How to teach a child to speak: Top 10 simple tips

Tanya's baby started talking at the age of one. And Masha's twins immediately started talking in sentences of one and a half. And Sveta... dear parents! Comparing the pace of speech, and indeed any, development of children is a thankless task. In any case, your child will lag behind others at some points, and this fact will only upset you or even worse - make you think that something is wrong with the baby.

All that is required of you is a reasonable approach and attentiveness, as well as regular consultations with a pediatrician and a visit to a speech therapist in 2-3 years.

Speech development delay is not difficult to diagnose, but let specialists do it. We will give advice on how to teach a child to talk — at an individual and convenient pace for him.

How speech develops

Let's take a closer look at the gradual development of speech starting from the first months of the baby's life.

Up to a year

At the age of 1-3 months, the child pronounces vowel sounds reflexively — in response to external factors. For example, when mom/dad appears in the room or while bathing. After a couple of months, babbling begins — pronouncing syllables. The meaningfulness of speech reactions continues to develop, and by 10 months the child has about 10 simple words in his asset.

The motivation for further development is an interest in the outside world. The baby understands the relationship between tactile, visual and auditory sensations and the speech addressed to him.

Recommendations to parents: talk to children from birth. Mom's words, rhymes and songs directly affect the speech centers in the child's cerebral cortex, stimulating them for more active development.

Read also: 20 tips for raising a child

From a year to two

At this time, children realize the importance of speech for interacting with others. They willingly make contact with adults and other children and use their still meager vocabulary to exchange information. By the end of the second year, it will be about 50 words.

Recommendations to parents: to increase the number of words in the child's asset, pronounce the names of objects that are in his field of vision. Classes on Doman cards are relevant — with images of animals and objects. The child looks at the card, and the mother clearly pronounces the name of what is drawn on it. You can also point to any objects from the environment and call adjectives: the sun is bright, the glass is transparent, the sea is warm.

The development of fine motor skills is of great importance, since during finger games, "ladushki", etc. the communication centers of the brain are involved.

From two to three years

The child literally expands his vocabulary before his eyes. He works well with simple sentences, easily learns songs, poems. The time has come for the development of articulation — the correct pronunciation of sounds. This will help with training — imitation of noises, household sounds, birdsong.

Correct the child if he said something wrong. But do it gently, positively, so that he does not worry, which is not very good yet.

Recommendations to parents: make sure when the baby speaks better — in a calm state or, conversely, during increased activity? This will help you choose a more convenient time for classes.

From four to six years

Every year the child learns verbal communication skills better and better. In the preschool period in his asset:

• 3000 words;

• correct pronunciation of sounds;

• correct construction of sentences;

• an active interest in books and, possibly, the ability to read;

• memorization of large (up to 3-4 stanzas) poems and songs in volume.

Recommendations to parents: it's time to read and discuss books together. If the child does not know how to read yet, let his parents do it for him. Then you can discuss the plot, look at the pictures and share your impressions. Try to pick up unusual epithets, talk about your impressions in colors, with emotions. The child will subconsciously copy your style of speech.

You can play games — crocodile, nonsense, scrabble. They develop the skill of quick selection of words, train memory, resourcefulness, attention, which will inevitably affect the richness of speech.

When should I contact a speech therapist

There is a theory of energy saving, in which the dependence of the rate of speech development on the total energy reserve of the child is traced. Simply put, if children have little energy, they are sluggish, sedentary, apathetic — then they start talking later than their peers.

In addition, children may have difficulties with the perception of information during training. For example, if the ability to imitate is reduced, then the baby will be reluctant to repeat songs, phrases, animal sounds after you. There are also hearing problems that manifest themselves only when trying to teach a child to speak. The most common disease is alalia. When the baby is noted for the late appearance of speech reactions, violation of sound pronunciation and syllabic structure, scarcity of vocabulary.

