ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the importance of early speech and language and the value of listening, copying sounds, imitating and tuning in to the baby from birth. It also considers the developmental needs and stages of children from birth to one year old for speaking and listening, focusing on how children develop speech or other forms of communication. Them chapter focuses on research into brain development and consider how early stimulation is essential and listening is imperative for development. E. Pantley suggested that mere exposure to language, such as listening to the television or to adults talking among themselves, provides little benefit. Experts suspect that babies younger than two years old view TV as a confusing array of colours, images and noises. Babies arrive in this world crying. Parents soon decipher the different needs for the different cries. Listening to a baby’s cries is the first step in listening to their voice.
