“Mama” or “Dada”? Parents eagerly await baby’s first words. Did you know that all the babbling and cooing along the way is how babies learn to talk?
Those sounds aren’t just cute — they offer clues to a baby’s speech and language development. But those clues can be hard to capture.
Researchers at Boys Town have developed an assessment tool for measuring the early sounds that babies and toddlers make. The tool was originally developed with babies and toddlers with hearing loss in mind. It was designed to catch delays in speech development at a young age.
It quickly became clear that the tool could be useful for other babies too.
“There's a number of conditions that affect vocal development, everything from hearing loss to ear infections, but also conditions like autism and Down syndrome,” said Lori Leibold, Ph.D., senior director of the Center for Hearing Research at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
“How can we identify even earlier who needs extra help? We’re always trying to figure that out,” said Sophie Ambrose, Ph.D., manager of the Research Participant Services Core at Boys Town.
Her team developed the tool, now called the Vocal Development Landmarks Assessment (VDLA). After years of development, the VDLA can now be completed virtually and is being studied for wider use.
The hope is to develop an online approach that parents can use at home.
“The earlier you can recognize there might be a delay, the more effective the interventions can be,” Dr. Leibold said.
Building Blocks of Speech
Vocal development happens in stages. Generally, babies start with vowels and then begin adding consonants to the vowel sounds. They also jabber in jargon that sounds like talking, but makes no sense.
“Babies pretty typically move through those stages before getting to words and then combining words,” Dr. Ambrose said.
There are many important vocal benchmarks between first sounds and full sentences, and the pace at which babies progress varies.
“There certainly are babies who will hit some of these stages later than others and still go on to have typical development,” Dr. Ambrose said.
Assuming a child is simply a “late talker” risks missing a more serious issue.
“It's such a critical developmental milestone,” Dr. Leibold said. “Many times, those kids do not catch up and they fall behind.”
Getting help before children start school can make a big difference.
“We might be able to start helping them when they’re in the babbling stage, instead of waiting until they’re not talking at the same rate as their peers,” Dr. Ambrose said.
Putting Help in Their Hands
An earlier version of the VDLA was done with a speech-language pathologist. It’s since been refined as an online assessment tool taken virtually.
“We wanted to make it easier to administer. Now it's all self-guided on a website, so parents can do it at home,” Dr. Leibold said.
The assessment can be done on a tablet, computer or smartphone.
“It plays vocalizations of actual infants and asks, ‘Does your child sound more like this or does your child sound more like that?’” Dr. Ambrose said.
Parents also share information about the sounds their child makes and the words they say, as well as answer questions about the child’s development and demographic information.
Listening for the Future
The current study — the Virtual Infant and Toddler Vocal Development Research Study — is gathering data about babies and toddlers between the ages of 6 and 21 months who are typically developing and those with Down syndrome.
“There's not very much known about emerging speech and language skills in babies with Down syndrome, for example, so we really want to capture that,” Dr. Leibold said.
“We're hoping to collect data from up to 600 babies who are typically developing and then as many babies as we can who have Down syndrome.”
The answers help researchers understand how babies with any kind of vocalization delay sound at different stages, compared to babies who do not.
“Those differences are what we want to capture because they’ll tell us something about what is likely to happen later with language development,” Dr. Ambrose said.
Music to Their Ears
Ultimately, the online assessment could help ensure more children get the help they need as early as possible, when it can make the biggest difference.
Parents who participate in the study get the results of their baby’s assessment, while also contributing to research that could improve early screening for other families.
“It gives us really valuable information. We hope that it will provide a better tool for screening and identifying problems early in life,” said Dr. Leibold. “It doesn't take too long — and you get to listen to cute baby sounds.”
If you’re interested in participating in the study, you can sign up for the assessment, or call (531) 355-6674 or email Jenna.Paulsen@boystown.org for more information.