Engaging with a baby in their first three years of life can help set them up with communication skills, says speech-language therapist Emma Quigan. Once you trust that very young children are learning from every interaction, you see time spent with them as a significant opportunity, she tells Kathryn Ryan.

Engaging with a baby in their first three years of life can help set them up with communication skills, says speech-language therapist Emma Quigan.

Once you trust that very young children are learning from every interaction, you see time spent with them as a significant opportunity, she tells Kathryn Ryan.

"Every baby is born with mana. It's not something they earn - they have it. And if we trust our babies, we're seeing their humanity. We're seeing them as a person with likes and dislikes... not someone who needs to be built up with knowledge. It's already there and we're walking alongside them to help it unfurl and providing opportunities."

Listen to the interview

Emma Quigan

Emma Quigan (Ngāi Tahu) is co-president of the Speech and Language Therapists' Association and co-founder of the education campaign Talking Matters.

When she and literacy advocate Alison Sutton first set up Talking Matters, it felt like news to people just how much a baby learns about communication in their first 1,000 days, she says.

Now we know babies are working hard to make sense of the world and every moment with them is an opportunity to support that discovery.

"A day's work for a baby - playing, looking around at things, singing songs - is probably equivalent to the hardest day's work we as adults will ever have in our lives. When you think about what's happening to them on a minute level, it's actually meaning something for how their brain is growing. Every time they look at a book it's actually growing new brain cells."

With small babies, communication appears in the form of subtle cues, Emma says. A baby's eye gaze tells us what they are and are not interested in.

"If we start to look at the cues babies give us, they'll tell us when they need a break, as well. You know when a baby looks away for a moment that's them saying 'i'm going to take five. That's too much'.

"We can respond to by describing it, by bringing it over them and starting to interact with their interests."

At about 9 months of age, babies may start pointing at things, Emma says.

People often ask what the right thing to say in response is, but simple acknowledgement of their communication is the most important thing,

Pointing is one way a baby invites other people into their world…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details