Article “Walking and Babbling” article on speech therapy on the topic

Humming and babbling.

Did you know that successful mastery of reading and writing at primary school age depends 80% on the correct development of the baby in the first year of life?

If you are worried whether your baby’s speech is developing normally, or if you want your child to easily master reading and writing at an older age, read this article to the end. From it you will learn in what cases you should sound the alarm and contact specialists.

In the formation of speech of a child in the first year of life, we can roughly distinguish two stages: humming and babbling. In each of them, experts also consider intermediate stages of development.

What should the baby’s loved ones pay attention to so as not to miss a deviation from the norm?

From birth to one year is a pre-speech, preparatory and very important period in the development of speech. It is at this time that the foundations for successfully mastering the gift of speech are laid.

In order to notice deviations in time, the mother and everyone close to her need to observe the baby from the first moments of his life and regularly pay attention to the child’s behavior, his facial expressions, voice, breathing, intonation.

Advice: keep a mother’s diary in which you note not only the temperature and frequency of bowel movements, but also the baby’s achievements - this way you won’t miss anything important, and you can track the trend, positive or negative.

When children start to roar

Speech development up to one year occurs in several stages:

• scream;
• bumming;
• babble

During the passage of all three stages, there is active preparation for mastering speech, vocal reactions are formed, and articulatory and respiratory apparatuses develop.

First stage scream

It lasts from birth to 2 months. For a newborn, the only way to attract the attention of others is to cry. Almost all of his feelings are expressed in a cry: hunger, thirst, fear, loneliness. 2-3 weeks after birth, the baby begins to respond to familiar voices: stops crying, listens. By 1.5-2 months, he turns his head towards the speaker. He begins to understand intonation: a loud, harsh voice causes crying and anxiety, an affectionate one promotes revitalization, the baby intensively moves his arms and legs.

However, after a couple of months, communication capabilities expand significantly.

Second stage of humming

The stage begins at 2 months and ends by six months. The first important step in learning to communicate with others is laughter. From 2 months, the baby begins to understand the social significance of laughter, smiling and their impact on people. He uses them as a response to the friendly disposition and treatment of adults.

Young, inexperienced parents often do not immediately notice the appearance of babbling, because they do not know what it is or at what age it appears. After the baby has mastered smiling, he begins to reproduce vowel-like sounds - a-aa, uh-uh, oo-oo. From 4 months, the child can already pronounce various sounds, which are called “hooking” (agu, gu, i-i).

Interesting! Similar sounds are the same among children all over the world, regardless of their native language.

From the age of 5 months, seeing a loved one, the baby makes various sounds, shouts, smiles, thereby addressing his loved one.

Third stage babble

The stage lasts from 6 months to a year - it is at this age that baby babble appears.

At 5-6 months, when the child has already learned to pronounce different sounds, the turn comes to try to construct words from them. At first, it connects a consonant sound with a vowel, and among the consonants, stop consonants - b, d, g - predominate. Later, nasal sounds - m, n - appear. The first consonant sound is "a". The baby repeats syllables with pleasure, usually this manifests itself in the repeated pronunciation of individual syllables - ba-ba, yes-da, cha-cha.

By 10 months, word chains become increasingly diverse. All components of speech are heard in the voice: intonation, rhythm, tempo. The child pays attention to the adult’s articulation and tries to copy it. Babbling chains of vowel sounds are replaced by chains with stereotypical segments with different noise beginnings (ba-na, wa-ka, ma-pa)

At the age of one year, instead of baby talk, the child begins to develop words and reactions to them. Usually he can speak 4-5 words. He perceives various sound combinations and correlates them with objects.

When a baby starts babbling, it touches the parents. After all, he repeats almost everything he hears, but does not yet understand the meaning of many words.

Phrase: 1 – 3 years

• Words from the passive vocabulary turn into active speech. Ideas about the world around us expand, and speech as a whole develops.
• By about two years, facial expressions and gestures are gradually replaced by speech. By the beginning of three years, the child develops elementary phrasal speech.

