When children start talking: norms and deviations of speech development

The problem of speech disorder in children is currently very relevant. Every kindergarten and school has children with speech disabilities. For those who have serious disorders, specialized children's educational institutions have been created. What is the matter? What is the reason for this flaw? How to prevent a violation of the development of speech in a child? What are the exercises for speech correction? We will tell about all this and many other things in the article.

Concept of speech

The ability to speak is the main distinguishing feature of man, which distinguishes him from the animal world. This is a way of communication, exchange of opinions, without which it is impossible to fully integrate into society. That is why all parents look forward to when their baby speaks, and want his speech to develop on time and correctly. The question, when children begin to speak, becomes one of the most common among parents in the first years of a small person's life.

Mind, thinking and speech develop at the same time, therefore it is precisely due to the lack of speech that one can suspect deviations in the development of the child. However, you should not panic and focus on the stories of friends about when exactly their children spoke. Of course, there are certain periods when children begin to reproduce certain sounds, syllables and words, but these periods are relative. That is, the child can speak sooner or much later. This is considered an individual form of development of the baby.

At what age the child speaks the first word, it is very important, because by the development of the baby’s speech one can judge how harmoniously his thinking and psyche develops.

Features of the development of speaking in a child

When do children start talking and how does their speech develop? This question interests all parents. The process of formation of speech in a child is divided into three stages:

• The first stage is preparatory, it includes screaming, babbling, walking. With a cry, the kid shows his parents that he is dissatisfied with something (hungry, wet, hot, cold). Thanks to humming (sounds “ay”, “aa”), the baby learns intonations, copying them from loved ones. Scientists have proved that this development process is the same for all children in the world. Walking gradually turns into babble, the baby pronounces the sounds "pa", "ma", "ba", "di" and so on. If by the age of 6-8 months the baby has not started babbling, you should consult a doctor and check his hearing.
• The second stage begins at about 8 months, when the child perceives the sound of some words and answers with a gesture to questions like: “Where is dad?”, “Where is the bird?” The kid is glad that his speech is understood, he begins to copy his parents in games with toys. The babble becomes long, enriched with intonations, it begins to repeat the sounds "ma-ma-ma", "ba-ba-ba", which gradually turn into words. The pronunciation of individual words is imperfect, but he puts meaning into them. For example, seeing that mother responds to the sounds of “ma-ma”, he begins to call her that, that is, he has a substantive appeal.
• In the third stage, which begins approximately from the second year of life, the baby understands everything that he is told, performs simple instructions. He has purposeful gestures, which are accompanied by intonation and sounds of demand. Pointing gestures and questions like: “What is this?” - This is an important point in the development of child-specific thinking. At this time, the passive vocabulary of the child is laid. The development of understanding of what has been said is several months ahead of oral speech. Sometimes the difference between the moment when the baby began to point at an object and call it a word is 5-8 months. In the third stage of the development of speech, the child begins to associate two three words into a phrase, for example: “Hold Mom”, “Give Dad”.

Speech of the baby up to 6 months

So what is the speech of a child under the age of 6 months?

• In one month, he must respond to the words of his parents. For example, stop crying if mom comes up to him and starts talking to him.
• At about 3 months, he actively walks when communicating with adults, in his speech the sounds “n”, “k”, “g” prevail.
• At five months, the baby with his eyes actively seeks a sound source, turns his head. During the walk, it changes the intonation of the voice.
• By about 6-7 months he pronounces the first syllables "ma," ba ". He begins to understand what is at stake, listens to the voices.

What words should a child say in a year?

• At about 8 months, the baby begins to pronounce the syllables: "pa-pa", "ma-ma", "ba-ba", in his speech the sounds "a", "g", "m", "b", "e "," K "," p ".
• By 10 months, the baby pronounces a few words such as "mother", "Lala."
• In a year, as a rule, a child speaks about five words, which consist of two syllables. In addition, he takes objects in place; shows where parents and other close people are; understands when they say "no." About a year is the age when the child says "mother."

From a year to three years, his vocabulary is replenished very rapidly, since at this age he learns the world around him, gets acquainted with objects, analyzes and compares.

Speech up to two years

So, in a year old the kid pronounces 5-6 monosyllabic words, understands perfectly what is required of him, knows how to point animals in the picture with his finger. How does his speech develop from a year to 2 years?

• At the age of one and a half years, the baby pronounces about 10-15 words, can show 2-4 parts of the body (arm, leg, stomach, head).
• By the end of the second year of life, she shows herself many parts of her body, knows how to combine 2 words into phrases, for example: “Hand of Vava”, “Mom give”, “Take me”. The vocabulary already has 20-25 words.
• One to two years is a period when children begin to speak words in large numbers. The child has both nouns and verbs in his speech. In addition, children at 2 years old are able to perceive simple stories without pictures by ear.

