Speech is a form of communication between people using linguistic structures. When a child is born, he does not know how to do anything and the task of an adult is to teach him everything. Teach to walk, hold a spoon, a mug, go to the potty and talk. While everything else is more or less clear, parents always have a lot of questions regarding speech. What to do if the child does not speak? If he speaks “his” language? And many, many different questions. Today we’ll talk about speech development, speech delays, examinations and more.
About speech understanding
Speech understanding is one of the criteria for assessing a child’s speech, and no less important. The child may not speak, but can fully understand speech.
Speech comprehension should also be age-appropriate.
How to determine that a child understands speech?
The assessment of the speech understanding criterion occurs at 1 month of the child’s life.
- At 1 month, the baby flinches from a voice or sound.
- At 2 months, expresses anxiety about sounds or voices.
- At 3 months, looks at the speaker.
- At 4 months, he turns his head towards the speaker and stops crying when he is reassured by speech.
- At 5 months he begins to respond to his name, but this is only if he was previously addressed by name, and not just “baby”, “bunny” and so on, otherwise he will respond to the baby and the bunny.
- At 6 months he stops when he hears the word “no” and begins to use gestures. This does not mean that the child understands what you mean by “no.” Gestures are one way of speaking, for example, when a baby reaches out to be picked up.
- At 7 months, looks at a familiar object when it is named. Use question designs like: “Where is the bird?” Where's dad? We also teach the concept no: “Where is the bird?” - the child looks at the sky - “there is no bird.” And we show our heads no. At 7 months, the child realizes where he is; to do this, we bring him to the mirror, look at him and show him, calling him by name.
By the age of one year, a child’s vocabulary is 5-9 words, of course, it can be more. These words do not appear immediately at 12 months, but gradually. The first words can appear at 6-7 months, such as “whoa - cat”, “bang - fell”, “ss - chest” and the like. If all this is missing, it is too early to talk about delayed speech development, check your hearing and continue to develop and educate your baby.
There may be not a single word at all, and this will also be a variant of the norm, since the assessment is also determined by the understanding of speech.
It is not normal if per year:
- no babble
- does not point to the object
- does not use gestures.
You can't tell a child
- I don't understand you,
- what are you whispering there?
- speak louder and clearer!
The child should know that you always understand him, even without words.
If the child’s speech level does not correspond to the norm, most likely he was not taught and this is also a variant of the norm. It is possible to train.
When is a child ready to speak?
For the first year, mother and child are in symbiosis. The baby cannot speak; his only language is crying. The mother develops an amazing ability to understand his “language” and translate it into universal human language: now the baby wants to drink, then he wants to eat, and in the evening he wants to sleep. Mom can satisfy his needs. Thanks to this, the child survives the first year.
Gradually, the baby stops latching, begins to crawl, and takes his first steps. This is a very significant event for him. Now he feels separate from his mother. He can move closer or further from her as much as he wants, he can run, he can reach the treasured shelf with a bright toy. It is at this age that the first words appear. As soon as the child begins to feel separate from the mother, the need to talk appears.
On the other hand, by the end of the first year, the mother gradually comes out of fusion with the child and loses her superpower to read minds. Now the child, in order to express himself and his needs, needs to learn to speak his mother’s language.
Why doesn't he speak?
In fact, “does not speak” is a rather loose concept. Let's give examples.
- The child does not utter any words at all, not even “yes” and “no.” For a 1.5 year old this is normal, but for a 4 year old child this is already a problem.
- Doesn't speak sentences. For 2.5 years it will be the norm. At 4 years old you already need to worry.
- The child understands spoken speech, fulfills requests and instructions, regardless of complexity, but does not speak.
- The child talks a lot, but in “his” language.
- The child speaks, but those around him do not understand him, because he replaces many sounds.
That is, in each situation the concept of “does not speak” will be different. And here it is important to understand the reason, find an approach and correct it. In some cases, it is possible to involve more specialized specialists.
It is important to understand that in the process of speech formation, understanding it is more important than pronunciation.
About the benefits of articulation gymnastics and breathing exercises
To teach a child to speak and clearly pronounce sounds, talking and communicating with him alone will not be enough. It is important to do articulation gymnastics at the same time. Training the articulatory apparatus contributes to the correct pronunciation of words in the future.
Below are several articulation gymnastics exercises. Demonstrate and explain to your child how to perform them. He will love this fun idea.
"Pendulum". Open your mouth and move your tongue like a pendulum from side to side, touching the corners of your mouth.
Using your tongue, try to reach the tip of your nose, chin, and cheeks.
"Fence". You need to close your teeth tightly so that your tongue remains behind the fence, and smile widely.
“Open and close your mouth.” Having opened your mouth, you need to stay in this position for a few seconds and then close it.
"Baby Elephant's Trunk" Pull your lips forward like a tube and breathe.
"Piglet." Move your elongated lips in a circle, left and right, up and down.
"Hamster". Take a breath into your mouth, pretending to be a hamster. Alternately deflate the left and right cheek. Then, on the contrary, pull in your cheeks strongly. Inflate and use your palms to deflate them.
What to do if he doesn't speak?
- Do not put pressure on the child.
- Constantly provide information to the child.
- Communicate with your child on any topic.
- Do not lisp and pronounce words clearly.
If the baby does not speak at all or does it poorly, there is no need to constantly ask him to say something, especially contact him with the word “tell.” Most likely the child cannot say something and hardly wants to. That is, he wants to, but he can’t.
