24 October 2009

One Child's Language: at 8 months

She is walking. About ten days ago we began trying to walk her with just one hand because it helped her to stand more erect.... Also this week, she finally came up with her first honest-to-goodness consonant, /b/. So, we hear a lot of /bababa/ and /b b b/. She is such fun to watch when she is playing by herself, pulling apart a stack of plastic bowls or picking small things out of a basket, babbling to herself. It doesn't usually last more than about ten minutes before she wants to involve one of us in her play. Her favorite way to do this is with peek-a-boo....

Just this morning she is trying out a whole bunch of new sounds, some approaching /d/ and /y/. Also real throat-clearing to go along with the cough that has been part of her "vocabulary" for several months. As her dad says, her speech is not instrumental yet; it is an end in itself. She is definitely having fun with it.

UPDATE: This child is now a 24-year-old teacher in Boston Public Schools.

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