Speech up to three years

In two years, the child speaks about 20-25 words. He performs certain actions that he is asked to do. Knows when they say "me," "I," "you."

At two and a half, the child shows who is who, understands the meaning of prepositions, remembers numbers, can count in order to 3-5.

At three, the child speaks in sentences, he asks. Many children at this age know their name, how many years, where they live, they remember their favorite fairy tale. This age is also called the “period of effort”, since the child is interested in everything: why there are clouds in the sky, why the car is traveling, how it does it, why the cat meows and so on.

When does the baby start talking? The essence of the problem

What time do children speak well? Clear boundaries do not exist, there are only relative ones, because each baby is an individual person.

The main rule: never talk in the presence of a child in raised tones, never yell at him.

In addition, the big mistake of many mothers is that they do not allow the child to speak. The contact is so close between them that it costs a child to raise an eyebrow, mother already understands what he wants, and runs to fulfill his whim. Thus, there is no incentive for development. He just does not need to talk.

First of all, mothers should:

• Correctly organize your home space so that the child develops.
• Build the right relationship, in which he will feel safe and calm.
• Communicate with him in such a way as to stimulate the development of speech.

As a rule, a jump in the development of speech occurs in a year and a half, but if a child speaks poorly or is silent at all in a year, then the next round of speech development will occur only in 2 years.

Reasons for the delay in the development of colloquial speech

If the child was born completely healthy, then the delay in speech development may be due to improper adult behavior: inadequate communication with the baby, inattention to his auditory perception and imitation of sounds.

Before speaking, the child must train all the muscles of the speech apparatus. That is, he must walk, babble, swallow, suck, chew. Scientists have proved that children who were breastfed are less likely to experience speech retardation than artificers, and those who are accustomed to solid foods in a timely manner speak more clearly and correctly than their peers.

Reasons why the child does not say:

1. Medical - a short frenum of the tongue, underdevelopment of the speech apparatus, hearing impairment. They must first be excluded by visiting the appropriate doctors.
2. Inadequate communication with the child. For the development of speech, it is necessary to constantly hear it, and if the child does not hear it and does not see how the words are pronounced, he does not repeat them, and as a result - speech delay.
3. Injustice baby. Such children, as a rule, are engaged in exploring the world, their character of speech development is somewhat different, they use action words, in contrast to assiduous children who remember the names of objects.
4. Unfavorable atmosphere in the family. With problems in the environment of the child, he becomes closed and sullen, hence the reluctance to speak and the delay in speech.
5. Understanding the child at a glance. He does not need speech, there is no incentive to speak, because everyone understands everything already.
6. The psychological reason. With fear or stress, many impressionable children become locked in themselves, some of them develop stuttering.

A child who is born deaf or who has lost his hearing as a result of an illness will not learn to speak until he is taught by a sound educator to read lips and pronounce sounds first and then words. Such classes should start from 3 years.

The development of speech is closely related to the development of fine motor skills of the hands. Children who play with the designer sculpt from plasticine, engage in origami, embroider, draw, and are able, as a rule, to speak correctly and reason logically, their memory and attention are well developed.

Modern mothers know that babies should not be swaddled. Any restriction of movement inhibits the development of motor skills and speech functions.

Very often, retraining of left-handed people leads to a delay in the development of speech. In the right-handed person, the actions of the moving parts of the body, namely the fingers, the speech apparatus (pharynx, tongue, lips, soft palate, larynx), are incorporated in the left hemisphere, and in the left-handed person, respectively, in the right. If a left-handed child is not allowed to do anything with his left hand, then he has a spatial breaking of movements. As a rule, retrained children are late-speaking, incorrectly pronouncing sounds, awkward, devoid of musical hearing, unable to dance. In addition, the psycho-emotional state of the child is disturbed. He becomes either stubborn, or weak-willed, or uncontrollable, or unsure of himself. A child may experience stuttering, which is difficult to overcome.

How to help your child start talking?

Speech is not inherited genetically, and the time when the baby begins to pronounce the first words depends on the parents. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to try so that he always hears clear and correct speech.

