How to teach a child to talk: tips and working techniques

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

Doctors, speech therapists and psychologists are struggling with the question of why so many of today's children are lagging behind in speech development. Either the influence of the environment, or the widespread use of tablets and smartphones and watching TV almost from birth … One way or another, there is a problem. Many children are lagging behind in language development. Of course, speech development is individual, but still there are approximate terms in which it fits into the norm. This may give you tips on how to teach your child to talk.

Pre-speech period

A newborn marks its birth with the first cry. This cry may be loud and immediate, or it may require stimulation and be quiet and weak. This is one of the signs that doctors take into account when assessing the condition of a newborn on the Apgar scale. A cry is not speech yet, but already a prerequisite for speech. The kid expresses his indignation and his needs with his help, and mothers learn by intonation to distinguish between cries of hunger, pain or desire to get attention. In general, the entire first year is the pre-speech period. The cries are increasingly enriched with different shades of intonation, along with a loud and impatient cry of an indignantthe baby in his "repertoire" there are quieter, softer and more varied cries. And finally, around 3 months old, he starts babbling.

Humblings are "aha"-like sounds that can be interspersed with grunts. The baby lies on his back and it is easiest for him to pronounce sounds using the root of the tongue, so the first sounds resemble the consonants G, K, X in combination with vowels. This is a very conditional characteristic, because cooing cannot be called articulate. After the cooing, babble appears. Not every parent can distinguish between one and the other stage - they smoothly flow into each other. At 6 months, babies sit up and the position is conducive to starting to use the tip of the tongue and lips. Sounds become more varied. And the baby catches the syllabic structure of the language by ear and repeating syllables sound in his babble: ma-ma-ma, la-la-la. He, as it were, trains in their pronunciation, in order to then say the first words consisting of them. By the way, many parents take these combinations of syllables for words, but not always the baby who repeats “ba-ba-ba” calls his grandmother. While these sound combinations do not make sense. The word is meaningful.

Child's speech of the year

It is believed that the first words appear by the year. A little earlier or a little later. Girls are slightly ahead of boys in speech development. These words can be very simple and short - “give”, “mom”, “dad”, among them there may be onomatopoeia - “meow”, “av”, they can be distorted versions of the words “go” - “di”. These words appear periodically and are associated withsituation. If from a year to a year and a half he only babbles, and the first words have not appeared, the question of how to teach a child to talk becomes more and more important.

Speech of a child at 2 years old

Vocabulary builds up at 2 years old. Researchers count about 200 words in the vocabulary of children of this age. Children can use simple words to refer to familiar objects and use the so-called babble words - “bye-bye”, “yum-yum”. By the end of the second year, the first elementary phrases appear in the child's speech. They are simple and short: "Mom, give", "Dad, go!".

Therefore, if from two to two and a half years old the child did not begin to speak the first sentences, we are also talking about a lag. How to teach a child to talk at 2 years old, if he does not speak at all, a speech therapist will tell you. If he is only slightly behind, you can try to develop his speech yourself.

Speech of a child at 3 years old

By the age of 3, the phrase becomes more complicated, prepositions, conjunctions, some case forms, singular and plural appear in the child's speech. Of course, his speech is still very far from adult, and many grammatical forms are not yet observed in it. And yet, the child already knows how to use the diminutive suffix (dog), uses prefixes for verbs. For example, in addition to the word “go”, in his speech there may already be such verbs as “arrive” and “leave”. Children usually know general words, for example, that a jacket, trousers, a T-shirt are clothes. Sound pronunciationdoes not yet meet the norms of the language - softening of consonants, the absence of R, L and hissing is quite normal.

If a child does not speak at all at the age of 3, an experienced speech therapist decides how to teach a child to talk. Do not risk, do not waste time, look for a specialist who deals with this age and specializes in the evoking and development of speech in children. After all, a huge number of speech therapists are working on the correct pronunciation. This option won't work for you. First, at least some words should appear, unite into sentences, and then it will be possible to think about sounds. After all, children speak to convey their thoughts or emotions, and a perfectly pronounced R sound will not help in any way.

