First Words supports families of preschool children (birth to Senior Kindergarten eligibility) of Ottawa and Renfrew County to reach their optimal communication development. First Words is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services. All services are offered at no charge to families.
First Words offers free preschool speech and language services to children ages 0 to school eligibility living in Ottawa and Renfrew County. The Infant Hearing Program offers free hearing screenings to babies ages 0 to 2 months living in Ottawa and Renfrew County.
Some perfectly normal babies don't say a recognizable word until their 18 month, whereas some babies begin to communicate in words or word-sounds ("ba-ba" for bye-bye, bottle or ball; "da" or "da-da" for dog, dad or doll) as early as 7 months.
Learn about First Words services for your JK child. Learn what you can do at home to prepare your child for kindergarten. First Words offers free preschool speech and language services to children ages 0 to school eligibility living in Ottawa and Renfrew County.
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The best way to help your baby say his first words is to talk to him — a lot! Your baby will be eager to pick up on your verbal cues. Narrate your day, describing what you're doing as you dress your baby, cook dinner or walk down the street. Speak the names of objects and people.
Or your child might not start to say words or word-sounds until as late as 18 months. Believe it or not, it's just as appropriate to hear a child's first words at either end of that age range — or at any age in between. Every child develops at his own pace.
How to get your baby talking. Language acquisition starts with receptive language, or understanding individual words and their meanings. Starting at birth, babies are listening closely to the words and sounds all around them and beginning to sort out their meanings.
Babies start talking — that is, attempt to express themselves in words with meaning — anywhere between 9 and 14 months. Some perfectly normal babies don't say a recognizable word until their 18 month, whereas some babies begin to communicate in words or word-sounds ("ba-ba" for bye-bye, bottle or ball; "da" or "da-da" for dog, ...
Sometime around the first birthday (often before), most toddlers can begin following simple commands, but only if they’re issued one step at a time.
Ads by. Your baby's first words are likely to happen after a few months of vocalizing and verbal experimentation, from coos to growls to sing-songy combinations of vowels and consonants. But listen closely and one day you'll hear it: the first "real" word.
Your toddler's vocabulary will likely begin to explode around month 18, and he may be able to put together a sentence by age 2. From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You're Expecting. What to Expect has strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible primary sources.