Speech development in children: how to help a child learn to speak?

Most often, healthy children pronounce their first words at about one year of age. If this does not happen, many parents begin to sound the alarm. However, experts in the field of early development have concluded that the initiation of speech is an individual process for which there is no clear age period. Studies of speech development show that the appearance of speech in a child depends both on the maturation of certain parts of the brain and on the environment in which the child grows. Knowing the characteristics of their child, parents can create a favorable environment for him and help overcome difficulties in the development of your baby's speech.

Speech development at an early age

Sometimes we mistake baby talk for “real” words. A child under one year old tries to repeat the speech of an adult in his own language, often understandable only to his mother. Already a six-month-old baby uses gestures and individual sounds to indicate his needs. Also at this age, the child learns to combine vowels and consonants when pronouncing syllables.

The process of speech development itself is not systematic in children of early and preschool age; very often one can observe leaps in speech development. All children begin to speak at different times. By the age of one year, some children can already pronounce up to 15 separate words. And according to the calculations of child psychologist S. Buller, by the age of 1.5 years, a child’s vocabulary can reach 232 words. At the same time, there are healthy children who at the age of two do not speak a word. Such “silent people” can suddenly begin to speak in whole phrases, catching up and ahead of their peers.

To get a silent child to talk and stimulate the development of his speech, you need to voice your actions, encourage dialogue with the help of questions, listen with interest and try to understand the baby’s answers. Then you will certainly hear that cherished first word.

Difficulties in the development of children's speech

If a child lags behind his peers in speech communication, but he hears well and his intelligence is not impaired, he may have a speech pathology.

What may be the cause of speech underdevelopment:

• Motor alalia - with normal hearing, a child under 3-5 years old does not speak or there are only a few words in his dictionary. He understands the speech of others, but cannot speak himself.
• Sensory alalia - the child does not understand impressive speech addressed to him, and therefore cannot learn to speak
• Aphasia is loss of speech due to injury, brain and vascular diseases.
• Rhinolalia is a disorder of the speech apparatus in the form of cleft palate and upper lip. In this case, incorrect sound pronunciation of all sounds occurs, and a nasal tone of speech occurs.
• Dysarthria - the child pronounces words unclearly, speech is not smooth, but sharp and abrupt. With erased dysarthria, the coordinated work of the lips, tongue, and soft palate is disrupted.

With all these speech disorders, urgent help from a neurologist, speech therapist and speech pathologist is necessary. Difficulties in speech development arise from previous birth injuries, infections, or underdevelopment of the nervous system.

Stages of child speech development

As we have already said, the trajectories of speech development are individual for each child, and therefore psychologists and other specialists in the field of early development do not establish clear standards for speech development in children.

It is important to note that an indicator of speech development is not only the number of sounds and words that a child uses to communicate, but also his passive vocabulary, that is, those words that the child understands. The passive vocabulary is always larger than the active one, so if the child does not speak, but understands your speech, there is most likely no reason to worry.

Speech skills characteristic of the conditional norm in early and junior preschool age are presented in the table.

If there is a strong discrepancy between the child’s speech development level and age norms, it is advisable to seek advice from a specialist (neurologist, speech therapist, psychologist) in order to exclude a delay in psycho-speech development.

Symptoms of delayed speech or mental development of a child may include the following:

• Problems with chewing and swallowing food;
• Constantly open mouth, excessive salivation;
• Refusal to communicate;
• Lack of eye contact;
• Slurred speech, “porridge in the mouth”;
• Difficulties in understanding speech (does not respond to requests);
• Inappropriate behavior.

Timely contact with specialists allows you to identify the cause of the child’s delayed speech development as early as possible and develop an individual plan for correctional and developmental classes.

Main stages of speech development

Nikitina Natalia Gennadievna

Main stages of speech development

A child is not born with developed speech. Mastering speech is a complex mental process that begins to take shape when a child’s hearing, vision, and articulatory apparatus reach a certain level of development . But even with a healthy brain, a sufficiently developed speech apparatus , good hearing and vision, a child without a speech environment will not speak.

development begins from the first days of life and goes through several stages .

1. Cry (newborn)

2. Walking (from 1 month to 6 months)

3. Babbling (6 to 12 months)

4. First words (from 1 year to 1 year 6 months)

5. "The Beginnings"

phrasal speech
(1 year 6 months – 2 years)
6. Simple phrase (2 years – 2 years 6 months)

7. Expanded phrase (2 years 6 months – 3 years)

.