Here are some exercises that help strengthen the muscles of the speech apparatus:

• Whistle, blow, drink from a straw. Exercises related to closing and tightening the lips give a very good effect. Soap bubbles, pipes, whistles, tubes for juices will help.
• A game of imitation of sounds, that is, imitate the sounds of animals, trains, cars with a child.
• Read familiar tales, make sure that he listens carefully to all sounds.
• Comment on each action, while showing and naming the objects that surround it.
• Talk clearly and clearly with the child, never lisp.
• To develop fine motor skills so that the child begins to speak, he should massage his hands, draw with his fingers, often play finger games, sort out small beads, cereals, string beads on a string, play with clothespins.
• Read small poems and at the end let the child finish them in rhyme, encourage him to name the objects that he sees in the book.
• Perform articulation exercises with the baby that are aimed at memorizing certain sounds.
• More often go for a walk to the park, to the pond, square and show him all the objects that are there.
• Never dismiss a child or ignore his questions. Try to clearly, clearly and in detail answer them, explain why these or those things are needed. Pay special attention to the properties of objects and their distinguishing features.
• Turn on the baby music, read him tales, sing songs. They form such qualities as honesty, concern for others, kindness, responsibility.
• Ask the baby to tell how his day went, how he walked, what he saw. Let him speak in his own language so far, but in this way he joins the speech, actively participates in communication, and at the same time becomes confident in himself.

Key Signs of Speech Delay

Do not ignore the main signs of delayed speech development, these include the following:

• If by the year the child says nothing, does not pronounce a couple of words, even onomatopoeic.
• By the age of two, he does not remember the names of objects, does not show them, does not fulfill the simplest requests, does not respond to his name.
• By the age of two, he cannot make monosyllabic sentences; he does not repeat words for adults.
• By the age of two, he does not know body parts, cannot distinguish colors.
• By the age of three, he does not speak sentences of four to five words, does not perceive the meaning of simple stories.

Parents should be alerted by the guttural strange sounds that the baby makes instead of words, his slurred speech, and hyperactive behavior. It is necessary to pay attention if he cannot chew food, keeps his mouth open all the time, does not look his parents in the eye. These behavioral characteristics may indicate a delay in the psychological development of the baby.

Who to contact if the development of speech in the child is delayed

First of all, you should contact a pediatrician who oversees the development of the child. Perhaps all the problems are far-fetched, and these are the features of the development of the baby. But if there are problems, the doctor will send the child to a speech therapist or neurologist. Positive results are obtained with an integrated approach. The neurologist will prescribe drugs, additional examinations of the brain and spine. Speech therapist will advise the necessary exercises, speech therapy massage, gymnastics.

Do not let the problem drift and wait for the child to speak on his own. It is imperative to turn to specialists for help, ask them questions: why the child does not start talking, how to help him? The sooner you identify a problem and begin to fight it, the better and faster results can be achieved.

If at 5 years old it is difficult to pronounce the letter "p"

First, the children make whistling sounds, then hissing, and the most difficult for them are “p” and “l”. Usually their pronunciation begins to grow to 4-5 years. You need to start setting the letter "p" with a growl, with this exercise only this sound is trained. Then add the vowel - “ra”, “ru”, “ro”. Then you should train the reverse order - “ur”, “op”, “ar”. You need to repeat the exercises often, every day, it is best done in the form of a game.

Logopedic gardens

Many mothers are afraid to give their children to speech therapy groups, arguing their fear that the child will begin to imitate other children and will speak incorrectly.

This is a false statement, when developing a child’s speech problems, it is imperative to give it to a speech therapy kindergarten, if there is one in the city. In groups there are much fewer children, so a speech therapist can pay attention to each child. In addition, groups are staffed in such a way that they contain children with similar problems.

Stuttering

The main reason for the development of stuttering - speech therapy neurosis - occurs when a child does not speak for a long time, speaks late and begins to quickly catch up with his peers. He has a lot of information in his head, he wants to say a lot, but still does not know how to do it. He is nervous, in a hurry and, as a result, begins to stutter. Parents need to ensure that the child does not overwork. It should temporarily restrict the computer, TV, do not attend public events. In addition, you need to contact a neurologist and speech therapist. If you seek help in time, this type of neurosis is easily treated and goes away without consequences.

Short frenum of tongue

If the hyoid ligament is short, it is recommended to cut it, and the sooner the better. Often such a problem is addressed by parents whose children are 4-5 years old. They have very serious problems with pronunciation of sounds, because the language simply does not rise as it should. We have to cut, and this is a severe psychological shock for the child.

Bilingual families

All children are susceptible to speech.In families where parents speak two languages, the baby easily learns both. Therefore, it is very erroneous to assume that serious speech delays are due to the fact that dad and mother speak different languages ​​with the child. If the child has problems with the development of speech, you should look for the true cause, seek qualified help.

Instead of a conclusion

The time when the baby begins to speak is a joyful event for parents. It is important to know at what age babies pronounce their first words, but it is equally important to understand that a strict framework does not exist. Normally, the child’s speech development ranges from 10 months to 3 years, any slight deviations from these boundaries are not considered critical.