Other medical causes of delayed speech development:

• anomalies and metabolic disorders in the central nervous system;

• mental illnesses, epilepsy;

• hydrocephalus, cerebral ischemia, increased ICP;

• Cerebral palsy, pathology of cerebral vessels, etc.

To exclude these diseases, you will need to undergo a comprehensive diagnosis. To begin with, it is worth visiting such doctors: pediatrician, speech therapist, neurologist, ENT.

Then they will be sent for laboratory and instrumental studies: blood tests, ultrasound, CT, MRI, audiometry, etc.

If the examination showed that the child is completely healthy, try to find the psychological reasons for the delay in speech development:

1. Overprotection of parents.
2. Lack of socialization of the child.
3. Increased anxiety.
4. Low self-esteem.
5. Negative psychological environment: rigidity in upbringing, physical punishment, intimidation, etc.

To identify the cause of bad speech in a baby and eliminate it is already half the case. Next, parents need to make every effort and time to catch up and bring the level of speech development to age standards.

10 tips on how to teach a child to talk

1. Remove the pacifier. Studies have shown that the longer a child uses this device, the later he begins to speak. The nipple negatively affects the bite, slows down the growth of teeth, can disrupt breastfeeding — there are many reasons to abandon it.
2. Learn songs and rhymes with your baby. Firstly, rhyming lines are pronounced much easier, on a whim. Secondly, the child will learn to understand the rhythm of the text, intonation shades, semantic accents. This will all make his speech more diverse.
3. "I don't understand you" — say this every time a child says something in his own language, incomprehensible to others, or gestures. Until he clearly and clearly expresses his request, parents should not respond to it. At first, such an exercise will irritate the baby, but he will quickly get used to it — in order to get something, you need to name it correctly.
4. Play guessing games, puzzles, charades with children of any age. There is also a wonderful game that develops thinking and the ability to choose the right words — "10 questions". You think about any subject or movie character, and the child with the help of 10 questions with a monosyllabic answer "Yes/No" must guess what exactly you have made up your mind.
5. Use speech therapy techniques. For example, charging for the tongue, cheeks and lips. Do it together — it's easy and fun. Inflate your cheeks, click your tongue, try to get them to your nose or chin.
6. Use the game form of classes. During the game, the child learns new words, phrases, pronunciation much faster and more efficiently. Try to master finger theater: mini-productions will provide a double developing effect — speech and fine motor skills. Finger toys for such a theater can be purchased at a children's goods store or made yourself.
7. Confuse the child. Play this game: an adult says a sentence with an error, and the kid tries to correct it. For example: "The car goes through the sky" — the child corrects: "Not in the sky, but on the road", "The dog flies to me" — "Does not fly, but runs". This fascinating game forms well the perception of speech as a means of transmitting information.
8. Get creative. Let the son or daughter find something to their liking: drawing, singing, playing instruments, theatrical performances. Any creativity stimulates the brain.
9. Down with gadgets. Pediatricians and speech therapists are sounding the alarm: the total fascination with smartphones reduces the pace of speech development. UK scientists conducted a study with a sample of 900 children from 0.5 to 2 years old. Every day they spent half an hour with a smartphone, tablet or electronic game. A fifth of respondents had a 49% decrease in speech development. It is not difficult to draw conclusions. Therefore, you want the baby to speak on time — down with gadgets.
10. As A. S. Pushkin said, "Reading is the best teaching!". Read a lot, read with a child, read by yourself, read every day. Books not only develop imagination, but also replenish vocabulary, form the ability to draw logical conclusions, memorize plots and characters. It is difficult to find a more useful tool for the universal development of a child than a book.

Summarizing what has been said, I would like to reassure parents a little: 25% of preschoolers have certain speech problems. By the end of primary school, the situation is significantly leveled — violations are observed only in 7% of children, and by adolescence — even less.

If you actively engage with your child, visit a speech therapist and fulfill his appointments — all speech problems will remain in the past. Good luck!