The very first speech manifestation is a cry. The cry is reflexive in nature and is a reaction to uncomfortable conditions (hunger, pain, wet diapers, etc.)

. In a healthy newborn, the cry is loud, clear, with a short inhalation and a long exhalation. At 2-3 months, the cry begins to change qualitatively and the child begins to hum and laugh.

Humming - a stage of pre-speech development , is a drawn-out, quiet melodious sounds - these are chains of vowels close to “a, u, y”

, often combined with the consonants
"g, m"
.
It is during this period that the intonational language begins to form, which the child will use throughout his life. The child develops a revival complex (an emotional-motor reaction to the appearance of an adult)
.
An element of the revitalization complex is revelry. During this period, one should be wary of his absence or lack of intonation expressiveness, the absence of laughter. Walking is an important stage in preverbal (preverbal) speech development . During this period, along with preparing the speech apparatus for pronunciation of sounds, understanding of speech develops , and the baby learns to control intonation. A healthy child begins to react to intonation early, without yet understanding the meaning of the speech addressed to him. Communication between a child and an adult is built on an emotional basis .
These are the first lessons of the native language. The lack of emotional and positive contact with an adult, especially with the mother, has a negative impact on the development Silent adults or adults whose speech is not emotionally expressive do not contribute to the development of humming in a child, which is necessary for the development of speech and cognitive interest in the outside world. From the age of two to six to seven months, positive emotions of the mother (adult)

A child needs it for full
development , just like food and air. If a child aged from six months to three years is separated from his mother for a long time, this can lead to a delay in his development .
The speech of children raised in orphanages usually develops more slowly , and the formation of all components of the speech system . Even in a foster family environment, children surrounded by love, care and attention may experience difficulties in speech development .

The next stage development is characterized by the appearance of babbling, and lasts approximately five to nine months. Babbling is the repeated repetition of syllables (ma, ba, pa, yes, na)

under hearing control.
When babbling the duration of exhalation develops , and auditory attention is activated.
By ten months, in addition to individual sounds and sound combinations, the child begins to develop his first babbling words. They usually consist of two identical syllables: ma-ma, pa-pa, ba-ba, dyad-dya. By the end of the second half of the child’s life, so-called object-related speech appears - the ability to recognize people and objects in words. Hearing the name of his favorite toy, the child turns his head towards it, and sometimes points at it with his hand.

At the end of the first or at the beginning of the second year of life, the child pronounces his first real word and consciously begins to use speech. The dictionary consists of 9–12, and sometimes more words (kis, mu, aw, am and others)

. Children begin to speak in separate short phrases by the age of two.

The child’s speech continues to develop by imitation , so it is very important that the adults around him speak clearly, correctly, without long and complex phrases. By two years of age, the active vocabulary consists of approximately 250–300 words, and by three years of age it quickly increases and reaches 800–1000 words. Speech becomes a full-fledged means of communication.

The development of a child’s speech presupposes, on the one hand, understanding the meaning of what is said (passive speech), and on the other hand, pronouncing words and sentences (active speech)

.
Passive speech is ahead of active speech in its development .
Thus, at the age of seven to eight months, a child usually understands many words, including recognizing the names of objects spoken by an adult. At eight to nine months, children begin to correlate words with objects and individual actions. For some time, the number of words understood significantly exceeds the number of actively spoken ones. A child under two years old, understanding everything that adults tell him, following their simple instructions well ( “Give”

,
“Sit down”
,
“Take”
, may not utter a single word, or may be explained using babbling speech.
And yet, speech develops . The transition to active speech in such children occurs suddenly. Yesterday he didn’t say anything, but today he speaks out in detailed sentences .
In order for a child to begin to use all the words he understands in speech, three basic conditions : ​​emotionally warm communication with an adult; the emergence of interest in the word; formation of one’s own objective activity. Let's take a closer look at each of these conditions.

First, speech arises and develops as a means of communication between a child and other people. By entering into emotional communication with a baby, adults not only entertain him , but also create conditions for speech development .

