Balancing Motherhood, Yoga and Writing

Recently a friend sent me an interesting article about toddler speech development. Apparently toddlers who use more gestures at 14 months, are more likely to have a well-developed vocabulary at school age.

This goes against the general folk wisdom that being more eloquent means using less gestures and more words. In fact, the article reports, a study by psychologists from the University of Chicago showed that families with better vocabulary use more hand gestures. I found this interesting because it concurs with what I’ve read about baby signing: that using baby signing actually facilitates the development of speech by creating more connections in the brain.

We started doing baby signs with the Pibler from about 6 months, including showing him books with pictures and attached signs. I’ve found that although he has only picked up two of the signs (’milk’ and ‘food’ - the only ones he really needs to know!), his speech has developed rapidly, and he often uses gestures to accompany his words. When I think about it, I also use gestures a lot when speaking.

The Pibler is now able to conduct very rudimentary ‘conversations’ with us, answering questions, initiating topics he wants to discuss, and having a little joke. It’s amazing to me that in just a few short months, since the age of one, he has gone from having a handful of very basic words, to being able to make most of his needs and desires known, and understand what we require of him too. This has been one of the most exciting aspects of parenting for me, and provides me with a lot of enjoyment.

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