Poor diction in adults - help from a speech therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist

Article:

Speech development disorders occur in 25% of cases.
The pathological condition is observed mainly in boys. Mostly up to 3-5 years. At the same time, the frequency of the disease (to call the condition conditionally) is 4 times higher than in girls. What this is connected with is not known for certain. It is assumed that the reason is the later general psychological and physical development of boys. The severity of the pathology varies from case to case. This may be an expression disorder. In this case, the child does not speak poorly, but a meager vocabulary, a small number of intonations and voice modulations predominate. It’s not always about pathology at all. There may be personality traits or a temporary period that will pass by itself later as general mental development progresses.

The causes of the disorder are both natural, social, and pathological, caused by physical and mental diseases.

It is always necessary to treat a patient if he speaks poorly. But in different cases the treatment will be different. It is necessary to contact a child psychologist, speech therapist, or pediatrician. You may need the help of a teacher or speech pathologist.

Speech diction

Diction is the clear pronunciation of sounds and words with their correct articulation. The speech apparatus produces sounds, and its violations and defects are the reason that a person’s diction is of low quality.

Speech diction consists of:

From distinct articulation;
Correct articulation;
Manner of pronunciation: tempo and intonation.

Clear articulation - correct and clear pronunciation of sounds. It is thanks to clear articulation that the speaker’s speech is legible and his interlocutors easily understand what he wants to convey. Violation of this indicator of diction may occur due to the physiological characteristics of a person. You can improve the clarity of pronunciation of sounds by training your tongue and lip muscles.

Correct articulation is the coordinated movement of the muscles of the articulatory apparatus. Malocclusions and frenulums have a negative effect on articulation. With such physiological deviations, burr and nasal sound may appear.

Timbre. Often, the manner of pronunciation is influenced by a person’s temperament. The speaker may tend to monotony or speed up his speech. Often it is haste that occurs in people with poor diction. But, as practice shows, almost anyone can “defeat” this problem.

Intonation. As for intonation, it is formed primarily from the ability to clearly pronounce vowel sounds and stress.
You can set intonation with the help of some breathing exercises and reading aloud. Improving intonation is very difficult and painstaking work.

Other tips

Believe in what you say. If what you say is not supported by confidence, then it will be insignificant for others.
Constantly monitor your speech consciously. Take liberties and speak intelligently.
Try to be calmer. In an emotional outburst, speech can get confused, and parasitic words slip through and it is impossible to express in words what you are thinking about.
Don’t be shy to ask your friends or parents for help.
Read aloud to them and then ask them what mistakes they hear.
In the initial stages, always try to speak louder than the other person. The main thing is not to overdo it and raise your voice to an adequate degree, otherwise they will think the wrong thing about you.
Find out which words are most difficult for you. Words like: collaboration, abstractionism and others, which are not so often useful in everyday life and are not so easy to pronounce, can serve as an excellent trainer. Repeat them until you can speak absolutely clearly and intelligibly.
Always think ahead before speaking. Don’t be afraid to take short pauses and then express your thoughts firmly and confidently.
If you often hear in your direction: “What? Repeat, I didn’t hear,” then I practice raising my voice as when talking on the phone during a bad connection. Speak louder until it comes naturally to you.

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Working on diction and pronunciation

Oratorical talent is extremely rare. Almost all famous people intensively prepare for every public appearance. It is known that Cicero could not utter a single word without preparation. And he is still held up as an example as a great rhetorician.

There are many exercises with which your speech can become clear and beautiful. Among them are both universal exercises and those that are designed to help correct a specific problem. For example, a whistling “S”, an indistinct “L” or a violation in the pronunciation of the sound “R”. In order to solve these problems you will have to work.

Straighten your shoulders

The first thing you need to work on to give yourself more confidence is your posture. All serious and confident people walk with a straight back, remember the military. It has been known since ancient times that all great commanders and army generals look proud and maintain their posture. This is also called military bearing. This is what we need to achieve. Here are a number of benefits that a person with a straight back receives:

many health problems caused by spinal curvature go away;
the person becomes calmer and more balanced, nervousness goes away;
a feeling of confidence and strength appears;
The lungs expand and speech becomes loud and intelligible.

Always ensure that your back is straight in any position of your body.
The temptation to relax is great, but this slack will definitely come back to haunt you in the future.

Exercises for diction and voice

When speaking in public or during normal conversation, we use the muscles of the tongue and throat. It is logical that in order to speak beautifully, you need to “pump up” these muscles.

Exercises that will help prepare the necessary muscles:

You can pump up the muscles involved in producing sounds by regularly pronouncing “A-E-O”. At the same time, it is important to try not to open your mouth too much. The effect can be achieved by pronouncing sounds as deep as possible in the oral cavity.
A very good effect can be achieved in diction and by training your lips. To do this, you need to say: “GL”, “VL”, “VN” - for the upper lip and “KS”, “GZ”, “VZ”, “BZ” - for the lower lip.
You can also shape your tongue into a shovel shape and say “I” and “E” several times. Now let’s give the tongue a hook shape and simultaneously pronounce “O” and “U”.
We continue to “pump up” the muscles of the tongue. We close our mouth and, using internal movements of the palate, cheeks and lips, make the sound “M”.