After the first words appear, the baby, like a sponge, begins to absorb more and more information. The vocabulary is updated daily. The child imitates the conversation and intonation of adults. You can already understand the instruction, anger, request and more. At one and a half years old, a child’s vocabulary is about 30-60 words. He begins to reinforce his actions with words, gradually replacing simplified word forms with the correct words: “bo-bo” - it hurts, “av-av” - dog. By about two years of age, a child’s speech becomes the main means of communication, displacing gestures and facial expressions. There is a need for verbal communication, which must be encouraged and supported.

Varieties of humming

Gumming is the pronunciation of chains of various vowel sounds (a, u, y), sometimes in combination with similar consonants (m, g). Usually these sounds are associated with an emotionally positive state.

Up to 3 months, humming does not depend on auditory perception; later, pronunciation occurs under the control of hearing.

Experts distinguish two periods of humming:

• "Hooting." Characterized by short and abrupt vocal responses.
• "Pipe". It is the utterance of a chain of alternating sounds.

Interesting! Children with a lack of hearing also go through all stages of humming and even begin to babble. But without receiving auditory reinforcement, they lose this ability.

From birth to one month

You are doing well if:

1. at birth, the child screams loudly from the first second of life;
2. his breathing is characterized by a short inhalation and a long exhalation;
3. the first vocal reactions are still intonationally inexpressive;
4. in them the vowel-like sounds “a” and “e” can be clearly distinguished.

Consult a specialist if:

• the cry of a newborn is unpleasant, shrill;
• a “nasal” sound is heard.

These signs may indicate developmental disorders.

Standards and deviations by deadlines

Of course, any parent wants to hear baby talk as soon as possible. They begin to compare their baby with peers, asking at what age does a child begin to babble.

Most children begin to pronounce sounds that have some meaning only by the age of one year. There are children who are in no hurry to speak, much depends on the baby’s temperament and the situation at home. A cheerful, active child begins to talk earlier, while a calm child can listen and observe for a long time; the desire to speak appears in such children much later.

The home atmosphere, the attitude of loved ones towards each other and towards the child play an important role. If parents are constantly silent and communicate little, the baby does not feel the desire to communicate and withdraws into himself.

Too active communication and depriving a child of independence can also provoke delayed speech development. He must want to talk, understand that his opinion is important to his parents.

Norms of speech development from birth to one year

Parents should understand that the indicators for each individual child may differ significantly and this does not indicate pathology.

Alarm signals:

• Swallowing and sucking problems at 1 month;
• at the age of 3 months the child does not respond to noise and various sounds;
• at 2-3 months does not smile;
• at 4 months he is not interested in rattles, does not turn his head and does not follow them with his eyes;
• babbling and humming are monotonous and have no emotional overtones;
• At 12 months he communicates only with gestures.

First words: stimulating speech development

Talk, talk and talk - that’s what is required of mommy at this stage of baby’s development. “Take a spoon”, “Put the bear in the crib”, “Put on socks, panties, blouse.” Such simple commentary on everyday actions enriches the baby’s vocabulary.

About gestures

When reading fairy tales or nursery rhymes with your child, it is useful to show the actions of the characters. “Teddy bear”, “The bunnies are dancing”, “Chop and chop cabbage” and other children’s rhymes are great for such activities.

From about 8 months, a child can master the pointing gesture. At one year old he can wave goodbye. Gestures are a kind of transitional stage between understanding the meaning of actions and the ability to denote them in words.

Fun exercise for the mouth and cheeks

Excellent helpers for speech development are all kinds of pipes, whistles and even soap bubbles. All these things are useful for training the muscles of the lips and cheeks. You can blow on various light objects: fluff, pieces of paper. Even ordinary grimacing has a good effect. Plus it's a lot of fun!

About "bi-bi", "av-av" and "bo-bo"

Among my friends there are mothers who cannot stand children's words.

“Not “bang,” but “fell,” not “beep,” but “car,” Nastya repeats to her one-and-a-half-year-old child, complaining about grandmothers who “spoil the child’s speech” with various “stupid phrases.”

She's wrong. Such toddler expressions are very important for the toddler, because he is not yet able to grasp the connection between a long word of 3-4 syllables and an object or action. It is even physically difficult for him to pronounce such constructions. But the baby wants to be heard. So let him speak his own way for now. Gradually, baby tongue, like cooing and cooing, will become a thing of the past, and your son or daughter will learn to speak fluently, clearly and beautifully.

