Although you may jump right to thinking about baby’s first word when you think of communication development in the first year, there is so much that needs to develop in baby’s brain before we can expect to hear that first precious “mama” or “dada.” We use the term communication to encompass many aspects of speech and language development, including vocabulary (i.e., how many words a child says), articulation (i.e., how words are formed in the mouth), language expression (i.e., what a child says) and comprehension (i.e., what a child understands), gesture use (e.g., waving), and social skills (e.g., eye contact, turn-taking).