How to learn to express your thoughts clearly. What will help you learn to formulate thoughts

Reading will help you learn to formulate thoughts. The benefits of reading are obvious. Read good, varied literature. Read and re-read Russian classics - Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Turgenev, Bulgakov, Chekhov, Pasternak, etc. You need to read thoughtfully, analyzing what you read, so that it doesn’t work out as Alexander Sergeevich wrote: “I set up a shelf with a bunch of books, read and read, and that’s it.” uselessly".
A rich vocabulary, a good assistant in the ability to formulate your thoughts beautifully (read - “How to increase your vocabulary”), replenish it.
It’s one thing when, trying to express your thoughts, you are looking for the right word and your meager vocabulary does not allow you to find it, it’s another thing when you simply cannot quickly remember to find the right word. Pay attention to the development of memory and reaction.

Keeping a diary or blog will help you learn to express your thoughts. Write eloquently, vividly, about what is happening in your life, about what worries you, about your mood, your emotions.
Take part in discussions on various forums and speak out. Learn to debate and develop the ability to defend your point of view.
The 19th century English philosopher John Mill wrote: “Logic is the great persecutor of dark and confused thinking; it clears away the fog that hides our ignorance from us and makes us think we understand a subject when we do not. I am convinced that in modern education nothing is more useful for developing precise thinkers who remain true to the meaning of words and sentences and are constantly on guard against vague and ambiguous terms, like logic.” Study logic, it will teach you to look at what is happening more deeply and understand it, and this will be useful in the ability to express thoughts.
An important fact in the ability to formulate one’s thoughts is a person’s environment, his social circle. It is clear that those who cannot connect two words with each other will not teach you anything in this regard, and if such people are the majority in your environment, this will only aggravate the situation. Looking at how people around you correctly express their thoughts, take your cues.
It is always easier for a sociable person to find words to express his thoughts. If you do not consider yourself one of these, develop your communication skills.

Exercises for diction and articulation

Since the tip of the tongue is actively involved in clear pronunciation, we use exercises that develop its flexibility:

Imagine that your tongue is a hammer and hit your teeth with its tip. During such blows, “pronounce” yes-yes-yes-yes. Then try to clearly pronounce the letters “T-D”.
To clearly pronounce the letters “K” and “G” you need to “pump up” your larynx. To do this, inhale through your nose and completely empty your lungs through your mouth. The release of air through the mouth should occur sharply and resemble the sound “Fu”. Do this exercise several times.
If you notice that you have a problem pronouncing the letters “P” and “B,” then train your labial muscles. To do this, you need to puff out your cheeks and release the air from your mouth with a vigorous clap.
It is also very important to learn how to control the amount of air. To do this, you need to use breathing exercises and practice in front of a mirror. Try reading a short text at normal volume. As a rule, you can easily control your voice. Now, do the same, but increasing the volume. There must be problems.

How to learn to express your thoughts clearly and clearly. Important qualities for correct formulation of thoughts

People may not express their thoughts entirely correctly for a variety of reasons. This is usually due to the fact that the speaker has a limited vocabulary, which is not enough to pronounce the phrase correctly. A person may select synonyms that are not entirely clear in meaning or use words that do not suit the style of the narrative. Speech variety is a determining factor in learning how to correctly express your thoughts in conversation.

In its absence, choosing the right word may take the speaker some time. To avoid awkward long silences, you need to train your speech function. To do this, it is important to use the following techniques (they are often given in response to the question “how to learn to express your thoughts”):

The quality of memorizing information should be trained. To clearly express your ideas, improve attention and memory, learn poetry effectively, memorize the longest sequences of numbers, learn the lyrics of your favorite songs.
It is necessary to increase the volume of a person’s linguistic reserve. Reading fiction can help with this. When a person reads books, he learns to formulate thoughts correctly, which can then be spoken (this will help anyone who does not know how to learn to clearly speak phrases that can immediately arouse the interest of the interlocutor).
Increasing concentration of attention on a specific thought. It is important to be able to concentrate on what needs to be said - this will help to reproduce the thought out loud without inaccuracies, accidentally spoken words, or erroneous expressions.

It is especially important for the speaker not to lose attention or weaken it, since otherwise he may make mistakes in his speech. To understand how to correctly express your thoughts, you need to eliminate the causes of the difficulties that have arisen.

Reason 11. Alalia

This term means primary underdevelopment of speech centers. Occurs as a result of damage to the cerebral cortex during early infancy or fetal development. This condition is described in more detail in the article about alalia.

Let’s just say that you won’t be able to cope with alalia on your own; be sure to seek help from specialists.

Also check if your child has echolalia.

Reason 1. Individual pace

Of course, every child is unique and must develop on their own schedule. If your baby went a month earlier than your neighbor’s son, but said the word “mom” a few weeks later, there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their own pace.

This delay in speech development is called tempo. With a slight delay, everything will return to normal and the child will develop his ability to speak in the same way as all children.

Just pay attention that experts “allow” only a slight lag from the norm to be attributed to individuality. Be careful!