Yes, “baby speech development” really is tied to babies slobbering, chewing, and exploring the world with their mouths. They actually use their tongues, lips, and other articulators to unravel the mysteries of the speech and language they hear on a constant basis. In order to boost their mouth play abilities and results, grownups need the scoop on the best types of exploration objects, and how to test their progress.
Mouthing + Articulators
When we talk about babies using their tongue, lips, and other parts of the mouth to explore sounds, we are talking about the articulators, or what allow us to make a vast variety of sounds in speech. Those primary explorations lead to more sophisticated ones like differentiating the sound “th” as found in “thank you” with the “th” sound in “then.”
Normally, there’s an active articulator (something that moves) interacting with a passive one (something that’s still). Now, let’s dig into those…
Passive articulators
- The Hard and Soft Palate (the roof of the mouth – used for letters like K and G)
- The Alveolar Ridge (make a T sound – that’s your tongue striking the Alveolar Ridge)
- The Teeth (say V or F – that’s using the teeth in an articulation)
Active articulators
- The Tongue (LOTS of sounds use the tongue – TH, D, L, G, K, etc.)
- The Lips (M, B, P)
- The Vocal Folds (say “uh-oh”…that’s a glottal stroke and uses the folds gently striking each other)
What science says about baby mouth play
We know that “mouthing”—typically associated with toys—affects early phonetic characteristics, like how babies begin to produce consonants.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia also found that the type of object used during mouth play can positively or negatively affect their early speech skills.
“In the study, six-month-old babies were given teething toys. They then listened to two different Hindi ‘d’ sounds. The babies that were able to move their tongues were able to make the distinction. But the babies’ tongues that were restricted and unable to mimic the sounds because of the teething toy were unable to distinguish between the sounds.”
So, what types of objects were found to negatively affect early speech?
Any type of baby toy or soother that restricted tongue movement produced a negative result (like a flat-bottom pacifier).
And what types of toys were found to positively affect early speech?
Any type of baby toy or soother that allowed their tongues to move in, out, and around the object promoted sound distinction and is tied to building the tongue muscles children need to mimic and articulate sounds correctly.
That’s why Kindermusik classes use baby-safe instruments like our fish shakers that combine tongue-free mouth play benefits with bright colors, sound, and fine motor stimulation—the brain lights up!
How can music help assess baby speech development?
In addition to encouraging them to explore baby-safe instruments, shared musical play (especially singing to and with infants) can help babies imitate speech around them, and help you understand where they are in that process.
As infants hear sounds, they attempt to copy them. Parents and caregivers hear often that talking to baby is crucial in the first year. That’s true!
But initiating musical conversations is even better. Babies pay more attention to a singing voice than a talking one and singing naturally slows down mouth movements. So, intentional music-making through song has a positive impact on their ability to understand your mouth movements and connect them to their own speech sounds.
The next time you play with your little one, bring tongue-free toys and objects, and music into the equation.
Ask yourself:
- Do you see exploration with the tongue and the lips during mouth play?
- Do you see them trying to mimic your mouth movements during singing time?
Watch them start the journey of speech acquisition and help them build a foundation for articulation.
For more baby speech development resources, find a class or check out our toolkits for speech therapists!