You can teach your baby to talk and learn new words through observation and listening. Here’s how,

According to research, the more words babies hear, the more they learn.

The most popular and effective method for your baby to learn is through flash cards.

Source: Laliberte, Richard, "Parents Report," Parents Magazine, Vol. 72, No. 9

(Sept 1997) page 50.

From the graph, you can see that the child's vocabulary is correlated to how "talkative" is the mom.

Based on research done by Dr. Janellen Huttenlocher, 

• children at 20 months old with "talkative" parents averaged 131 more words than mothers who didn't speak much.

• children at 24 months old the gap doubles to 295 words. 

The same children were tested in their 3rd grade, and the children were found to have greater language skills. Which means the ability to write and speak very well, able to express and comprehend much better. 

How do you increase your baby’s intelligence?

• Start talking directly to your baby as early as possible even if your baby cannot talk yet. According to The MacArther Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs), the average 12 month old child understands 55 words but might be able to say 1 or 2. The 16-month-old average child understands about 170 words but can say an average of 25 of them.

• During a conversation with your child use more descriptive words, ask more questions, and explain more. Use lesser "Stop" and "No" in your vocabulary.

• Introduce your baby, flash cards as early as possible to expose more vocabulary to your child. Do make sure the words come with a picture. Sometimes your child might not be looking at the flash card picture. It is ok because your child is listening to the sound of the word.

Here is another interesting research by Betty Hart, PhD and Todd R. Risley, PhD. Those children at the age of three that scored the highest on IQ and language tests are the ones that are exposed to the most vocabulary words at the age of 1 to 2 years old.

Based on research, the earlier you start teaching your child the more your child will learn. To find out more about what flash cards you can use, in the library, click here.