Rethinking Communication guide to advanced dementia

should be offered and what the ratio between staff and children should be. We care deeply about what happens to our infants: how they feel, what they are learning, how they are treated. Babies are, rightly so, treasured human beings whom we encourage and help to grow into thriving, independent adults. We pay close attention to the things our babies do and to the sounds they make. We marvel at their first smile, first words, first steps and actively engage in communicating with them at all stages. Before babies can speak, they make sounds that sound similar to speech. These sounds are known amongst scientists studying child development as ‘proto-conversation’. Adults often notice those utterances and spontaneously copy them. Taking turns making those sounds becomes the basis of conversations between parents and babies. This exchange feels like, and is, a completely natural thing to do. Even those of us without children of our own have the innate ability to communicate with babies in this way. We see this happening, for example, on buses and in supermarket queues.