For Parents

We have produced a number of free resources on child language development for parents and people working with young children. These are made available on this page and can be shared freely. 

Magazine Articles

• Nursery World Magazine articles
• English & Media Centre eMagazine articles
• The Conversation articles
• BBC Tiny Happy People articles 

Short Talks

• Watch our series of short talks about how children learn to communicate with language. 
  

Webchats with our researchers

• A number of our researchers have been taken part in live webchats about child language development. Read the transcripts from these live chats.

What do babies know when? 

• Our Stages of Language Development resource highlights some interesting facts about what typically developing children know about language at different ages from 0-2 years. Based on the Stages of Language Development materials, our LuCiD team has created two short family friendly videos. 

• Our very own Prof Ben Ambridge presents a series of short films for BBC Tiny Happy People on baby development and language milestones. Each of the five short videos covers a communication milestone from a baby's first year and explains the science behind it. Watch all the videos here or jump to the milestone that interests you the most below:

  • 0-3 months: How far can newborn babies see?
  • 3-6 months: How can peekaboo help babies to learn?
  • 3-6 months: Is speaking in baby talk good for babies' language learning?
  • 6-9 months: Can you get your baby to babble more? 
  • 9-12 months: What is my baby interested in?

Language Development Milestones 

• How does it come about that within the first few years of a child's life, babies master language - one of the most complex phenomena.The following two short videos will take you on a journey through your child's language development in the first two years of life. 

  • Baby's First Year
  • Baby's Second Year

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• See our FAQs page. If your question isn't there, get in touch with us to ask your question.

External Resources for Parents and Families

• BBC Tiny Happy People
• I CAN's Talking Point
• The Communication Trust's resources for parents and families
• The National Literacy Trust's resources for parents and families