Delayed speech development in children: causes, diagnosis and correction

Stages of child speech development

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. 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. Don't put it off until later.

Article:

Currently, there is a rapid increase in the number of non-speaking children and children with certain speech disorders.
The prevalence of speech disorders, the variety of their causes, and the need to organize adequate assistance for children make this issue especially relevant. Modern scientific research proves that the first two to three years of life are decisive for a child’s development. Early childhood refers to critical periods of ontogenesis in the formation of all organs and systems. Today, up to 80% of newborns are physiologically immature, about 70% have diagnosed perinatal damage to the central nervous system (minimal cerebral dysfunction, perinatal encephalopathy, movement disorder syndromes, hyperexcitability, etc.), who subsequently experience a lag in psychophysical and speech development. The pathology suffered by the child in the perinatal period has a negative impact on the development of speech and at the age of 4-5 years he has various speech disorders: OSD, FFN, erased dysarthria - minimal dysarthria disorders and others. [1] Symptoms of these disorders were present from birth, however, the lack of a correct scientifically based approach to assessing a child’s mental development at the pre-speech level leads to late diagnosis of pathologies in young children and untimely provision of not only medical, but also psychological, pedagogical and speech therapy assistance.

According to educational psychologists, the period of early childhood has some psychophysiological features that distinguish it from subsequent age periods: the fastest pace of development; instability and incompleteness of emerging skills; greater physical and mental vulnerability of children, lability of their condition; interdependence and unity of physical and mental development; high plasticity and easy learning; high development potential; spasmodic and uneven development process; the dependence of children’s reactions on the nature of their emotional state; the need to receive sensory stimulation and active movement; the need to communicate with adults (parents, teachers), as well as with peers. [2]

There are age standards for speech development. They are described repeatedly and in detail in the relevant literature. It is the norms of speech development that are fundamental in diagnosis. But since each child has individual characteristics of speech development, it is advisable to consult a neurologist, audiologist, speech therapist who works with young children, or a child psychologist.

Children differ from each other in terms of development of both phonemic perception and the formation of motor skills of the speech apparatus. For timely and accurate diagnosis of speech disorders in children, it is necessary to take into account the patterns of normal speech development. The specificity of speech diagnostics lies in the fact that speech disorders most often do not have the nature of an independent disease, but are only one of the symptoms of the underlying disease.

Early detection and early comprehensive correction of deviations in speech development from the first years or even months of a child’s life make it possible to prevent the occurrence of further deviations in his development. In this regard, new diagnostic technologies for early detection and correction of deviations in the speech development of children are being created and put into practice. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to data analysis is necessary, and qualitative differences between an abnormal and a normal child can only be established by comparing quantitative indicators.

The diagnosis of possible disorders of the pre-speech stage of development must begin at the stage of the maternity hospital and neonatal pathology departments, i.e. in the neonatal period. Delay in speech development is detected from the first weeks and months of life. Newborns at this age may experience a number of different types of pathological changes: in the motor sphere (impaired visual-motor coordination, general muscle tone and manipulative activity); in the structure and functioning of the articulatory apparatus (irregular shape of the hard palate, underdevelopment of the lower jaw, massive tongue, shortened hyoid ligament, impaired muscle tone of the facial muscles and muscles of the tongue, lips); voices (voice monotonous, exhausted, lacking intonation expressiveness); breathing (shallow, arrhythmic); in the emotional sphere (difficulty in establishing emotional contact, late appearance of positive emotions, lack of interest in the environment and the need to communicate with adults). [3]

The main part of diagnostic activity is determining the speech status of the examined child, determining the presence of speech pathology, its structure and severity. The initial theoretical basis for developing the principles of diagnosis and organization of correctional work was the doctrine of patterns, compensatory and reserve capabilities, as well as the driving forces of child development.