The second, no less important condition development is the saturation of the child’s experience with audible speech. The child hears speech constantly. Adults turn to him and talk a lot in his presence. The sound environment surrounding a modern child is literally saturated with speech sounds - this is a radio, a TV, a player, and a tape recorder. But the baby does not always hear and distinguish speech sounds . Audible speech has a positive effect on speech development only if it is included in direct communication with a person. It's not enough just to have a record or radio playing. Unable to analyze loud and unnecessary sounds, the child soon ceases to perceive them and may even temporarily become deaf, protecting himself from noise that he does not understand. The perception of speech by a child under one and a half to two years of age must be organized in a certain way. You can listen to the record with him. The longer he listens to the same speech, the more joy he experiences from recognizing familiar sounds, the better he identifies and distinguishes them. Audible speech should make the baby want to “talk himself”

-make babbling sounds that resemble real speech.

For a child, audible speech is inseparable from a specific person. Moreover, this person should not constantly talk. Listening to the speech of those around him, he begins to isolate individual words and distinguish phonemes of his native language, that is, to isolate words that are close in sound but different in meaning.

The formation of substantive activity and business cooperation with adults is the third necessary condition for the development of active speech . In order for a child to start talking on his own initiative, he must have a need to do so. It consists of the need to communicate with an adult and the need for some object. Neither one nor the other separately leads to a word. The baby can successfully communicate with adults without any words, exchanging smiles and vocalizations, and the parents already understand everything. He is able to play with toys for a long time without feeling the desire to name them. “say something” task

An adult puts it in front of the child. And the need for cooperation encourages the child to accept this task and say the right word. Communication with an adult about objects and the objective actions included in communication create for the child the need to name the desired object and pronounce the word himself.

Thus, if a child is drawn to an adult and joint activities with him, loves to work with objects, listens carefully and repeats individual words after an adult, we can assume that he is ready for active speech and will speak very soon. However, even in this case, the transition to active speech may be somewhat delayed. To activate speech ability, it is necessary to carry out some kind of “training”

child.

Try to move the toy that is necessary and attractive to the baby so that he cannot reach it himself. This will make him want to get the desired object. In response to his attempts to reach the toy, clearly pronounce its name: “Lala”

,
"Misha"
,
"machine"
.
Do not give the toy until he tries to name it. At first, the child will struggle to reach for the toy and express his impatience. Then his efforts will switch to you: most likely, he will point his finger at the object and try to beg him with his angry babble “give-give-give
. And only then will interest in the word arise, which will manifest itself in the fact that the child will begin to look at your lips and listen to the word that you pronounce. Therefore, pronounce the word clearly, with pronounced and even exaggerated articulation, so that the baby will immediately pay attention to the movements of your lips. Focus on the articulatory apparatus is an important sign that the word has stood out in the child’s mind and has become the subject of his attention, which means that very soon he will pronounce it himself. The first word brings great joy to the child. And the baby repeats it again and again, and sometimes even prefers verbal play to the previously desired toy.

Children aged 1.5–2 years begin to actively name objects when the need arises, and not just imitate an adult. If the child stops at the first stage and tries to take possession of the toy, then he will not say its name. This means that you need to draw attention to the sounding word. Quite often, the delay in the development of active speech is due to the fact that adults satisfy all the baby’s desires, guessing them at first glance or gesture. Having learned ready-made words from adults and operating with them, the child is not yet aware of the entire content that they express. The subject-matter of a word can be learned, but the system of abstractions and generalizations behind them cannot. An example can be given of the discrepancy between the meanings of words in the speech of children and adults:

"I miss the warmth"

, she told her daughter.

The daughter was surprised: “Do you freeze even on summer days?”

“You won’t understand, you’re still young”

, - the mother sighed tiredly.

And the daughter shouts: “I got it!”

, - and drags the blanket.

(A. Barto)

.

I bring to your attention recommendations for stimulating the speech of young children.

"Talking to Yourself"

When the baby is not far from you, start talking out loud about what you see, hear, think, feel.
You need to speak slowly (but without drawing out the words)
and clearly, in short, simple sentences that are understandable to the child. For example:
“Where is the cup?”
,
“I see a cup”
,
“The cup is on the table”
,
“There is tea in the cup”
,
“I will drink tea”
.

"Parallel Conversation"

This technique differs from the previous one in that you describe all the child’s actions: what he sees, hears, feels, touches.
Using “parallel conversation”
, you seem to suggest to the child words that express his experience, words that he will later begin to use independently.

