Reading to your baby in a cozy, pleasant environment creates positive associations with books and learning. Of course, it also helps your baby begin to decode language. Research has shown that babies younger than six months can distiguish a wide range of speech contrasts, and by eight months any can distinguish familiar words from unfamiliar words.
Neurobiologist Stanislas Dehaene and his colleagues at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research in France, used fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)to record the brain activity of healthy 2- and 3-month-old infants. fMRI detects increased blood flow in the brain and shows which areas of the brain are active and when. They then compared the results to the scans of adults.
While the babies were in the MRI machine, The scientists played a recording of someone reading a children's book in French and then played the same recording backwards (which makes the speech completely unintelligible).
The results showed that areas of the brain that we know adults use for language were much more active in the babies during forward speech than backward speech.Babies already know something about normal language structure and they know that backwards speech cannot be a normal language. (ScienCentral, Baby Talk, 2-27-03)
Just for fun, try this at home: Choose nursery rhymes and stories to tell your baby. Try making up a new story about something familiar to him or her. As you speak, see how many different ways you can use your voice. This helps your baby learn expressive use of voice.
Observe your baby closely and perhaps write in a journal, "I can tell that my baby understands...." or "I can tell that my baby doesn't understand..."