What can you do if there is no partying?

It is necessary to stimulate the senses from birth. Talk to your child more often, tell him what you are doing at the moment, ask questions, even if he cannot answer them yet.

You can be sure: he listens carefully to everything and will soon puzzle you with an answer. Repeat baby talk after him, sing or read aloud.

But, it is important not only to talk to the child, but also to listen. After all, every syllable in his vocabulary means something. If he uses the combination “ko” when he sees a cat, say: “Yes, it’s a cat!” The baby must understand that he is being listened to; this will stimulate him to learn more and more new words.

Each child's babbling appears at different ages; parents should be patient. A slight delay in speech should not be scary; at this time, a passive vocabulary is being formed.

Rules to help stimulate speech and walking:

• When speaking, use simple, short sentences. Speak slowly, clearly, and demonstrate correct articulation.
• Give up "lisping." When communicating with a child, do not distort your words; baby talk should be used as little as possible, only in moments of tenderness.
• Develop fine motor skills. Give your baby rattles made of various materials, massage his hands, working on each finger individually.
• Talk more, comment on all actions: “Well done, Mashenka. I ate porridge. What was the porridge like? Delicious! Now let's go for a walk..."
• To stimulate humming, make sounds similar to it, then give the baby the opportunity to answer you. While communicating, pet him and smile.
• When your baby is awake, play him recordings of children walking or adults imitating walking. This method is designed to evoke an early imitative reflex.
• An important condition for the correct development of pre-speech reaction is visual communication. The baby must clearly see the adult’s face in order to peer into his facial expressions and articulation.

6-9 months

At the age of 6-9 months, the baby's babble becomes more varied in sound composition.

You can distinguish sounds that become similar to the sounds of your native language. A child can repeat the sound of a cough, following the adult syllables. He already knows his name! Names of mom and dad. If you ask him “Where is daddy?”, the baby will turn his head towards his father. At this time, you can already conduct a dialogue with the child: it is as if he is “responding” to what you say, looking him in the face. It is very important that your child sees your lips when you speak. Since a child repeats after an adult, “tests sounds,” repeats after himself, listens to himself.

What to do if your child stops walking

Humming and babbling are the first sounds that allow a baby to communicate with the world of adults. When a child suddenly stops talking, parents feel uneasy.

The cause of such changes can be both pathological and physiological factors. At the age of 4 months, infant sounds are replaced by baby babble. The speech apparatus is actively preparing to reproduce the first words, the baby begins to pronounce drawn-out, loud sounds, laugh, and squeal. Perhaps a short pause simply precedes the next stage in speech development.

A temporary cessation of partying is often caused by a change of environment, stress or lack of attention.

Pathological reasons:

• underdevelopment of facial muscles;
• hearing problems;
• complications after illness;
• neurological pathologies;
• mental retardation.

Only a doctor can identify possible problems. If the child stops making sounds and the humming does not occur for more than 2 weeks, you need to consult a specialist; most problems can be easily corrected with the help of medications. But even during this period, do not stop communicating with the baby.

What are we shouting about?

Almost every child comes into our world screaming. It is with a cry that a newborn notifies the whole world: “I have appeared, I will now be next to you!” In the first minutes of life, the baby experiences vivid sensations, because before that he was in a cozy mother’s womb, the weight of his needs was satisfied by the mother’s body. Now the baby should more persistently communicate that he is uncomfortable or wants to eat. And it is screaming at the first stage of life that is the most effective way to remind yourself. But you should not perceive crying only as a demand; perhaps the baby just wants to communicate, wants someone to be nearby, talk to him, sing a lullaby.

To be convinced of this, you just have to watch: sometimes a baby will cry and wait for someone to come and take him in his arms. If the wish is not fulfilled immediately, the next cry will be much louder and more persistent. In the end, children still get their way. Perhaps this unique method of communication was chosen unconsciously, at the level of a reflex, but for a certain time it is the only possible one.