“Provocation, or artificial misunderstanding of the child”

This technique helps the child master situational speech and consists in the fact that the adult is in no hurry to show his understanding.
For example, if a baby points to a shelf with toys, looks at you pleadingly and you understand well what he needs at the moment. Try giving him the wrong toy. If any difficulty arises, tell your child: “I don’t understand what you want: a cat, a doll or a car?”
In such situations, the child willingly activates his
speech abilities .
"Spreading"

Continue and complement everything your baby says, but don’t force him to repeat it – it’s enough that he hears you. For example: Child:
“Soup.”
Adult:
“Vegetable soup is very tasty
,
“Soup is eaten with a spoon”
... Answering the child with a common sentence By using more complex language forms and rich vocabulary, you gradually lead the child to finish his thought and, accordingly, prepare the ground for mastering contextual speech.

"Sentences"

Using play songs, nursery rhymes, and sentences in joint activities with children gives them great joy.
Accompanying a child’s actions with words contributes to his involuntary learning of the ability to listen attentively to the sounds of speech, grasp its rhythm, individual sound combinations and gradually penetrate into their meaning. The important significance of folklore works is that they satisfy the baby’s need for emotional and tactile (
touching and stroking ) contact with adults. Most children are kinesthetic by nature: they love to be stroked, cuddled, and held by hands.

"Choice"

Give your child the opportunity to choose.
The formation of responsibility begins from the moment when the child is allowed to play an active role in what concerns him personally. The exercise of choice gives the child a sense of self-worth and self-worth. ( “Do you want to play with a doll or a teddy bear?”
,
“Should I pour you half a glass of milk or a whole glass?”
)

"Games with natural materials"

A huge impact on the growth
speech and cognitive activity is exerted by the variety and accessibility of objects that he can explore from time to time: look, touch, taste, experiment... (the child is eager for sand, water, clay)
.
in “fussing”
with them: the child is busy, he gets acquainted with the material, studies its properties...

"Productive activities"

At an early stage
of speech development , the child masters a wide variety of languages ​​that replace words - gestures, facial expressions, onomatopoeia. Productive activities are more accessible: modeling, drawing, appliqué. They develop not only the child’s speech abilities , but also sensory ones, which are of particular importance in the formation of mental activity.
“Replacement”
“Imagine that...”
- these words are filled with attractive force for the child.
At this age, the child enjoys imagining that a cube is a pie, a shoebox is a house... At this age, children really like games - pantomimes, games - imitations, which activate the child’s observation and curiosity. You can involve your child in the game with a question or sentence: “Guess what I’m doing now?”
Start with simple actions: comb your hair, brush your teeth, pour juice into a cup...

"Role-playing game"

This type of children's activity is just being formed.
For example, a game of telephone, when a child, using a toy device, can call mom or dad... Such a game stimulates the child’s speech development , builds self-confidence, and increases communication function.
"Musical Games"

The importance of musical games in
speech development can hardly be overestimated. Children sing along with pleasure, they love musical instruments, games, such as “Loaf”
,
“Over the bumps”
... Encourage the child’s desire to move to the music, to sing along. There is nothing wrong with the fact that the child pronounces only the endings or the last words. Subsequently, the child will begin to sing small songs in their entirety. A child dances and sings about what he sees and hears around him, invents his own songs and melodies - this is how a creator is born!

It is very important to remember that the speech of an adult is a model for the speech of a child!

Therefore, the more a child communicates with adults and peers, the faster and better his speech will develop .

An adult's speech should be:

- clear, unhurried;

- accessible to the baby’s understanding, that is, not overloaded with difficult-to-pronounce words and complex sentences;

- literate, free of babbling words and distortions of sound pronunciation.

In the absence of such a model, the reduction and impoverishment of communication between a child and an adult, normal speech and mental development slows down , therefore, it is very important to communicate with the child, read poetry and fairy tales to him.

Thus, by speaking to a child in the correct language, telling him fairy tales, learning poems and nursery rhymes with him, and playing, the sooner he will master correct speech!

A child’s speech is formed under the influence of the speech of adults and largely depends on sufficient speech practice , a normal speech environment and on upbringing and training, which begin from the first days of his life.

We offer several simple rules, following which you, teachers, can help your child with his speech development .

