How to teach a child to speak: exercises, techniques and tips for parents

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Most young mothers are constantly worried about whether the development of the first child is in line with the norm. Up to a year, they are more concerned about physical development: whether the baby began to hold his head, roll over, crawl in time. Starting from a year, such fears give way to worries about the correct and timely development of speech. This article focuses on recommendations for interested parents on how to teach a child to speak from an early age.

Speech development in infancy: main stages

Domestic pediatricians are guided by the indicators used for babies up to a year, presented in the table below.

Age	Skills
2 months	Issuing cries with different intonations, expressing pleasure or displeasure
3 months	"Hooking" and cooing
6 months	The appearance of babbling sounds in speech ("boo", "ma", "pa"), distinguishing the intonation of the speaker
10 months	Active babbling (expression of demands and desires using syllable-like vocalizations like "ta-ta-ta")
11 months	Pronouncing the first words ("mom", "kaka", "give")
12 months	Building vocabulary from 9-20 simple words

From the table it is clear when the child says the first word. As a rule, this occurs before the age of one year. Let's take a closer look at how a baby's vocabulary is formed.

Active and passive speech

Often parents are worried that a child does not speak in a year. What could be the reasons behind this phenomenon? To exclude the pathology of development, it should be understood: the main engine of speech development is communication. Comprehension (passive speech) and utterance (active speech) do not match in young children.

It is already necessary to talk with a newborn, helping yourself with gestures and facial expressions. Over time, the baby himself begins to apply these techniques, gradually abandoning hand movements in favor of speech. Assimilation of new words occurs with the help of a ritual, which, in fact, is naming: this is a cat, dad, sister, chair.

A word differs from babble in that under it a small person means a specific object or action. The most frequently used words appear first in speech.adults.

At the initial stage, the baby can apply one designation to a number of similar objects. So, to call "bibi" everything that relates to the concept of transport and has wheels: a car, a bicycle, a tractor. At the same time, for himself, he can distinguish them.

It should be understood: a small person learns much more words than he can pronounce. If a child does not speak in a year, this can only mean the fact that he lacks full-fledged communication.

When not to worry

If there are no risk factors in the anamnesis that contribute to a delay in psychophysical development (difficult birth, hearing or vision impairment), motor functions and fine motor skills are not impaired, then at the age of one year you should pay attention to the following points:

• does the baby respond to his name and the speech of others;
• does he understand the simplest commands and perform imitative movements during the game;
• does it make any sounds, even if they don't sound like normal words.

A positive answer indicates the development of passive speech. The active one is formed individually, and more often progress is observed by the age of one and a half years. To answer the question of how to teach a child to speak in a year, let's dwell on the reasons that affect this process. Let's make a reservation in advance: this does not exclude the need to deal with the baby at home.

Things to consider

The moment when a child says the first word depends on many circumstances. Let's listmain:

• Genetic predisposition. It is quite possible that one of the closest relatives was also silent longer than others, accumulating at the first stage only a passive vocabulary.
• Gender of the baby. It is believed that girls start talking a little earlier, but boys move on to building more complex phrases faster.
• Intellectual and cognitive abilities.
• Time to connect with others. Neither TV nor modern toys can replace a mother's voice and her gentle hands.
• Motivation. The need to use speech arises there and then when helping the baby achieve what he wants. Overprotectiveness disrupts motivation.
• Using a pacifier.
• Overload with activities that are ahead of the zone of actual development.
• Experienced stress (fight of parents, moving, violence).
• Having a twin brother or sister. With the birth of several children at once, their motivation to master the language is weakened due to the possibility of special contacts with each other.

First words

They consist of the simplest sounds for the baby to pronounce and are the most significant for him: mom, baba, dad. Children's vocabulary is replenished based on the needs of the baby and the interests of the family.

In the second year of life, they learn about 20 new words every month, and only 9 are pronounced.

List of most frequentlyused words compiled by Olesya Zhukova on the basis of scientific observations. So let's learn to speak. The child is a year old, and in his dictionary may be:

• Those who surround him: mother, grandfather, aunt, woman, father.
• Actions performed by himself or other people: thump, thump, um-am, tuk-tuk.
• Animals and birds: meow, kitty, av-av, ko-ko, yoke-go.
• Products: adya - water, tai - tea, ako - milk.
• Parts of the face: nose, mouth.
• Toys: Ale - phone, Misha - bear.
• Clothes: patier - dress, sock, hat - hat.
• Transportation: uh - plane, bb - car.
• State words: bo-bo - it hurts, oh, ah.

It is worth noting that most of the words are names. It is easier for a kid to master what is shown to him, additionally speaking. The following sounds are most easily recreated by him:

• labial consonants (b, p, m);
• soft consonants (because of this, the child's speech is often called lisping);
• voiced consonants.