A few weeks after the baby is born, you will notice that his cry has different intonations and tonality. The baby demands attention in different ways, reports pain or hunger. Attentive parents gradually comprehend all the nuances of a child’s cry, and it is easier for them to guess what he requires. The fact that screaming is not just loud and meaningless sounds, but the first way of communication, is indicated by a change in tonality and intonation.

The child has an imaginary friend. Behavioral trait or disease?

Children often get tremendous pleasure from playing in a fantasy world and communicating with imaginary friends; this is a feature of preschool age and an integral part of childhood. But if the escape into a fictional world is delayed or brings anxiety to parents, blurring the line between the fictional world and the real one, then the timely help of a child psychologist in this case will be very effective. The specialist will identify the causes of this condition and, with the help of play therapy or correctional work together with parents, will return the boundaries of play and reality.

If more serious problems arise, i.e. diseases of the nervous system or mental disorder, timely treatment will also bring positive results.

Sometimes a child, between the ages of 2 and 6, has an imaginary friend. In preschool age this is considered the absolute norm.

For example, it could be a favorite toy that the child talks to and carries with him everywhere, regardless of its appearance, gets bored without it and gets very upset when he loses it, or when someone takes it away or, God forbid, throws it away . This could be an imaginary friend, invisible to other people, or a character from cartoons, games and books. Don’t be afraid of this, it can only mean that the child has a well-developed imagination. After all, through playing dialogues with their imaginary friend, children can gain communication skills on any exciting topics, and also, in a natural rhythm, develop the frontal lobes of the brain, which are responsible for managing behavior, making decisions and finding unusual solutions to problems, reasoning and making choices.

However, it is advisable to determine the reason for the emergence of imaginary friends and try to gradually fill this niche with real people and real friends.

What could be the reason for going into such an “unreal relationship”?

• This can be facilitated by both excessive guardianship and pressure from parents . In both cases, imaginary friends can come to the aid of the child, who will support him no matter what happens, and with whom you can indulge in anything: eating ice cream any time, getting dirty, and even “getting” a dog or kitten if the parents are against this in real life. . Or, on the contrary, scold and suppress your imaginary friend, taking on the role of a parent who abuses these actions, and simply copying him. And if you look carefully at the topics, words and manipulations that the child addresses to his imaginary friend, you can see what worries him and what he lacks.
• As a defense mechanism against stress. A child can go into a fantasy world when there is an unfavorable atmosphere in the family, during traumatic events, such as the divorce of parents, the death of a pet or loved one, the birth of a brother or sister, moving, problems in society.
• Guilt. Sometimes there is such a tendency in a family: no matter what happens, whether it’s a broken phone, a missing dad’s watch, or eaten jam, the child is blamed for all the “sins,” without understanding whether he is really to blame. Accusation is followed by punishment, and it is not always fair. Then he feels guilty. And to ease the tension, the child hides in his imaginary world. Fearing punishment and afraid of losing the favor and love of his parents, he comes up with a certain “scapegoat” who is to blame for all the troubles. And in his fictional world he can punish his fictional hero, or simulate a situation in which he himself miraculously avoids punishment. Here it is very important to understand and distinguish between fantasy and reality. Sometimes children come up with a fictional character in order to shift all responsibility for mistakes and hooliganism onto him.
• Lack of communication and impressions. It occurs when there are difficulties with communication in real life or when parents are very busy and spend very little time with their child, replacing full-fledged face-to-face communication with an iPad or TV. As a result, the child constantly experiences a feeling of loneliness, calling on imaginary friends for help. You can always have a heart-to-heart talk with them and share your secrets: your grievances or your childhood joys.
• Repressing hidden negative emotions. Sometimes a child plays out with an imaginary friend traumatic situations that happen in real life. A fantasy hero can defend him and promise to get even with the offenders, which indicates repressed aggression that the child is forbidden to take out in life. And if a child does not have a close and accepting adult who is able to take pity and listen in such situations, then an imaginary friend can play the role for him, taking the child with him into an imaginary world.

Normally, imaginary friends that a child has in preschool age are replaced by real people in his actively eventful life, and completely disappear at the end of primary school age - up to 10-11 years.

