Prologue: Language comprehension development is crucial during infancy and early childhood.
Note: Calculating a child's age

CHAPTER 1 Understanding Parenting Through Talk
How do babies talk to us?

1 Does speaking mean just saying things with words?
2 Baby Talking
Easy Baby's Speaking Traits / Difficult Baby's Speaking Traits
3. Parents' Talk
Easy Parents' Talking Traits / Difficult Parents' Talking Traits
4 Speaking and Sociality
* Signals sent by newborns to their caregivers

CHAPTER 2 Birth to 2 months
Letting babies know that the world is a place that understands them.

1 Babies see the world with all their senses.
Eyes | I can make eye contact. Ears | I like soft sounds.
Skin | I like being in water, but I hate bathing. Movement | I need steady movement.
2 Babies speak with their whole body.
When feeling good | Staring straight ahead or babbling
When I feel bad | I cry with all my might
3. Talk to them with gentle stimulation.
When the baby cries | When changing the diaper | When breastfeeding | When formula feeding
4. The mother's body needs to recover quickly.
* Language development case: “My baby is 2 months old and has trouble making eye contact.”
* Language Development Q&A

CHAPTER 3 From 3 to 5 months of age
Talk to your baby using facial expressions and tone of voice

1 Babies look at facial expressions and listen to sounds.
Eyes | Can observe facial expressions Ears | Can hear simple sounds
Skin | Less startled by skin irritation. Movement | Able to hold up neck independently.
2 The baby moves more vigorously
When I feel good | I babble more
When you're feeling bad | Reject with gestures
3. Respond to your baby's speech.
When showing rejection | When crying or whining | When babbling
4 Moms need help from those around them.
* Language Development Case: “I’m worried because my 4-month-old baby is so docile.”
* Language Development Q&A

CHAPTER 4 From 6 to 14 months of age
The beginning of speaking with words

1 The baby understands speech
Eyes | Know the names of things seen with the eyes. Ears | Distinguish between words and sounds.
Skin | Learn to verbalize the sensations felt through the skin. Movement | Enjoy the shaking.
2 Babies express themselves with their bodies.
When you're feeling good | Express it with active gestures
When I'm feeling bad | I cry and move around violently
3. Parents need acting skills.
When feeding baby food | When scared | When playing
4 Get help from a housekeeper
* Language Development Case: "There's no change in the baby's facial expression." | "The baby's babbling has decreased since the mother returned to work."
* Language Development Q&A

CHAPTER 5 From 15 to 24 months of age
Speak in short sentences

1 Your baby's vocabulary will increase.
Eyes | Develops intuition Ears | Learns various words through the ear
Skin | Send messages through skin contact. Movement | Enjoy active movement.
2 The baby speaks in words
When you're in a good mood | How you express it varies depending on your temperament.
When you're feeling bad | Express yourself with negative words
3 Speak briefly and clearly
When praising | When reading a picture book | When playing with words | When the baby cries because he or she doesn't understand baby signs | When he or she hits the caregiver | When he or she doesn't want to go to daycare
4 Reading a lot of books doesn't necessarily mean that your child will start speaking faster.
* Language development case “No matter how much I discipline my baby, he doesn’t change” | “He understands everything I say.”
But he doesn't listen to his mom." | "He just plays by himself and doesn't assert himself."
* Language Development Q&A
* Checklist for conversation environment

CHAPTER 6 From 25 to 35 months of age
Speak slowly in sentences

1. Your child's language comprehension skills will improve.
Can compare different things | Can distinguish similar expressions | Can understand long sentences | Can accurately understand questions asked | Every child has a different ability to receive language | Not being able to speak does not mean that language development is delayed
2 Children can speak in sentences, but they also express themselves through actions.
A child who speaks quickly | Expresses himself verbally
A child who doesn't speak | Expresses his feelings through actions
3 Give your child a chance to speak.
Early Talkers | Check to see if your child understands you well.
A child who is not fluent | Ask questions that allow your child to answer in short sentences.
4 Visit a place where mom can rest
* Language Development Case: "I think my child's language development is delayed because of a poor relationship with his or her partner." | "He or she doesn't understand the teacher." | "He or she is 30 months old, but he or she can barely speak in words, and he or she even self-harms."
* Language Development Q&A

CHAPTER 7 From 36 to 60 months of age
Talking to your child verbally

1.
It's different for every child
You can understand the world through words | Every child has different preferences | You can even learn two languages
2. My child expresses his or her opinions clearly through words and actions.
A child who starts talking quickly | speaks in long sentences
A child who has not yet begun to speak | Learns to speak on his own by observing his friends
When I'm stressed, I express it through rough behavior.
3. Don't yell when you have a conflict with your child.
When a child refuses to listen to a parent, talks at length about things that don't fit the situation; When a child pretends not to hear a parent and runs away; When a child throws a tantrum in a public place; When a child hits a younger sibling
4. Control your anger when disciplining with words.
* Language Development Cases: "My child is having trouble adjusting to daycare and has strange pronunciation." | "My child is slow to express himself and has trouble going to the toilet." | "He says strange things to get attention." | "My 43-month-old child can't form sentences." | "My child understands less than his peers."
* Language Development Q&A

CHAPTER 8: Teach Your Child to Speak
My child doesn't speak. What should I do?