During the examination, it is necessary to pay special attention to the patterns of child development in the early stages of ontogenesis, using anamnesis data. During an individual examination, it is important to find out the characteristics of behavior and those main deviations or speech disorders that will allow you to substantiate a speech therapy conclusion. [4, p. 3]

Currently, there are many options for speech therapy examination of young children (starting from birth) with various speech development disorders, including speechless children. Each specialist usually develops his own methodology based on the classical ones. Depending on the purpose and focus of the examination, as well as the qualifications of the teacher, a different number of indicators of the child’s speech and general development are included in the diagnosis. It makes no sense to wait until the child speaks on his own, stops being lazy, speaks as a result of visiting kindergarten, etc., because you can miss a favorable period for speech development. Parents with “silent” children who are already four, five or more years old often seek advice. In such cases, correctional work is long, difficult and, unfortunately, does not always lead to the desired result. An early age provides great opportunities for correcting speech disorders due to the plasticity of the child’s psyche and sensitivity to various kinds of psychological and pedagogical influences.

It is important to identify not only the delay in the formation of speech functions, but also differentiation - whether this delay is benign (tempo) or pathological, requiring urgent speech therapy and medication correction. There are various classification options for this pathology, which have become widespread, but none of them meets the requirements of expert practice for several reasons: either such an important parameter as the severity of the disorders is not taken into account, or the principle of nosological homogeneity of the classified groups is not observed. [5]

In the process of examining children with speech pathology, it is necessary to be able to differentiate alalia and other speech development disorders (speech underdevelopment in mental retardation; speech disorders in early childhood autism, deafness or hearing loss; aphasia; dysarthria; temporary delays in speech development of a functional nature) in order to correctly assess the significance (persistence and severity) of disorders of language and speech functions and determine the set of necessary rehabilitation measures.

Thanks to the successes of neuropsychology, it has been established that speech has a dynamic cerebral localization; scientists have identified specific zones that carry out its different aspects. The integrative work of all speech zones ensures the implementation of the speech function as a whole, but different parts of the brain have priority in providing its individual types. [6] If the activating influence of the frontal lobes is insufficient, delays in psycho-speech development are formed: with minor disturbances - tempo (which are subsequently, as a rule, overcome), with severe ones - up to an intellectual defect. Rate delay in speech development (RDS) in its manifestations can be similar to delayed mental development. In children with only tempo developmental developmental development, as a rule, in contrast to children with delayed mental development, all non-speech functions are developed in accordance with age norms and the deficiency is directly manifested only in expressive speech. Comprehension in cases of delayed speech development is usually preserved.

The main point is to understand that similar speech states in different children of the same age are caused by different reasons. As a result, one of the children will speak on his own because he had a delay in speech development; another will benefit from classes with a special psychologist and speech therapist; the third will never speak because he will not be shown to a specialist in time and will not receive the necessary treatment; the fourth stopped speaking as a result of acute stress disorder. One child does not speak because he has severe organic brain damage and needs specially organized comprehensive classes to stimulate speech development, another did not have the need to speak due to the child’s pedagogical neglect, then work with parents is necessary first of all.

Thus, the causes of speech disorders may be a general lag in the mental development of the child, pathology of pregnancy and childbirth, the consequences of perinatal encephalopathy, dysfunction of sensory integration, the presence of damage to the articulatory apparatus, damage to the hearing organ, the influence of heredity and unfavorable social factors (insufficient communication, improper upbringing conditions ), various somatic and psychoneurological diseases of the child, various kinds of psychological trauma, overstimulation of visual information due to the abundance of television shows, cartoons and educational programs for children [7] Difficulties in learning speech occur in children with retarded physical development who have suffered severe diseases caused by malnutrition. Also, delayed speech development may be associated with the presence of autism in a child.

Speech therapy work on the prevention of speech disorders in young children at risk should be built taking into account the main provisions of special pedagogy in the field of early intervention: early targeted and differentiated “step-by-step” training; use of specific methods, techniques, teaching aids; individualization of training; mandatory inclusion of parents in the developmental process. The speech development of young children is very flexible, therefore it is necessary to correctly develop and select a program of correctional and developmental education to increase the level of general speech development of children and prevent possible speech development disorders in the future.

Literature

Chirkina G.V. Current problems in the development of speech therapy science // Defectology. - 2012. - No. 1. - P. 3–9.

