1 Answer the following questions.
1. At what stage do babies start playing with their hands and feet?
2. When can a three-month-old baby lift its head?
3. When do babies start being able to sit up?
4. When do parents need to be careful about babies putting things in their mouth?
5. When do babies usually start saying their first words?
6. When do babies start trying to walk?
7. When do babies start suffering from separation anxiety?
8. When are babies able to find hidden objects?
2 Read the text on the previous page again and find the terms that correspond to the following definitions.
1. The part of the front of your body below your waist: ...........................................................
2. Feeling less worried or unhappy because someone cares for you: ...........................................................
3. Take or pick something up suddenly and roughly: ...........................................................
4. Short thick digit on the side of your hand next to your four fingers: ...........................................................
5. An object that children play with: ...........................................................
6. Worried about something: ...........................................................
3 Listen to an expert talking about separation anxiety and say if the statements below are true or false. Then correct the false statements.
1. Separation anxiety is not common. ☐ T ☐ F
2. Separation anxiety has a purpose in terms of evolution. ☐ T ☐ F
3. Separation anxiety is common in all cultures. ☐ T ☐ F
4. Separation anxiety is at its maximum at 6 or 7 months. ☐ T ☐ F
5. It is easier to manage separation anxiety when children are around two years old. ☐ T ☐ F
6. It never happens at night. ☐ T ☐ F
BABBLING
Before saying their first words, children babble (they produce series of sounds repeating two or more syllables). Babbling is a very important indication of the cognitive development of the child.
At birth, babies produce a series of involuntary sounds (they cough, sigh, burp, etc.) which do not have any communicative purpose.
Between the first and fourth month, they start producing sounds made up by alternating syllables (babbling).
At the beginning (between the fourth and sixth month) babbling consists of one repeated syllable (vowel + consonant, i.e. dadada).
Later on (between the sixth and ninth month) babbling is varied, with different alternating syllables (i.e. tidada).
Finally (from nine months on), babbling becomes "conversational": syllables alternate and are accompanied by intonation and pauses. This is when children usually start pronouncing their first words.
GLOSSARY
to bang : sbattere
to bounce : rimbalzare
to coo : fare versetti
to crawl : gattonare
to creep : strisciare
to grab : afferrare
to gurgle : gorgogliare
hidden : nascosto
to pull (oneself) up : tirarsi su
tummy : pancia
to roll over : rotolare
to track : seguire
to wave goodbye : fare ciao con la mano