Brief Overview of Babbling and Early Speech Development in Children With and Without Known Adverse Conditions—The Issue of Terminology and Assessment Accuracy

AIM: To provide a brief overview of babbling and early speech development primarily directed to clinicians and clinical researchers in the field of paediatrics, not specialized in babbling or speech-language development. Issues of terminology, influence of method, and relationship between vocalization and early speech measures were raised in response to a publication on the relationship between early speech milestones and oral-motor skills in infants at 6 months. METHOD: A selection of recognized articles was used for a basic description of typical development of babbling, related terminology and reference values. The literature was reviewed for longitudinal studies of the relationship between measures of vocalizations and early speech in children with known adverse conditions. A summary of assessment methods was provided. RESULTS: Twenty-one articles were found where correlation/prediction between one or more vocalization measures and later expressive vocabulary, consonant proficiency, and/or established consonants were reported. The summary of methods highlights the variation and possible influence on results. CONCLUSION: Although not present in all children, atypical babbling is common in different adverse conditions with impact on early speech development. However, more studies are needed. The way oral motor skills may be a factor here needs to be investigated further using valid methods and terminology.