A guide for practical psychologists and other specialists working with young children / M. G. Borisenko, O. E. Kamyshnikova, T. F. Kiryanova, N. N. Rachkovskaya. – St. Petersburg: Paritet, 2008. – 64 p.

Differential diagnosis of speech disorders in children of preschool and school age: Method. recommendations / compiled by L. V. Venediktova and others. St. Petersburg: Childhood - Press, 2010

Volkova G.A. Methods for examining speech disorders in children. – SPb.: RGPU im. A.I. Herzen, 1993. – 45 p.

Vladimirova I.A., Kolyado V.B., Lobanov Yu.F., Goncharenko A.G., Samarin B.A., Akimov E.I. and others. Medical and social examination of speech pathology in children. Toolkit. Barnaul – 2007

Wiesel T.G. Fundamentals of neuropsychology. M. - 2005.

Efimov O.I., Efimova V.L. 15 myths about children's speech. Dialogues between a neurologist and a speech therapist about children's speech. — “Publishing house “Dilya”, 2013. — 224 p.

How does speech development delay manifest itself?

Delayed speech development (DSD) is a pathology characterized by a violation of the timing of the appearance of speech, a reduced vocabulary, and defects in sound pronunciation and grammatical structure of speech. 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.

Experts distinguish three degrees of ZRR:

1. Mild degree of RRD – absence of pathologies of the nervous system. Violations of the emotional-volitional sphere are possible.
2. Moderate degree of mental retardation - a delay in speech development is combined with lesions of the nervous system. Such children may experience tremors, paralysis of the organs of articulation, tics, as well as various disturbances in the functioning of mental processes.
3. Severe degree of mental retardation is typical for children with lesions of the speech areas of the brain. In this case, there are serious difficulties in mastering speech in combination with disorders of memory, attention, thinking, and voluntary regulation (self-control).

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.

Depending on the degree of mental retardation, an individual route of correctional work is determined. Children with severe speech development disorders require long-term support from various specialists.

International magazine

All children with intellectual disabilities have deficiencies in speech development. The specific features that define each type of developmental disorder are significantly fewer than those that serve as criteria for differential diagnosis [1].

First of all, this is due to the patterns of development of children with intellectual disabilities, and to the fact that special psychology at the present stage does not have enough comparative scientific research. The implementation of scientific developments in this area would significantly expand the possibilities for diagnosing speech development in children with mental retardation [2].

An analysis of the characteristics of the speech and mental development of children with intellectual disabilities shows that the correct assessment of mental development and the delimitation of mentally retarded children, especially with atypical forms (a combination of intellectual disabilities with various forms of alalia) from children with delayed speech development is a complex diagnostic task, especially in preschool age.

The greatest difficulty in making a speech diagnosis is observed in children with a history of cerebral palsy: the established diagnosis of “alalia” is often refuted and another type of speech disorder is diagnosed, in particular a spastic-rigid form of dysarthria, combining both pyramidal and extrapyramidal symptoms.

In this regard, the question of the role of the effectiveness of methods for diagnosing the speech development of children with intellectual disabilities is especially acute. A diagnostic study of a child with phenomena of speech disorders, as well as with other types of deviations in the psychophysical state, should begin with establishing an accurate diagnosis obtained from the results of differential psychological and pedagogical diagnostics.

For diagnosing speech development, psychological and pedagogical characteristics and individual psychological characteristics of the child, which are identified by educators, parents, speech therapists, psychologists and other teachers, are important.

Establishing a speech diagnosis follows general rules, but at the same time has its own specifics.

For example, difficulty in distinguishing between phonemic dyslalia and motor alalia arises in the later stages of alalia development. This occurs at a time when only phonemic disturbances are particularly pronounced in children’s speech, while disturbances in other subsystems of the language are either completely absent or weakened [3].

Decisive for differential diagnosis in such cases is anamnesis and comparative analysis of the study of the parameters of the child’s non-speech system.

