Why a child does not speak at 3 years old: causes and methods of speech development

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

The first words of the baby become unforgettable moments in the life of the family! In addition, the formation of speech is evidence of the normal emotional and physical development of the child. But more and more often in our society there are cases when children do not master communication skills until school age. Why is this happening? What to do if a child at 3 years old does not speak? We will answer these and other questions regarding speech delay.

Mechanism of speech formation

Often, parents wonder at what age do babies start talking? The process of speech formation begins literally from birth and ends at about 4 years old, when a preschooler already knows how to pronounce all the sounds of his native language, as well as compose words and build coherent sentences. Laterthere is an improvement in existing communication skills and an expansion of vocabulary.

In the specialized literature, the following stages of speech formation are distinguished:

1. Preparatory (from birth to one year old). Crying, with which the child draws attention to himself and communicates his needs, as well as cooing, babble, are aimed at training the articulatory apparatus and are manifestations of speech characteristic of a six-month-old baby. At the age of 10-12 months, most babies delight their loved ones with the first short, but already meaningful words.
2. The pre-preschool stage (from one to three years) is characterized by active assimilation of articulation of sounds, repetition of words after adults. During this period, the words of the kids are still illegible, jerky. Nevertheless, a baby of two or three years old is already able to convey his requests and express emotions to an adult.
3. Preschool (from three to seven years) stage. By the age of four, most children have fully formed sound pronunciation. At this age, kids already know how to compose coherent short stories, actively communicate with other children and adults. By the age of five, children's vocabulary ranges from 4,000 to 6,000 words. If a child of 3-5 years old does not speak, it is necessary to pay attention to this and consult with specialists.
4. The school stage is characterized by the improvement of speech, the deepening of grammatical and morphological knowledge.

Causes of delayed speech development

Why doesn't a child talk at 3 and later? The reasons for this condition can be divided into the following groups:

• physiological (hearing impairment, congenital pathologies of the articulatory apparatus, diseases of the central nervous system);
• psychological;
• disadvantages of education (pedagogical).

So, if a child at the age of 3 does not speak well, first of all, the baby should be examined for the presence of various diseases. To determine the causes of RDD, there are various tests and diagnostic techniques that are used based on the patient's age and history.

Baby doesn't talk at 3? The reasons may be psychological. An unfavorable family environment, frequent quarrels, incorrect communication between adults and a child, physical punishment can lead to the fact that the baby "closes" in his own cozy world. In this case, the need for communication with others will decrease or disappear altogether.

Improper upbringing can also lead to the fact that the child simply will not need to communicate. Fulfilling all the desires of the baby at the first call, not giving the crumbs a chance to explore the world on their own and express their own opinion, excessively caring parents do their child a disservice. Children who are under excessive guardianship of adults do not see the need for communication - after all, they are already well understood. Moreover, the older the child, the more difficult it is to solve the formed problem.

What is RRR?

If a child does not speak at the age of 3, experts can make a disappointing diagnosis - ZRR (delayed speech development). It is impossible to independently determine such a problem, since this requires a multicomponent examination. So, specialists will perform tests and analyzes to determine physical disorders, assess the volume of the dictionary, pronunciation, reactions to external stimuli, and determine the psychological state of the crumbs. If any serious abnormalities are found, doctors can even diagnose a one-year-old baby with a diagnosis of RDD.

If during the examination, mental abnormalities in the development of the child were confirmed, then specialists inform parents about the delay in psychoverbal development (SPD).

When to sound the alarm?

Many parents, if their child does not speak at the age of 3, explain this by the fact that the closest relatives of the crumbs also said their first words late and "nothing, they somehow grew up." Unfortunately, this fact only indicates that the baby has a genetic predisposition to RDD. It should be remembered that the sooner speech development correction is started, the higher the probability of success of such an activity.

Therefore, early detection of symptoms and timely access to specialists can directly affect the future life of the baby. If a child under 4 years of age does not speak, the following factors may be the reasons for seeking medical attention:

• baby injury (including birth);
• detection of symptoms of CNS disorders, genetic diseases;
• lack of reaction to sounds in a baby, word imitation in a one and a half year old baby, words and coherent speech in older children.

Which doctorscontact?

Parents complain: "Child 3 years old - does not speak." What to do in such a situation? The first step is to determine the cause of the condition. To do this, you need to contact such specialists as:

• pediatrician - he will conduct a general examination, determine developmental deviations according to age;
• otolaryngologist will check the baby's hearing;
• defectologist will evaluate the development of the speech apparatus;
• speech therapist will determine the degree of formation of sound pronunciation;
• neurologist will be able to detect CNS disorders;
• child psychologist will help to determine the presence of fears, isolation and other disorders and internal problems.

Basic methods for correcting RRR

Today, speech development delay is treated in our country using the following methods:

• medical;
• pedagogical;
• corrective.

Medical Methods

When making a diagnosis of RDD, medication is often prescribed. Drugs are used to activate the "speech zone" of the cerebral hemispheres, in particular, "Cortexin", "Neuromultivit" and others. If a mental illness is detected, medications are prescribed to correct this condition.

Also, to excite the "speech centers", a neuropathologist can prescribe physiotherapy methods, such as magnetotherapy or electroreflexotherapy.

Pedagogical methods

Parents have a question about how to teach a child to talk at 3 years old? You can use pedagogical methods of correction. First of all, attention should be paid to exercises for the development of fine motor skills. Since studies have proven the relationship between the movements of the fingers and the activation of areas of the brain that are responsible for speech. In a correctional preschool teacher, many different interesting games are used to develop small movements, for example, such as:

• finger gymnastics;
• massage;
• insert games and sorters;
• classes with sand, water, cereals, various materials to the touch;
• finger theatre;
• modeling from plasticine, clay, s alt dough;
• shadow theater.

In addition to exercises for the development of fine motor skills, pedagogical methods include the following:

• theatrical games;
• staging fairy tales (for older preschoolers);
• learning poems, works of folklore;
• composing stories based on plot pictures and others.

Parents complain: "The child is 3 years old, does not speak well. What to do in such a situation?" In this case, pedagogical methods are the most effective for solving such a problem. But now, if the baby pronounces the words illegibly, then professional help from a speech therapist or defectologist will be required.

Correction methods

To such a groupspeech development methods include speech therapy and correctional classes. These are specially designed measures aimed at eliminating the identified defect. Such classes are conducted by qualified speech therapists or defectologists. These specialists use various methods of speech correction depending on age, diagnosis and degree of STD, in particular, such as:

• articulation gymnastics;
• setting sounds with a spatula;
• speech therapy massage;
• methods of sound and word imitation;
• logarithmics and others.

The role of the family in the development of the baby's speech

Despite the variety of professional methods, the main role in the development of a child's speech is played by the atmosphere in the family. Daily communication of close adults with the baby, of course, will significantly increase the effectiveness of specialized correction tools. Here are some simple tips for parents:

1. Even before the baby is born, communicate with him, sing songs to him, share positive emotions.
2. Learn to be attentive to the attempts of a one-year-old baby to express his thoughts in words, support him in this.
3. If a child at 3 years old does not speak, tell him more yourself, describe everything you see, do, feel.
4. Provoke your child to communicate in any situation.
5. Establish family traditions such as reading a bedtime story, learning jokes while washing, doing morning exercises inverses.
6. Offer your baby games to develop fine motor skills.
7. Do not limit your baby's contact with other children.

If a child does not speak at the age of 3, this is not a sentence, but an occasion to think about the reasons for this condition. With the timely organization of corrective work, as well as the favorable impact of the family, the baby may well catch up with his peers in terms of speech development, become an active communicative participant in society.