4 years and older

By 4 years of age, sentences reach 5-6 words. Children already know how to use compound and complex sentences, and their vocabulary is enriched with adjectives. By the age of 5, they become capable of constructing monologues, for example, telling a story from a picture. Sound pronunciation usually returns to normal, but up to 6 years, the incorrect pronunciation of hissing and R.

If the child is silent

If the baby does not use words at all, it is impossible to let the situation take its course. Yes, there are cases when children started talking at 4 or even 6 years old and became famous people. But there are not fewer, but rather more cases when a child has neuropsychiatric problems. The sooner the correction starts, the better. This should involve not only a speech therapist, but also a neurologist, psychologist, defectologist. In that case, you cantimely reduce possible harmful effects. By school age, the child will be ready for learning - by the way, writing and reading are formed on the basis of speech and are even considered a form of speech. And besides, he will not be psychologically traumatized by his lag compared to other children, because it will be overcome in time!

Anamnesis

Specialists are usually interested in whether something could have adversely affected the child. For this, anamnesis is collected. It is important to note whether the baby had: birth trauma; asphyxia in childbirth; neuroinfections, frequent colds, flu suffered in early childhood; traumatic brain injury in a child; mismatch with the mother on the Rh factor; little attention was paid to the child, there is a lack of communication.

Signs of delay

How do you know if a child has a speech delay? The child does not address adults or does it with the help of gestures. He utters incomprehensible sound combinations and does not try at all to be understood. In the speech of a child at 2 years old, there are only babbling words and onomatopoeia. He can call different objects with one babble word. The kid not only speaks badly, but also does not understand speech well enough. For example, if you turn to him with a simple request, he will fulfill it only when the speech is accompanied by gestures. These children often lag behind in development and motor skills. This means that they are awkward, often falling, bumping into objects. Fine motor skills can especially suffer - the coordinated work of the fingers. Therefore, the baby does not know how to take a small object with two fingers, as we do, butgrabs it with all fists. To figure out how to teach a child to talk, it is important to understand if he has other disabilities.

What to look out for

Besides speech delay, children have other problems. If the baby speaks too quickly and inconsistently, and especially if he begins to stretch and repeat the sounds and syllables in the words: "mmmmmama", "wee-wee-drink" - this may be a sign of incipient stuttering. There are also physiological stutters in the speech of children, but if this feature catches your eye, you need to find a speech therapist who deals with stuttering, and also contact a neurologist - after all, stuttering always speaks of problems with the nervous system.

If a child cannot remember a simple text, does not understand it when read aloud to an adult, cannot retell it even in the simplest words, perhaps he simply did not hear it well. And this already suggests that the child has hearing problems. If you notice that the baby does not hear soft sounds and does not notice where they come from, constantly turns up the volume on the TV, this is a reason to check his hearing at the ENT, and also contact a pediatrician and a neurologist. How can you teach a child to speak without the help of specialists if he does not hear speech well!

Reason for delay

The reasons for the lag in the development of speech are different. Sometimes there are physiological prerequisites for this - slow or disturbed development of the nervous system. This happens, especially if before the year the child was diagnosed with hypertonicity or PEP (perinatal encephalopathy). But the development of a child's speech canslow down and with the perfect he alth of the baby. After all, speech is not a biological function, like nutrition and movement, but a social one, so its development is strongly influenced by the environment:

Stress can also slow down and even stop speech development. If there was a significant change in the child's life conditions - a move, a change of a nanny, then you just need to give him time to adapt.

He is rarely spoken to at home. Many children spend time in the company of computers and televisions, and not close people. Try to gradually reduce the time devoted to gadgets, and at the same time talk to your baby more often.

For example, a child does not need to speak. Parents already understand all his gestures and the sounds he makes. How to teach a child to speak well if he does not want to? It is important to create situations so that he awakens the desire to communicate and be understood. In this case, you need to take the baby to the playground more often, and later send it to kindergarten so that he has a need to communicate with other people.