1. You need to talk to your child every day, tell him what is happening around him, read books.

2. It is imperative to call a spade a spade: not bb, but a car, not yum-yum, but eat, etc.

3. You should speak in short sentences, with a pause between them.

4. You cannot talk to your child in tongue twisters.

5. When naming objects, you must show them at least in a picture. You should not teach a child to say a word whose meaning he does not understand, and will not understand until he sees it.

6. It is important to repeat the same words many times until the baby remembers and reproduces them.

7. You don’t need to talk to your child when he doesn’t want to or is tired.

8. You cannot ignore the baby’s question; you need to answer it in detail and slowly so that the child understands every word.

9. If a child makes mistakes in words, you should prompt him unobtrusively so that he does not lose the desire to speak. After all, little children do not fail.

10. You should not guess the baby’s desire and give him everything that he silently points at with his finger. There is no need to force him to name the object, but sometimes you should pretend that you don’t see anything, and then the child will try to say, name what he needs.

First word

What should a baby's first word be? Early development specialists believe that it does not necessarily have to be familiar and familiar to us. Experts tend to consider any recognizable set of sounds that denote a person, object or action (for example, “baka” instead of “dog”, “ka” instead of “porridge”) as a peculiar word.

Usually children say their first word at the age of 8-9 months. Most often these are onomatopoeias or words of two repeated syllables.

How to understand that a child said exactly a word, and not just a set of sounds? If the child’s statements are repeated under the same circumstances, even if you cannot understand them, rest assured that your baby said a word, his speech apparatus is simply not yet developed enough to pronounce this word legibly. To prevent your child’s speech development from slowing down, you should not speak to your baby in his “baby” language. If your child says “beep beep” while pointing at a car, say, “That’s right, it’s a car.” While walking in the yard, ask your child to show you the car. And to translate the word “car” from a child’s passive vocabulary to an active one, point to the car and ask: “What is that?” Then your baby will certainly learn a new word and learn to pronounce it correctly.

There is a myth that a child’s first word must be the word “mother.” Indeed, some children say “mom” as early as 4-5 months. Also, even before one year old, children can say “Lala”, “Baba”, etc. These are all easy-to-pronounce words that are formed from the repeated babble of a child. The words that are easy to pronounce come first.

First phrases

An important stage in speech development is the acquisition of phrasal speech in preschool age. By the age of 1.5–2 years, simple two-word phrases usually appear in speech. The vocabulary is actively increasing, verbs, prepositions, and adverbs are being used. At 2-3 years old, children begin to use adjectives. The age of 3-5 years is often called the age of “why”. During this period, children are interested in everything, eagerly learn about the world around them and, accordingly, ask adults many questions.

If at this age the child does not have phrasal speech, you should consult a specialist. Developmental activities will help fill in the gaps and lay the foundation for the further development of your baby’s speech.

To develop your child’s phrasal speech, you can do the following:

• Read books to your child that are appropriate for his age;
• Look at the pictures;
• Listen to music with your child, sing songs, dance;
• Answer the child’s questions and support his research interest;
• Provide the child with new impressions, discuss what he sees;
• Monitor the purity of your own speech;
• Encourage communication with children.

There are also a number of games and exercises that contribute to the development of a child’s speech. These include:

• Games to develop fine motor skills;
• Articulation gymnastics;
• Finger gymnastics.

You can get acquainted with these and many other useful exercises in classes at. The good thing about these games is that you can play them at home yourself. They not only have a beneficial effect on speech development, but also develop the baby’s attention, memory, and thinking. Perform only those exercises that evoke positive emotions in you and your child, do it unobtrusively and with genuine interest. The most important thing is to enjoy communicating with each other.

How parents can talk to their child

How close people communicate with the child determines whether his speech will be rich and imaginative. Even with an infant, you need to actively talk, teaching him to use words. Children are shown bright objects, toys, and they are named. Two-year-old children need to be shown toys, bright pictures, and talk about surrounding objects. It is very good to increase knowledge about the environment while walking, telling kids about what is happening around them. For speech development, it is useful to read fairy tales, nursery rhymes, jokes and poems to children.

In the third year of life, adults can not only name objects, but also talk about what they are needed for. It is important to pay attention to the color and shape of things and objects in the pictures, to name the animals and their babies depicted. You can already discuss the fairy tale you read with three-year-old children. Let them complete the words in familiar poems.

