Teach baby to Talk and the rest follows by Penny Johnson ABC Radio Melbourne
Earlier this year I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Penny Johnson ABC Radio Melbourne Australia.
Penny is passionate about informing parents about all aspects of parenting (making them feel relaxed and guilt free in the process) and is a great interviewer. I had a wonderful relaxed informal conversation with her and I would like to share that interview with you today.
This are her words as she introduces my interview;
“Babies are little packages of potential but how do you give them the best start on their educational pathway? It could come down to how you teach them to talk and it seems that the evidence shows that baby-talk is not helping children learn to speak.
Most of us acknowledge we’re definitely in the ranks of beginners when it comes to raising children but this wasn’t the case in previous generations when there was always a lot of people around meddling in (or helping) with the task of raising a family. So the task of learning to talk can sometimes be left to parents without much experience, less time than ever before and with more technology than they know what to do with.
Sandra Jean Smith has written a book called “Teach Baby to Talk and Make Reading Fun, the Importance of Speech and Language in Learning to read.” Calling on her 32 years experience as a Primary School and Kindergarten teacher she explains how speaking and reading are closely linked and how children are coming to school with less language ability than in previous generations.
Less interaction with cross generational groups and more time spent in front of the TV and computer are all to blame but parents need to work on helping their children as best they can. Listen to some of Sandra Jean Smith’s simple ideas for giving your child the best start to their language journey with some good old fashioned advice.
teachbabytotalk 