:
- Vocalizing while looking at someone’s face
- Cooing in response to speech, attention from caregivers, and toys
- Using different cries to indicate different needs (e.g., hunger, exhaustion, fear)
References:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Social Communication Benchmarks. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/social-communication-disorder/social-communication-benchmarks/
Gard, A., Gilman, L., & Gorman, J. (1993). Speech and language development chart (2nd ed.). Pro-Ed
Owens, R. E. (2020). Language development: An introduction. Pearson Education, Inc.
Peters, K. (2017). Hierarchy of Social/Pragmatic Skills as Related to the Development of Executive Function . Western Washington University .
Johnson, V. (2024, July). Social Skills from Birth to 3-Months. Zebra Speech. https://www.zebraspeech.com/blogs/?b=107
this blog post is by
Speech-language pathologist (SLP)
more speech therapy articles posts (blogs) by Victoria Johnson