But it happens that the period of the fantasy world is prolonged or quarrels, cruelty or rudeness appear in the child’s stories about his imaginary friend. If a child gets lost in the game, forgetting about food or sleep, begins to confuse the game with reality, or is reluctant to make contact with others, then there is cause for alarm.

The child runs away from his parents or runs away from home

In most cases, in a situation where a child runs away from his parents or from home, the problems are resolved fairly quickly. The most important thing is to determine where the causes lie and select the most appropriate and effective methods to solve them.

The child breaks out of his arms and runs away. Reasons, what to do?

Given the very pressing problems of today - hyperactivity and restlessness of children, parents are often faced with a situation where the child pulls out his hand and runs to where he is interested, without looking back or listening to adults. Why is he doing this?

At the moment of the “crisis of 3 years”, the familiar phrase “I myself!” appears to everyone, and when they do not find understanding and patience from adults, a rebellion begins. A child can suddenly escape from the hands of an adult and run away, and at the same time he feels like a “hero”, he has fun when he plays this game. But at early preschool age he does not yet realize that this is dangerous. Therefore, it is worth explaining to the child from a very early age that there are dangerous zones where the concepts of “impossible” and “dangerous” will have no analogues or objections. This is especially true for transport zones when crossing the road. You can do this in a playful way, for example, asking your child to help guide you across the road, look behind the traffic lights yourself, learn the meanings of colors and voice them to you. In this case, the game “blind man and guide” is also very useful, when the parent closes his eyes and asks the child to lead him by the hand, first around the house, then in the yard or in the park, ask him to take you to a familiar store or other place. This way, the child will experience the same feelings and take responsibility for you, but it will be easy and fun because it takes place in the game.

The second reason is that the child may simply be bored of following familiar routes. In this case, try to change your path and choose some new paths each time. While walking, you can compose songs, stories and fairy tales, remember what you recently learned, and find hidden colors with your eyes on the street. And then it will be interesting for him to walk next to his parent, and not run forward.

When, during an ordinary walk in a safe place, you always try to hold your child’s hand, he does not fully feel the reality happening around him, cannot assess his capabilities, cannot understand what is dangerous for him and what no, what is interesting and what is not. This creates unnecessary dependence on the parent in terms of the child’s recognition of the outside world, interferes with his independent play, and distracts him from working on the development of cognitive processes in his own way.

Children who move freely (of course, under the supervision of their parents) get the opportunity to develop in their own way, learn about the world and themselves, and this knowledge helps them avoid danger in the future. By trusting their child, parents increase the child's self-confidence, which will be very useful to him in adulthood.

Child leaving home

Unfortunately, sometimes leaving home, as a manifestation of psychological or social problems, is typical of both teenagers and children who have not yet reached adolescence. The children's psyche and behavior are influenced by many psychological and social factors, and the number of children who have already left home or are psychologically ready to do so is very large.

The primary reason for a child leaving home may be internal or external discomfort, which can be either a reaction to the perception of the outside world or events in the family, or a consequence of any actions and experiences of the child himself.

For example, a child who has committed an offense and knows about the upcoming negative reaction from his parents leaves home in an attempt to avoid responsibility or in fear of parental wrath.

Or a child who does not know how or is not able to cope with any strong feeling - which can be: anger, resentment, humiliation, pain - and does not see in his parents people who can help him, runs away from home under the influence of internal psychological pressure and a sense of his own powerlessness in the fight against emotion.

A child’s escape from home may be associated with his internal protest against the rules and traditions established in the family, which he, due to his character, does not accept. But, unable to explain the reasons for his rejection, the child chooses leaving home as the most visible expression of such a protest. It is clear that not everyone will want to escape from an environment that looks safe and comfortable in the eyes of a child. A child, being close to loving and understanding parents, subconsciously perceives his home and family as a safe and comfortable environment. However, even surrounded by attention and care, a child - especially a small one - cannot fully control the environment and does not have the opportunity to change it “to suit himself.” His needs for change are not always visible to adults and very often conflict with the opinion of parents, who “know better what and how,” and, as adults, have a much greater ability to make such changes.

