“When the mother talks to her baby, she does not ‘teach’ him anything, she forms the basis of language. His voice “carries” the child as much as his arms. Speech holds it and contains it. The toddler feels the pleasure that his mother takes in talking to him, and builds himself with it. In return, she adapts in a natural way to his perceptual capacities, with different articulations, different words, a particular way of pronouncing and addressing him with a special intonation… The Anglo-Saxons call it “motherise” . And this is fundamental.
When the relationship is difficult …
If a mom doesn’t talk to her child because she’s not doing well, nothing happens. The child feels let down, he can turn away and a happy relationship is difficult to establish, ”explains speech therapist Maria Bedos.
And in the extreme, the psycholinguist Alex Cristia recalls the case of orphans in Romania in Ceausescu’s time (1965 -1989). Due to a lack of sufficient and attentive staff, infants left alone at all times, unrelated to another human, became insane, suffered from psychopathy, and some even allowed themselves to die.
Research has shown that the lack of communication has a huge effect on a baby’s brain, up to 19% smaller than that of the baby you babble with.
Speech has a positive impact
Other studies have also shown that the impact of speech is very positive: the more you talk to toddlers, the better their academic results. Stimulated, the neural networks which process this information in the brain become more efficient. Finally, it seems that the social, emotional relationship is important, beyond the quantity of words spoken. Result: smile, babble, in a good mood. It’s good for him… and you!