It is important to remember that:
- Some walks, starting from 3-4 months, should be in the wakefulness interval.
- An adult should comment on some of the actions, but not like a radio, but if he were telling a 3-4 year old child. For example: “Let’s go have lunch and then go for a walk.”
- From birth we conduct a DIALOGUE with the child, not a monologue. That is, we give a pause and wait for an answer from the child, even if this does not happen. Someday he will definitely answer, be patient.
The most important thing is to praise the child if he himself simply uttered a word, sound or syllable, even if there are mistakes and it is not clear, he is still doing well because he is trying. It is also important to maintain a conversation when a child tells you something, even in his own childish language, but he must see feedback, interest, that mom and dad understand him, even if this is not the case. "Wow! Is it true? That's the story!" - this will be enough for a wave to maintain a conversation with the baby.
Komarovsky on the development of speech function
Dr. Komarovsky is a pediatrician who became famous thanks to his programs. In them, he gives recommendations to parents on children's health and education. In television programs, the doctor spoke more than once about the development of speech.
Komarovsky talks about the importance of a child’s communication with parents and people around him. According to him, the baby develops correctly when parents are present during the game. Adults help him explore the world. During communication, mom or dad teach how to throw a ball, what to do with a pyramid, and so on, and give a task (instructions). Example: “Take the ball and bring it to mom,” “Throw the ball to dad.”
While playing together, the baby learns to listen and analyze the parents’ speech. He has a desire to learn to speak, pronounce words correctly, construct phrases and sentences. This is very important, especially at the stage of transition from understanding the oral speech of others to reproducing it independently.
What is ZRR and how does it manifest itself?
SRD is a delay in speech development. In order to suspect that a child has a developmental disorder, certain signs must be present.
- At 12 months: little babbling, the child is quiet.
- At 18 months: does not understand his own name, the names of surrounding objects, or the calls “come here”, “sit down”.
- At 2 years old: uses individual words in a limited number, does not try to repeat words.
- At 2.5 years: does not know the names of body parts, environmental objects; upon request, cannot name an object or bring something within sight; cannot form simple two-word phrases, for example, “I’m hungry.” Often the child is misunderstood.
- At 3 years old: does not speak simple sentences (subject, predicate, object), does not understand simple explanations or stories about events in the past or future.
It is worth noting that a significant delay in speech development is typical for children with general developmental delay.
That is, in most cases, the fact that a child does not speak does not mean the presence of SDD.
The diagnosis of SDD can be temporary, for example, when a child at 2 years old speaks less than 50 words. This diagnosis will be temporary and means that a healthy child has minor speech problems and all that is needed is to talk to the child more.
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.
Who needs examinations?
Examinations are needed if the doctor suspects a child has speech development delay (SDD). Not all children who do not speak have this delay and not all children need testing.
If RRR is still suspected, then the following examinations are necessary.
- Examination by a pediatrician.
- Examination by a neurologist.
- Examination by a psychiatrist (included in the medical examination of children 2 years old).
Research carried out according to indications.
- Electroencephalogram (EEG and sleep monitoring. In very rare cases, a child experiences developmental regression and this is associated with a large amount of epiactivity on the EEG during sleep, when the child does not have epileptic seizures.
- MRI.
- Genetic tests.
- Examination by an audiologist, audiometry,
- Acoustic Spectrum Disorder Test.
Komarovsky's recommendations
For worried parents whose baby has not spoken by the age of 2, Dr. Komarovsky advises visiting a doctor. The examination includes consultations with a neurologist, speech therapist, psychologist, and otolaryngologist. An ENT doctor is needed to rule out deafness or hearing loss. To do this, the specialist will refer you for a hardware test called an audiogram. It will determine your hearing level and range of sounds.
A neurologist is the main specialist working with preschoolers who have delays in speech function. It will help identify the causes of speech deviations. The doctor will conduct the necessary examination (history, examination), prescribe additional techniques: neurosonography, electroencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging and others. If necessary, he will recommend therapy (Encephabol, Pantogam and other drugs), which will give impetus to the appearance of speech function.
During the examination, the neurologist will find out:
- General development of the baby (when he began to smile, walk, understand the conversation of others).
- Skills at the time of examination.
After the examination, the neurologist refers you to a speech therapist for consultation. The specialist conducts an examination and special tests for speech function. After the first visit, the speech therapist writes a conclusion and draws up a lesson plan. While working with the child, the teacher develops speech function: teaches him to pronounce sounds, words, and sentences properly.
Common pathologies that a speech therapist detects:
- Short bridle.
- Increased muscle tone of the articulatory apparatus.
Consultation with a psychologist is necessary for all children with speech impairments. The specialist will assess the state of speech function and identify pathology. A psychologist is also necessary to exclude or confirm psychological trauma, chronic stress and other conditions. Based on the results of the examination, treatment is prescribed (conversations, art therapy, trainings, dolphin therapy, etc.), if required.
Doctor's advice:
- Spend more time with your baby.
- Constantly articulate all your actions and intentions.
- Do not give your preschooler phones or tablets, and limit watching cartoons.
- Read more, memorize nursery rhymes, poems, songs.
- Do not scold your child when he refuses to say something.
- Ask questions to the baby, namely: “What do you see in the picture?”, “Who came?”, “What color is the hat?” and so on.
- Organize the baby’s communication with peers and older children.
- Protect from stressful situations and conflicts in the family.
