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 

Newsletters

LuCiD has a quarterly newsletter to keep our partners, colleagues and interested people up to date. See our full catalogue of newsletters below:

August 2024, April 2024 , August 2023, March 2023, November 2022, August 2022, March 2022, November 2021, June 2021, March 2021, December 2020, April 2020, July 2019, November 2018, June 2018, January 2018, September 2017, April 2017, December 2016, August 2016, February 2016, June 2015

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