Should I Be Teaching My Baby Letters and Numbers?

It’s an exciting time for parents when their baby starts to say their first words. Many parents may start to worry about what words their child should be learning to say. It is often a parent’s first inclination to want to teach academic language, like letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. You want your little one to get ahead and be top of their class as soon as possible, right? Unfortunately, when we focus on teaching these academic words, we may not be putting enough attention on functional language.

What is functional language?

Functional language includes words we use to make our wants and needs known, and are very important for early communication. These are the words that are going to help reduce your child’s frustration as they learn words in order to communicate.

Think about if your child…

is getting frustrated with a broken toy, or a container they can’t open. A functional word in this scenario would be, “help!”
wants to put on their shoes or jacket, but isn’t able to on their own yet. A functional word in this case would be, “on!”
is full and doesn’t want any more food. Without words your child may start throwing food to the floor off their tray. With a functional word, they can tell you, “done” or “all done!”
is having fun with a play routine like bubbles, being pushed on a swing, or rolling a ball. With no words they may become frustrated if you stop, but with words they can request, “more!”
is thirsty and wants a drink. If they have no words, or can’t find their cup to gesture towards, they may become upset. With a functional word like, “water,” or “drink,” they can communicate their needs to you.

All of these scenarios are examples of when functional words are going to help your child communicate their wants and needs, and reduce frustration.

Think about the scenarios we laid out above. If your child is thirsty, hungry, wanting more, needing help, or wants to be all done, saying their letters, numbers, or colors are not going to help them communicate these needs.

parent and child frustrated — When children do not have functional words to communicate, there is increased frustration for the parent and child.

Why should we focus on functional language before academic language?

Children typically begin to say their first word around 12 months of age, and by 24 months of age have a minimum of 50 words, with an average of 200-300 words. This leaves a wide range of development between 12-24 months of age (Check out my post here to learn more about how many words your child should be saying).

When children are 18 months of age, they typically have a minimum of 10 words, with an average of 50 words. Let’s think about the alphabet. That’s 26 letters, which means that’s 26 words! For the average 18 month old, that would take up half of their entire vocabulary. Now if we add numbers 1-10, a few colors and a few shapes, that takes up almost their entire vocabulary. That does not leave very much room for those functional words!

When should I start to teach my baby letters, numbers, and colors?

Of course academic words are also important for the future, but we want to wait to focus on these words until your child has a strong foundation of functional communication skills in order to have their wants and needs met. This doesn’t mean you can’t expose your child to their ABCs and 123s yet, but it should not be the main focus to learn these words over more functional words (see below for a list of functional words). If your child is able to communicate their wants and needs, and is growing their vocabulary at a steady pace, you can definitely start to focus more on some of these academic words if you choose. Teaching colors, for example, is a great way to start expanding single words into phrases (e.g. blue car, red ball, etc.), and phrases do not typically start to develop until children have at least 50 single words they use.

teaching baby numbers — Teach academic words like letters and numbers once your baby has a strong foundation of functional words.

Some children may have special interests in letters or numbers, and if your child is easily learning these words without much effort, that’s okay too! Just make sure to be modeling those functional words, signs, and gestures, and give your child opportunities to learn words that can help them get their needs met.

What if my child is not using functional words?

If your child is nearing 18 months of age and is not yet using words, using only a few words, and/or is using words for only one function, such as labeling (e.g. sees a banana and says, “banana”), but is not able to use words to make requests or have their needs met (e.g. says “banana” with the purpose of asking for a banana), you may want to talk to your pediatrician and get a referral for a speech-language evaluation with a speech-language pathologist. There are multiple factors involved in determining if a child requires speech-language therapy. Early intervention has been proven to have better outcomes than the outdated “wait and see” approach. Some children may benefit from an evaluation sooner than 18 months of age, so speak to your pediatrician if you are concerned.

Check out my post here to learn some strategies to help your baby say their first words.

Check out my post here to learn about the different functions of language.

List of top first functional words for babies:

Here’s a list of functional words that babies often learn first to help reduce your and your little one’s frustration, and boost their communication skills.

(Remember, many of these words may be word approximations, or simplified versions, before they sound like the adult pronunciation)

Mama

Dada

More

Help

Open

All done

Water

Milk

Bottle

Cup

Up

On

Down

Yes

No

Go

Eat

Drink

Shoes

Hi

Byebye

Mine

My

Ball

Car

Night night

Family member’s names

Pet’s names

All gone

Wash

Ow

Uhoh

Hug

Broke

Eyes

Mouth

Nose

Hands

Play

Check out early signs you can teach your baby, too, to help teach functional communication even before they start to use verbal words!

This website and information on this blog post is provided for educational purposes only. It is not meant as medical advice, intended to replace a speech-language assessment, therapy from a speech-language pathologist, or serve as medical care for a child. It is recommended that you discuss any concerns or questions you might have with your speech-language pathologist, pediatrician, and medical team, and develop an individualized team plan specifically for your child.

Follow us on Instagram for “bite-sized” information on each blog post: