Evening star., 1938-01-13
Babies Learn
Words From
Grown>Ups
Naming Their Toys
And Other Objects
First Lessons.
BY ANGELO PATRI,

| I TITLE children learn to talk be-
cause they hear people talking.
If they were deprived of that expert
ence they would not learn to talk. That
means, then. that We should talk to
the babies, gently, not too much in the
beginning, but always talking little
as we wait on them. "Now you will
have a bath" Nov you go to sleep"
Here is your bottle" These phrases
| repeated again and again throughout
the days will take on meaning. The
baby will know bath, sleep and bottle
long before he can shape his tongue
to them.
"He understands, but he cannot
talk" his mother will say, and she will
be right
The first words babies say are short
ones, and they are used not for their
precise meaning, but as symbols. NO."
YES" please" cover whole fields of
emotion or desire. mo" means the
infant does not feel in agreement with
the idea or the mood or the condi-
tions about him. 1t is not mere re-
fusal to obey. 1t is an indication of
unrest, dissatisfaction, disagreement.
It ought to be carefully interpreted
before any action is taken upon it.
What in his situation is disagreeable?
What thing, person, situation Is mo"
to him?
Eyes" is the symbol of positive con-
ditions. Usually he is pleased, Things
suit him generally. His yes" means
that all Is right with his world.
please" is a symbol of prayer, Of
wanting. wishing. When he smiles and
says, please" it may not be a request
for any one gift or privilege, but an
indication of yearning, a desire for
feeling of satisfaction of some sort.
The first words of child's vocabu-
larry are not to be taken literally. Even
for some years to come they are SYM
bolic, the best and the clearest express
sion little child can make for the
confusion Of feeling that is within
him. Time and practice must give
him mastery over words. And first he
must learn the bare words. The
sounds that have so little meaning for
him when first he hears them must be
mastered one by one-no light task for
child.
Learning words is first q matter Of
hearing. The child must hear the
words accurately before he attempts
to say them. He will have to hear
them many times before he will even
attempt to say them. Name words are
usually easier for infants to learn than
the others, 50 it is wise to name the
thing the child sees and handles daily.
Say "ball' when it is handed to him,
bottle" when that is handed to him.
One day he will surprise everybody
by saying the word clearly, correctly.
Repeating nursery rhymes and jingles
Is another way of teaching language.
1t comes after the naming lessons.
When the child can listen to stories
and rhymes of the Mother Goose sort,
1t is time to repeat them for him. A
book with good pictures and large type
Is best for this. Let the child look at
the picture while you say over and
over, as long as he wants, the rhyme
or the jingle that goes with it. BY and
by he learns the words and tries to say
them when he sees the picture. That
is the first step towaord associated
language and reading.
Be willing to 60 as slowly as the
| child indicates. There Is no. hurry.
Never drill q child on correct speech.
Be content with saying the word cor
rectly once. Drilling brings on other
difficulties and does no good as far as
correcting speech goes. Time and ex-
perience bring clear speech unless
there Is speech defect. Then the
speech specialist is needed, not drill
lessons.
| Copyright, 1881