1. If only the words are spoken late
2. For autism spectrum disorder
3. In case of mixed receptive-expressive language disorder
* Language Development Q&A
* Parenting tips to help your baby learn to speak 6-14 months | 15-23 months | 24-35 months | 36-60 months

FAQ.
Things Moms Are Curious About
Speech therapy: when and how should I do it?
Do speech and social development go together?
If large muscle development is delayed, will language development also be delayed?
Is language development genetic?
Is media exposure helpful or harmful?
Which institution should I send my child to to help with language development?
Other questions

* Appendix_ Dr. Kim Soo-yeon's K-DST Language Domain Test Utilization Guide
How to Interpret the K-DST Language Test | How to Evaluate the K-DST Language Test

★ Special supplement
《Language Stimulation Play at Home & Language Comprehension Assessment 58 Questions》

Don't worry too much if your child is late in learning to speak.
In infants and toddlers, the development of language comprehension is more important than language expression.

For parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0 to 5, how quickly their children begin to speak and how well they speak is a sensitive topic.
Because we think that speech development is related to a child's intelligence, we often compare our child to others and worry that he or she may be speaking later than his or her peers, and we often become sensitive to even the smallest babble of the child.
However, there are many parents who do not have a sufficient understanding of the characteristics of language development in infants and toddlers.
In addition to intelligence, speech ability is influenced by the actions of large and small muscles, such as breathing, lip and tongue movements, posture of the back and neck, emotional tension, and the child's temperament and psychological characteristics.
Therefore, Dr. Kim Soo-yeon emphasizes that the language development of children aged 0 to 5 should focus on 'how well they understand words', and that systematic parenting that takes into account the child's developmental stage determines the child's proper growth.


To this end, this book provides a detailed explanation of developmental characteristics according to the developmental stages of 0-5 years old and by month, as well as parenting methods for talking, with detailed illustrations.
Through this, parents develop smooth communication with their children, and children develop the ability to focus on the message their parents are trying to convey.
Just because a child speaks fluently does not mean that their language skills are high.
Raise your child to be a child who understands and communicates with others, not just a child who only speaks for himself.

Most parents believe that their child speaks well if he or she starts talking earlier than his or her peers or if he or she is not hesitant to speak long sentences or difficult words.
Sometimes, there are children who memorize and speak fluently sentences spoken by their parents or sentences in videos without even understanding their meaning.
In times like these, parents are often surprised by their child's vocabulary or sentence structure and respond with praise or show off to others.
In these cases, at first glance, it may seem like the child is good at speaking, but in reality, he or she has difficulty communicating meaningfully with others.
If you cannot understand what the other person is saying and cannot respond appropriately, communication, exchanging thoughts and feelings, will be impossible, no matter how early you start talking.
This is why language comprehension is really important in early childhood.
Therefore, the language ability of infants and toddlers should be evaluated based on their ability to understand speech rather than their ability to express speech.


To communicate sufficiently with your child, you need to understand his or her level of language comprehension.
For a child who can only understand words, simply speaking at length without using facial expressions or movements does not help language development and actually hinders communication with the child.
Speaking to your child at a level and in a way they can understand will help them develop language comprehension skills and help them form a trusting attachment to you.
Therefore, before talking to a child, you must first fully understand the child's temperament and developmental characteristics.

This book details how children understand the world and accept what people say, and how they express their thoughts and feelings verbally and nonverbally, according to their developmental stages.
Parents are also explained how to respond and speak to their children depending on the situation in which they are expressing themselves.


Just as literacy is important for school-age children,
It is essential to develop language comprehension skills in infants and toddlers.

Many parents only become interested and take action to improve their child's language skills when their child first begins to speak.
However, language skills begin to develop from the moment we are born.
Children want to communicate with those around them through sounds and gestures, even if it is not necessarily through words, and they gradually learn the means of 'speech' to convey their intentions.
So, rather than waiting for your child to start talking, you should start talking to them in various ways from the moment they are born.

This book says that parents' role in early childhood is important to prevent their children from becoming anti-social individuals who only talk about themselves without understanding the words and feelings of others.
This is because a child's language ability develops from a single word that parents say at a level that the child can understand, and furthermore, intellectual and emotional development occurs along with it.
Children whose language comprehension skills are supported by appropriate parenting from birth are more likely to excel academically.
Additionally, when parents speak to their children in a way that they can understand, the children develop a greater ability to understand their parents and even form a stable attachment relationship.
If parents learn how to talk to their children and build relationships with them through this book, they will be able to maximize their children's potential.