Speech Development Tips

How to teach a child to speak at home? It is enough to adopt the following tips:

• Parents need not only to talk a lot with the baby, but also be sure to respond to his answers. It is important for a child to be listened to and understood.
• It is necessary to create situations so that the little man can pronounce the words he already knows.
• While walking, you should name and show new objects.
• Parents don't need to copy baby talkor mispronunciation of words. Their speech must be literate.
• It is easy to make an album of photos of the objects that surround the baby. It should be viewed by repeating the names important to it.
• You can collect illustrations of actions that allow the baby to remember the verbs: "runs", "sits", "eats", "sleeps".
• Parents can sing along with their baby to help tap the rhythm.
• The simplest games should be organized: building a house, feeding the doll, putting her to bed. Be sure to pronounce actions within the vocabulary of the baby.
• Parents need to correct speech errors, but not do it in a didactic way.

Let's dwell separately on reading, because this is one of the most important elements in the formation of a baby's speech.

How a book can help

Parents who don't read to their children shouldn't be surprised why the child doesn't speak. Books should be age appropriate and have colorful illustrations. At the first stage, it is desirable to read fairy tales and poems, where actions, and therefore phrases, are repeated several times. Examples are "Turnip" and "Ryaba Hen".

While reading, kids should be asked to show pictures illustrating the characters of the work and their actions. At first, it is better to use three-dimensional images and only by the second year switch to planar ones.

How to show pictures

From a year and a half, a baby's vocabulary can reach up to 90names and actions. Words-sentences appear in his vocabulary: "ball" (meaning "give the ball"), "av-av" ("the dog is coming"). Two-word sentences are the prerogative of the older age. Usually, kids over two years old are capable of such statements. Speech development will help stimulate the correct work with illustrations. Adults often note: a child was bought an expensive and colorfully illustrated book, and while reading, he quickly loses interest in it. The explanation for the phenomenon is that the baby did not learn to recognize real objects in a drawn image.

What to do? How to help a child to speak with the help of illustrations from books? You can use the following trick: close the "extra" images on the page, leaving one picture. For comparison, put a similar real object next to it and offer to compare them. To develop voluntary attention, one should not immediately acquaint with a large number of pictures. It is necessary to be guided by another rule: while reading, teach the child to participate in the dialogue. He should be asked simple questions and asked to show this or that illustration.

Ear contact technique

All children are unique. What to do if the child does not speak well? Teachers and psychologists offer various methods suitable for specific kids. Let's consider some of them. For infants up to one year old and children of two years of age, a technique called the auditory contact technique is suitable. Its essence is the regular repetition of the same wordsand whole phrases. For example, during a meeting, you should use the same greeting. It can be "good morning", "hello", "hello". The child will learn the proposed rule.

From the variety of books, you can choose your favorite, which is worth reading at least once a day. Even if the baby does not say a word himself, he will enthusiastically respond to familiar phrases.

Visualization of objects

This technique is suitable for the smallest. The more senses involved, the better the result. Almost from the cradle, cubes made of soft materials can be used. Tactilely pleasant, with painted objects (food or animals), they will help the baby learn new words. When showing a picture, you should pronounce not only its name, but also its description. If the child finds it difficult to repeat, he still hears and gradually understands. And soon he will learn to say the name of the item aloud.

Visual-auditory method

It is suitable for children over two years old. Which move independently and are able to play without the participation of adults. They can be offered talking games for kids on appropriate entertainment devices – tablet, smartphone, children's computer, alphabet posters or smart phone. These devices "talk" to the baby, naming the selected items and allowing him to repeat them.

Speech development in the form of a game is very effective. These devices provide specific benefits. Among moderngames on Android are popular those where there is a pet that needs help. These are original analogues of the previously popular Tamagotchi: "Talking Puppy", "Talking Cat", "Talking Krosh".

Collective learning

Communication implies not only the exchange of information, but also joint activities, during which the development of speech is carried out quite quickly. In these groups, various aspects are touched upon, helping to show abilities in many areas.

When parents do not know what to do if a child does not speak well, it makes sense to enroll him in a creative studio or a special circle. Experienced educators will help develop speaking skills. Group classes give the most effective results, since the level of development of the children themselves varies significantly. More developed babies pull the rest in the process of communication.

Examples of exercises

We offer several exercises that solve the problem of how to teach a child to speak. At the beginning of the article, it was said that some sounds for pronunciation by young children are quite difficult. What are some techniques to work on this?

• Say "a". The child should be seated on his knees, turning the chair to the mirror. Say "a" with your mouth open wide and drawing the baby's attention to the way an adult does. You can spread the arms of the crumbs in different directions, stimulating him to repeat this sound. You should add emotions and meet with a drawn-out "ah-ah-ah" belovedcat, for example.
• Say "o". At the same time, the mouth is rounded, so you can offer the baby the following exercise - raising the arms above the head. The movement of the lips and mouth during pronunciation should be exaggerated, focusing on this. You can use the balloon, joyfully greeting him: "Oh-oh!".
• Say "u". The lips are pulled out with a tube. The child can be offered to portray a train. To do this, he should stretch his arms forward and hum: "Whoo!".

The ability to express thoughts and feelings in words is one of the main skills of a person's socialization. How effectively a person speaks the language, how successfully he can realize himself in life. Parents should keep this in mind when spending time with their baby.