You can already discuss book illustrations with four-year-old children after reading simple fairy tales and short stories. Conversations with adults on various topics are very valuable: about new toys, about a trip to the forest, about a walk in the park.

In the fifth year of a child’s life, parents pay his attention to the correctness of speech, the accuracy of the use of words, and sound pronunciation. At this age, it is important not to shy away from children’s questions, but to give full, meaningful answers to them. To strengthen the articulation apparatus, you can learn special exercises. When retelling fairy tales, short stories, or reading poetry, parents draw the child’s attention to intonation, “happy” or “sad” reading, and the fast or slow pace of pronunciation.

Older preschoolers are taught to compose a story based on pictures, select words with similar or opposite meanings, and divide objects into groups. All defects in sound pronunciation must be eliminated by the start of school. Various games for isolating sounds and syllables from words are very useful.

Knowing what the stages of children’s speech development include, it is possible to promptly identify a child’s speech delay and begin corrective work. If there are deviations from the norm, it is important to notice them as early as possible in order to seek help from specialists. The earlier the correction of speech impairment is started, the less time it will take to compensate for the lag from the norm.

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conclusions

Speech development is a complex process, and it occurs differently for each child. Experts identify several stages of speech development in children, each of which involves the development of new speech skills. These stages do not have strict age limits. The transition from one stage of speech development to another can occur either smoothly or abruptly.

If the baby is healthy, speech development occurs naturally when you communicate with him and talk about the world around him. Your child watches you and tries to copy your speech, so it is important to monitor the correctness of your own speech. It is necessary to create a favorable environment for the child in which he can fulfill the needs characteristic of his age. You can offer your child games to develop fine motor skills, as well as introduce them to articulation and finger gymnastics.

If you feel that your baby is experiencing difficulties and the development of his speech is far behind the conventional boundaries of the norm, you need to consult with a specialist to rule out health problems and delayed psycho-speech development.

Parenting mistakes and how to avoid them

Mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers make some mistakes when communicating with their children. Subsequently, they can inhibit the development of the child’s speech or form incorrect perceptions and complicate the process of mastering their native language.

These are the errors:

1. Assume that the child does not understand anything. Even during the infant period, a passive vocabulary is formed, they learn to respond to appeals to them. Otherwise, how does a child who has not communicated with anyone except relatives suddenly “give out” swear words, for example? Did you say that in front of the baby? Do not be surprised;
2. Imitate “childish” speech. Babysitting and diminutive forms of words only complicate their perception and interfere with the normal development of speech. It’s easier for a baby to remember and then say the word “ball” than “ball.” But you shouldn’t simplify the words either. If you want your child to start speaking correctly, speak to him correctly from the very beginning;
3. Talk a lot. For normal speech development, it is important to talk to your baby. But do not use florid phrases or complex words. Speak in simple sentences with babies 1–3 years old. When communicating, take into account the level of speech development of children by age;
4. Don't talk at all. Children with communication deficits are often diagnosed with speech and mental disorders in early childhood;
5. Don't explain. Explain the meaning of words. Even better, demonstrate it clearly. Say, “an apple is a fruit” and show a real apple or a picture. From the first months of life, carry your child in your arms and show him everything he sees around him: household objects, trees, cars, cats, dogs, birds on the street - and name them. This is what develops your child best;
6. Speak slurred, quickly. When talking to your daughter or son, be sure to turn your face to him so that he can see your lips. Speak clearly, articulately, focusing on articulation, do not “crumple” words - otherwise your child simply will not understand where sounds come from and how to pronounce them. Work on your diction and conversation rate.

The best way to communicate with your baby is as with an adult. In a calm voice, but with a friendly and affectionate intonation. It is this kind of treatment from mom and dad that contributes to the formation of correct speech in their son or daughter.

Advice from speech therapists to parents

We have given some recommendations above. But there are a few more.

First, check whether your child is at risk for delayed speech development. These are children who have perinatal lesions of the central nervous system and other neurological problems, birth injuries, frequent illnesses in the first year of life, post-vaccination complications - against the background of such problems, speech may develop more slowly.

Secondly, pay attention to when the child first began to walk and said the first syllables and words. If much later than the established norm, consult a speech therapist or neurologist.

Thirdly, when the baby turns 2 - 2.5 years old, show him to a speech therapist. Especially if he is at risk. This will allow you to timely identify possible problem areas in speech development and eliminate them.