The 23-year-old defensive midfielder is a key part of Paul Warne’s starting line-up and missed the initial part of the season due to a ligament injury.
On Tuesday, Bird made his fourth successive league start of the campaign and helped Derby to a 4-0 victory over Northampton Town by scoring two goals.
Barker believes that the goals will provide Bird with confidence and pointed out that the 23-year-old defensive midfielder is enjoying an advanced role on the pitch, which the Derby staff are working with him on.
The Rams assistant boss also stressed the importance of everyone pitching in for goals and believes that Bird could have scored more goals against Northampton Town.
“We always say that to be successful, we need goals from all over the pitch, from set-pieces and from midfielders”, Barker said on Rams TV.
“Laing is weighing in with the front players; Nat has got a couple over the last week or so; and Birdy weighed in today.
“He is enjoying the more advanced role that we are working on with him and I think he probably could have had another couple more, but tonight will really give him confidence as well.”
Derby have climbed up to seventh place in the league table with 24 points from 15 games and are two points short of the last playoff spot with a game in hand.