A very common reason for a child leaving home is a lack of attention and empathy on the part of the parents. A child lacking attention is looking for ways to attract it. For example, a child who has done something - in his opinion - worthy of attention (drew a picture to his parents, done a good deed, etc.) expects praise, a manifestation of the parent's opinion about his exclusivity, confirmation of love. Faced with indifference, or with a parent’s opinion about the insignificance of his action, the child intuitively feels his own worthlessness and insignificance in the eyes of his parents. He has a need to prove his importance to them. “Would you be very upset if you lost me?” – The Kid asks his mother in the cartoon “The Kid and Carlson.” This phrase is a suitable solution to the problem of a child deprived of parental attention. A child in this situation can be driven by both a desire to test his “worth” and significance for his parents (“What are they going to do?”), and a subconscious manifestation of a feeling of revenge (let the parents worry, looking for “They will know!”).

One of the types of leaving home, as a reaction to insufficient attention, may be a child’s attempt to prove his “adulthood”. No matter how the child tries to explain or make his mother understand that he is “already big,” the mother will almost always have the opposite opinion on this matter. The maternal instinct, which requires the mother to protect her child as much as possible, often forces her to go against the child’s opinion about his independence. Faced with an assessment of independence that does not coincide with his own, the child acquires a strong desire to prove what he is capable of. Earn respect and perception of yourself as “big”.

A child's attempt to leave home is a wake-up call for parents. This is a sign of strong internal discomfort in the child, which may be associated with serious psychological problems. Parents, confident that they are giving their child everything they need for a comfortable life, may be at a loss as to the reasons for their child’s behavior. Here you need an outside perspective and a psychologist can help by collecting the most objective information about the child’s problem and selecting the necessary methods for correction and help. A child psychologist works with both the child and the parents, because the solution to psychological problems that may result in the child leaving home can only be carried out through joint actions of family members.

In case of medical problems, incl. serious mental disorder, the psychologist will advise you to contact a child neurologist or child psychiatrist, who will prescribe the correct treatment that is suitable for your child. If a controversial situation arises, we advise you to go through a consultation of three doctors who will find the true cause of the problem and give recommendations from several specialists at once in one visit.

Stereotypes in a child: a psychological problem or a disease?

If signs of persistent stereotypy appear in a child over 4 years of age, we advise you to contact a pediatric neurologist or neuropsychiatrist. Medical and psychological assistance is effective and efficient; we usually see the first results after two to three weeks from the start of work.

Types of stereotypies. Symptoms and causes

Physiological stereotypies are an absolutely normal phenomenon in the first year of a child’s life. They can be expressed in finger sucking, body rocking, and head twisting. All these movements serve the child to calm himself or relax, relieve tension and anxiety. Their main difference from pathological ones is the constant variability of movements.

By about 5-7 years, these phenomena disappear without a trace in many children, and only in a small proportion of healthy children obsessive movements that have become habitual for the child remain.

In older children, this may include some ritual actions, such as twitching a leg or arm, licking or biting lips or nails, tapping fingers, crossing legs, scratching behind the ear, etc. Such actions may occur during times of emotional stress or extreme anxiety. Their monotonous repetition and familiarity distract from irritating external factors and relieve tension and anxiety. The child takes some movements with him into adulthood, and they periodically remind themselves during times of severe stress.

Pathological stereotypies - have a clear, rhythmic, monotonous repetition of the same movement (or speech) for quite a long time. Such stims often occur in cases of disturbances in the functioning of the brain, as well as in mental and neurological disorders. The causes may be various diseases:

• autism (early childhood autism (ECA), Asperger's syndrome)
• Rett syndrome
• schizophrenia
• Tourette's syndrome
• mental retardation
• congenital blindness and deafness
• neuroacanthocytosis
• Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
• obsessive-compulsive syndrome
• minimal brain dysfunction (MMD)

Regardless of the disease, stereotypies in each child usually include one, or at most several, repetitive movements. They can intensify under stress, or regress under calm conditions over time. But they do not tend to change with age.

Also, there is speech repetition - echolalia. One of the types of monotonous speech behavior when a child repeats like an echo sounds or whole words taken from other sources (for example, from a song or a previous conversation). Most often, this phenomenon is characteristic of autistic children.

Stereotypes should be distinguished from nervous tics and compulsive behavior.