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Early Social Interactions Build Connections in the Brain

This brief focuses on the research-based benefits of having conversations with infants, what these exchanges look like, and tips to help families have engaging, social interactions with their babies.

Adult clapping and interacting with infant in walker.Back-and-forth social interactions build babies' language skills and strengthen language regions in their brains. This brief focuses on the research-based benefits of having conversations with infants, what these exchanges look like, and tips to help families have engaging, social interactions with their babies.

Also check out the companion resource, Connecting at Home. It includes simple tips for families to support their child’s language learning through social, back-and-forth interactions.

Research Notes

Babies are learning important communication and language skills even before they start talking. Responsive, back-and-forth conversations with infants help build language centers in their brain, which supports language learning. Back-and-forth conversations help young children build language and communication, cognitive, and social and emotional skills.

The Take Home

  • Back-and-forth conversations with infants promote brain development and language learning.
  • It’s not the amount of words we use, but how we use words with babies, that impacts their learning.
  • Social interactions are critical for language learning.

What does the research say?

Early conversations with infants promote brain development.

Frequent, back-and-forth conversations with infants strengthen language regions in babies’ brains, even before they start to talk! In fact, research shows that the amount of back-and-forth conversations, or exchanges, with babies is even more beneficial to their language learning than the number of words they hear.

How we talk with babies matters.

More important than the number of words we use, is how we talk with babies. Using "parentese," or the sing-song style of speech we tend to use with babies, helps infants and toddlers learn language. The variations in pitch and the slower pace help children learn to identify the sounds, words, and rhythms of language. And warm facial expressions and eye contact, when culturally appropriate, help young children stay engaged. Back-and-forth exchanges are key too. It might feel funny to have a “conversation” with a baby, especially one who can’t talk yet, but looking for ways to have a back-and-forth interaction is what is most important. To start, adults can describe what they and the baby are doing together. “We are changing your diaper, let’s unbutton your onesie.” Pause and see what the baby does next. Take any sound or gesture they make as the baby’s “response.” Then, follow the baby’s lead and build on that response by commenting on it or incorporating the sound they just made. “Oh, did that wipe feel cold?” The goal is to keep the back-and-forth going for as long as possible. Babies have a short attention span, so it might just be a few exchanges, but this type of interaction is a powerful learning tool.

Back-and-forth conversations help infants learn. 

Back-and-forth conversations like this help infants begin to:

  • Feel the rhythms of speech.
  • Recognize sounds of their home language.
  • Build vocabulary.
  • Learn new concepts.

This interactive way of communicating is more engaging than when we just talk at babies. It gives young children a chance to respond and practice language skills.

Social interaction is crucial for learning language.

Babies learn best through live conversations with people. Video and audio recordings can’t respond to an infant's cues, which is an important part of real-time conversations. In fact, babies aren’t able to learn language from screens or audio recordings. They learn language in social, back-and-forth exchanges. Using non-verbal cues like eye gaze and pointing engages young infants, helps them begin to understand what we are talking about, and helps them participate. Even if infants aren’t talking yet, listening and engaging in quality interactions with a trusted adult gives them positive language experiences and helps build their brains.

Try This!

The parent is the child’s most important teacher, and you are their “guide on the side.” Use these tips with families to help them support back-and forth-interactions with their child.

  • Ask families how they like to interact or “talk” with their infants. Share the benefits of back-and-forth conversations with families and model ways of facilitating back-and-forth exchanges with them and their babies.
  • Having a “conversation” with a baby might feel totally new or even silly. Help families identify ways their babies might respond, such as cooing or moving their bodies. Then, help families think about how they might build on what their babies do or communicate to keep the “conversation” going.
  • Think together with families about what to talk to infants about, or how to interpret their infants’ babbles and coos to keep the conversation going.
  • Encourage families to honor the strength of their home language and use it in their everyday conversations and stories they share with their babies and toddlers. When children have a strong foundation in their home language, it makes it easier for them to learn English later.
  • If parents aren’t sure where to start, model following the child’s eye gaze or reaching for an object to start a conversation with the baby. Pointing to or holding an object close to the baby can be a fun way to introduce new words, like using photos, cultural objects, textures, etc.
  • If families are worried they won’t know what the infant is trying to communicate, reassure them that just engaging their baby in a warm and responsive manner is the most important way to build language skills!

Learn More

Connecting at Home

Back-and-forth conversations with your baby support their language and brain development, even before they begin talking!

Baby Talk

Talk to your baby in a slower, sing-songy voice. This type of speech is called “parentese.” Babies love to listen to it, and it helps them learn! Use full sentences and real words. The slower pace and the exaggerated language sounds help babies start to learn the sounds and rhythms of language. Talk with your baby in your home language and encourage family members to talk with your baby too!

Wait for Me

Practice waiting for your baby or toddler to respond. You might be excited to keep the conversation going, but it is important to leave time for them to “take their turn” in the conversation. You can take a deep breath and pause while looking at them while you wait!

Looking Together

Pay attention to where your baby is looking or what they are reaching for. Then use these observations to guide your conversations. Sharing attention together like this helps your baby learn about their environment. Comment and ask questions like, “I see you’re looking at my hair, maybe you’re wondering what it feels like,” or “You’re turning your head toward the music. Do you like it? Tell me more about it!”

Ask Me

Think of questions and prompts you can use to increase your back- and-forth conversations with your baby. When your baby makes sounds or facial expressions, respond back, “Oh you want to tell me a story? Then what happens?” Then pause and wait for their response. Their response might be a verbal sound, longer eye contact, kicking legs, or waving arms. You can repeat their response and say, “Wow you have so much to say. What else do you want to tell me?”

« Go to Connecting Research to Practice

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,  Learning Environments