How to teach a child to speak at 2 years old? Tips for parents

Lack of speech in children aged two years often becomes a cause for concern for parents. They are puzzled by questions like how to teach a baby to speak? Is the child developmentally behind his peers? Or maybe you should have sounded the alarm a long time ago and turned to specialists for help?

Parental attitude towards the “silence” of their two-year-old child is divided into two categories:

Excessive concern. When a child at 18 months does not know the alphabet and does not communicate in detailed sentences, unlike the neighbor's boy Sasha, who at 2 years old spoke in complex sentences.
Ignoring the problem. When doctors agree on a common opinion and diagnose “developmental delay”, and parents persistently ignore this fact. It seems to them that the baby is absolutely healthy and there is no problem.

The term “speech development delay” (SSD) refers to the slow pace of acquisition of oral speech by children under three years of age.

Normal or pathological?

The development of each child occurs according to an individual schedule, as does the formation of speech. The verbal communication skills of 2-year-old children are so individual that they can differ significantly among peers born within a couple of months of each other. But all children, without exception, experience the main periods of speech development.

Stages and conditional norms of speech development:

2-3 months - partying. The baby reacts to the voices of mom and dad. He begins to make his first sounds, responding in his own way to his parents’ calls. At this stage, dialogical speech is formed.
4-8 months – babbling. The child repeats the simplest syllables of vowels and consonants (cha-cha, nya-nya-nya, boo-boo). Some mothers are happy when they hear the first word “ma-ma” from their child. In fact, this is a random repeated syllable, the meaning of which the baby is not yet aware of.
9-12 months – the baby imitates the speech sounds of adults. During this period, the passive vocabulary is actively replenished (words that he hears and understands, but does not pronounce).
At 12-18 months, the child pronounces his first conscious words, knows and pronounces the sounds of some animals, understands and responds to requests from adults (“put it down,” “sit down,” “bring it,” “eat”). When pronouncing words, the child may “lose” or “replace” sounds and syllables (kotka – “kotka”).
2 years – formation of an active vocabulary. The baby learns to put words into sentences and express his thoughts.
3 years – the child’s speech becomes understandable to others. He easily formulates his demands, asks questions, actively uses verbs, conjunctions, prepositions in his speech, and is familiar with quantitative concepts (“many”, “one”).

There is no single age standard according to which a child should speak.

For most children, this occurs from 14-18 months from the moment of their birth.

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.

What signs indicate delayed speech development?

There is no need to worry if the baby is sociable, smart, communicates with family members and others using gestures and sounds, responds to your requests, understands the words you say to him, and is capable of onomatopoeia. Such children can stubbornly remain silent until they are three years old, but then they actively begin to talk, even surpassing their peers. We are talking about a tempo delay in speech when the baby spoke on his own, without any measures taken. This is a normal phenomenon that can occur in a completely healthy child. But there is another problem when a delay in speech development is an alarming “bell” signaling serious violations.

What parents should be wary of:

After 3-4 weeks from the moment of birth, the baby has no reaction to the voices of adults.
No noise in 2-4 months.
At 8-9 months, no sounds or babbling are heard from the child.
At 1-1.5 years old, does not pronounce simple syllables (ma-ma, boo-boo), does not respond to his name.
Since the age of one and a half years, he has not heard words or requests. There are problems with chewing food.
Doesn't use gestures, achieves everything only by crying.
At 2 years old, he cannot speak in phrases, does not strive to learn new words, confuses body parts, does not know the names of elementary objects, and cannot point to them. The vocabulary is scanty, no more than 20 words.

The final diagnosis of RRD can only be made by doctors after a comprehensive examination.

Why does “earlier” mean “better”?

The child's body is unique in its ability to compensate. Absolutely all doctors say that the earlier a disease or developmental pathology is detected, the easier it is to eliminate it.

In particular, teaching a small child to speak is much easier. At this age, the most active processes of speech formation take place. Right now it will be much easier for him to catch up with his actively chatting peers. 13 ways to teach a child to speak at 2-3 years old.

In addition, long-term speech delay leads to other troubles - mental retardation. Correct speech and the ability to communicate give the child the opportunity to develop. Lack of communication inhibits the formation of cognitive processes and the emotional-volitional sphere. Ultimately, the child will fall far behind his peers. The preschool period is characterized by the most active development of all areas. This means that by the time school arrives, the gap will be very serious.

What caused the delay in speech development?

The reasons for the development of speech are divided into physiological and social.

Physiological reasons:

Perinatal pathologies (threat of miscarriage during pregnancy, prematurity, asphyxia during childbirth).
Heredity.
Lesions of the central nervous system due to intrauterine and birth injuries, infectious and viral diseases at an early age.
Hearing impairment.
Skull injuries.
Poor development of the speech apparatus, impaired articulation - lips, tongue, facial muscles, soft palate.
Diseases of a neurological nature.