How to induce a speech in a year

How to teach a child to talk in a year? This is the best time for the appearance of the first words, and if you help the child a little, you can completely push his speech to development. If his nervous system is normal, you may quickly teach the child to talk. How to do it? The baby is already ready for the appearance of words, you should help him a little. Talk to him more often. And when the baby babbles, you can join and repeat the syllables after him. Or you can ask your own - slowly pronounce the syllable so that the baby can look at the movements of your mouth. It is known that children learn articulation not only by ear, but also by watching speaking adults. This is one of the top tips on how to teach a small child to talk. One of the first in the speech of children appear onomatopoeia. You can try calling them. It is necessary to pay the child's attention to animals or objects that make sounds: birds squeak: wee-wee-pee, water drips: drip-drip, the beetle flies: w-w-w. Perhaps the baby will repeat the onomatopoeia after you, imitating not so much your speech as the animal.

But if the baby is older, then the situation becomes more serious. At a year and a half, the complete absence of words is already an alarming sign, and later even more so. How to teach a child to talk at 15 years old? Try to do all the same, and also apply the tips described below.

How to awaken a child's interest in speech

What to do if the child does not have any neurological pathology, but he simply does not want to talk? How to teach a child to speak? You can try to create a situation where the child will need to say a word. For example, there are several different toys on the shelf, and the baby asks for something. No need to try to guess his desire, you need to ask him to say. You can offer a choice of different food or drinks: “Do you want juice or tea?”. But a child will only say a word if he can say it. It should be in his passive vocabulary, that is, he knows the word, always hears it and can easily show the subject. And also it must be ready to go into his active vocabulary - the one he uses,when he speaks. So there is no need to be too persistent and bring the child to tantrums.

But you can translate the same into the game. For example, you can play hide and seek with several toys. The child needs to call the hidden toy so that it appears. It doesn’t matter how he pronounces this word, the main thing is that it sounded, for example, “zaya”, “aya” or “zya” instead of a bunny.

During a walk, it is worth paying the baby's attention to the world around, commenting on everything that we see around. This advice is also suitable for resolving the issue of how to teach a child to talk in a year. It is important that the child sees a keen interest in an adult - it can be transferred to him.

To teach a child to talk, as often as possible, you need to read fairy tales, poems and jokes that are accessible to his age. You can do this not only at night, but also during the day. To make the baby interested, you need to show him beautiful and bright pictures that usually accompany fairy tales in children's books, point your finger at all the characters: “Here is the grandfather, but the woman..”

How to teach a child to talk at 2.5 years old and older, if he already speaks, but lags behind in development? You can try to read him a well-known poem or fairy tale so that he finishes the words or endings. Your expectant silence and glance at him may well be understood as an invitation to finish the sentence. After all, small children love it when everything repeats itself and when a word suddenly disappears in a familiar joke, the kid wants to correct the missed one.

Sometimesa child may be interested in talking on the phone. While he's reluctant to talk to his grandmother in person, talking to her on the phone can be an interesting game for him. It's so exciting - there is no person nearby, but the voice is heard!

How to build vocabulary

It is important to introduce the child not only to the names of objects, but also to the actions that children and adults can perform. So verbs will appear in the baby’s speech, and thanks to them a little later it will be possible to compose the simplest sentences. Then you can teach your child to speak correctly, mastering not only the vocabulary, but also the grammatical side of speech and syntax. How else can you do it?

It is necessary to talk not only about the objects themselves, but also about their purpose: “These are scissors. They cut paper." "There is soap in the soap dish." It is also necessary to pay the child's attention to the shape of objects, their size and color, for example, “a big red ball.”

It is important to introduce the child to the parts of the body - first, the children show them at home according to the words of an adult, this is possible even up to a year, and then they call them themselves.

In the second year of life, if the child knows colors by ear and shows, you can ask him to show the colors of objects in the picture and name them.