When a developed and absolutely healthy baby at 2 years old does not speak or does it very poorly, the reasons may be of a social nature:

The child is deprived of parental attention.
The baby, on the contrary, is too surrounded by the care of his family and does not feel the need for verbal communication. All his demands are immediately fulfilled, you just need to show with a gesture what he needs. Mothers, having heard a slurred word, immediately understand what it is about. The baby gets used to this attitude and is lazy to talk.
Unfavorable family environment, constant stress.
Staying away from mother.
The family communicates in two or more languages.
Integrity and stubbornness. The child resists in every possible way the attempts of adults to teach him to speak, showing his character.
Until the age of 2-3 years, children accumulate vocabulary, and after that they begin to use phrases and extended sentences.

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.

What measures to take in case of ZRR?

If you suspect your baby has a delay in speech development, do not put off visiting a specialist.

It is important to take timely measures, since this problem has a steady increase in dynamics, which will subsequently lead to the formation of a delay in psycho-speech development (DSRD) in the child.

Some parents mistakenly believe that speech therapists treat mental disorders. But they will only teach the child to speak various sounds, make sentences orally, and conduct speech therapy massage of the speech apparatus to improve diction.

In case of mental retardation, in addition to a speech therapist, you will need to consult the following specialists:

neurologist;
speech pathologist;
child psychologist.

Only a specialist will be able to identify the problem, if any, and prescribe the correct treatment.

My child does not speak, is silent, speaks little, speaks poorly!

At a Sarclinic consultation, parents ask: “ Why doesn’t a 3-year-old child speak, doesn’t speak , what should I do?” “ A 4-year-old child speaks poorly and is silent !” “Why doesn’t a boy speak for 5 years, where should I go?” “A 6-year-old girl does not speak, speaks poorly, how to treat?” “ Why does a child speak poorly or say few words? “ How to teach a child to speak and talk?” “What to do if a preschooler, schoolchild, boy, girl does not speak in sentences, as if he has porridge in his mouth?” “How to help a child if speech development suffers, there is no active speech, speech centers suffer, and there is no vocabulary?” “Children younger than us form sentences, and we moo, where should we turn if just mooing is all?” “When will the baby start talking?” Let's look at the main reasons why babies don't speak.

Tempo delay in speech development

A communicative “push” will help to bring the child out of the state of delayed speech. They benefit from communication with speaking peers, speech games and exercises, and classes with a speech therapist, which help children develop speech.

The lion's share of the work on developing the baby's speech will fall on the parents themselves. They are the best teachers for their child.

The tempo delay can be corrected by parents independently. It is enough to approach your work responsibly and devote several hours a day to activities with children.

Techniques and exercises:

Do not use the TV as background noise, as this negatively affects the speech development of the baby.
Play educational games. This includes sorters, cubes, cut cards, and inserts.
Read books, poems, nursery rhymes, and fairy tales to your child before bed.
Sing funny children's songs and bedtime lullabies.
Look at pictures of animals with your child and talk about them.
Watch animated films together, saying the names of the characters and the actions of the heroes.
Let's drink liquid (compotes, juices, milkshakes) from a straw. This will strengthen the muscles of the mouth and make it easier to reproduce words.

What you should absolutely not do in relation to your baby:

Compare your child with other people's talking children of friends, relatives, neighbors. Remember that your baby is unique and develops on his own schedule.
Turn a blind eye to the existing problem. If the baby still shows signs of delayed speech development, you should not let the situation take its course, you should immediately visit a specialist.
Obsess over. When children at 2 years old have not yet begun to speak, mothers fall into despair. All their thoughts are occupied with one thing: how to make a child speak?

Reason 4. Bilingual family

Bilingual children “have the right” to begin to speak with some lag behind the norm. Hearing different languages spoken around them, they find themselves in a more difficult situation than their peers who only need to master one language.

In order to correctly construct speech, a child needs to separate one language from another. This requires some time. So it is quite possible that there is a delay in the onset of speech formation, the absence of common sentences, and errors in the grammatical construction of phrases.

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.

Reason 5. Stress, unfavorable psychological environment

Unfortunately, stress affects not only adults, but also children. Severe fear, an uncomfortable psychological climate in the family, even quarrels between parents can cause a delay in speech formation. Children need calm, positive emotions and a reasonable daily routine.

Strong experiences, fear, and psychological trauma can lead to stuttering and delayed speech and mental development.

Separately, it is worth highlighting the problem of “hospitalism” in children. Absent speech syndrome caused by separation from family in institutionalized children is associated with both psychological stress and communication deficits. Unfortunately, cases of this syndrome also occur in domestic children. Formal child care without established communication, love and attention from loved ones provokes developmental delays.

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.