The anamnesis clarifies the features of the early development of the child, starting from the prenatal period, the nature of childbirth and early postnatal development. Particular attention should be paid to the course of pregnancy in the mother, the presence of injuries received during childbirth, and asphyxia. The nature of the diseases that the child suffered in early childhood is also important. It is important to clarify with parents how any childhood illnesses progressed, whether they were accompanied by unconsciousness, seizures or convulsions. For example, the course of common childhood diseases (measles, whooping cough, pneumonia, influenza, etc.) can be complicated by damage to the nervous system (meningoencephalitis). The specifics of the speech anamnesis include clarification of the stages of early speech development (the nature of the child’s humming and babbling, his intonation, the state of hearing, the timing of the appearance of the first words, etc.) [4]. Thus, sometimes already at the stage of collecting an anamnesis, some information can be obtained that suggests a brain disease in early childhood.

The next stage in the diagnosis of speech disorders is neurological, speech therapy and psychological-pedagogical research.

Diagnosis of speech development is usually carried out by a speech therapist using various non-standardized methods and test tasks, which are not subject to assessment requirements for validity, reliability and representativeness.

An approximate list of stimulus material [5], which is used in a speech therapy study of a child’s speech development, is given below:

To study the phonetic side of speech, object pictures are used that contain sounds in different positions in a word (for example, the beginning, end, middle) and speech material (phrases, sentences and texts that contain different sounds).

To study the vocabulary and grammatical structure of speech, object pictures depicting actions and different numbers of objects are used.

The material for studying coherent speech is story pictures or a series of story pictures for different age groups.

The psychologist in the study, on the contrary, uses only methods that meet all the criteria for diagnostic material and have been adapted on a large sample of children with similar problems.

At different stages of pedagogical research, various methods are used to study the activities and characteristics of a child’s speech development: conversation, educational experiment, observation, study of documentation and written works of children.

The choice of methods for diagnosing speech development depends on the child’s communication skills, difficulty adapting to new conditions, anxiety, sensitivity and other individual characteristics, as well as on the goals and objectives of each stage of the examination.

The specificity of speech diagnostics lies in the fact that speech disorders often do not have the character of an independent disease, but are only one of the symptoms of the underlying disease.

For psychologists and speech therapists, it is difficult to diagnose children of preschool age who, according to their medical indicators, are at risk. The tempo delay in speech development is similar in its manifestations to the delay in mental development.

Diagnosis of speech disorders in children aged two to three years is also complicated by a number of difficulties that are caused by age and the lack of standardized methods.

The main methods for diagnosing speech development disorders in the examination of children are studying anamnesis and determining intellectual development [6].

For example, numerous studies that relate to motor alalia clearly indicate that children with motor alalia have mental retardation. The nature of this delay is interpreted differently by different scientists.

Children with oligophrenia, as well as children with motor alalia, have many similar speech manifestations of disorders. The fundamental difference between alalia and speech development disorders caused by intellectual impairment is that alalia is the result of failure to assimilate the structural and functional patterns of language in ontogenesis with complete or relative preservation of non-linguistic mental processes, whereas in oligophrenia it is the result of a violation of cognitive activity.

When assessing thinking, alaliki differ significantly from mentally retarded children. Children with motor alalia solve logical problems involving classification and similarity much better than oligophrenics.

In expressive speech, children with alalia try to convey cause-and-effect relationships using the linguistic means available to them. Children with intellectual disabilities do not express cause-and-effect relationships in speech, or express them at an elementary level.

Children with alalia have a rather extensive nominative vocabulary, which they cannot update in their speech. In children with intellectual disabilities, the supply of this knowledge is extremely limited.

Taking into account the above, for differential psychological and pedagogical diagnosis of speech development of children with intellectual disabilities, it is necessary, firstly, to identify the level of actual intellectual development of the child, and secondly, to determine the structures of the identified deviation [7].

In practice, the diagnosis of speech development is very problematic, especially in preschool age, and is often based solely on professional intuition.

Causes and diagnosis of speech delay

If you suspect that your baby has a delay in speech development, you should definitely seek specialized help. The following specialists will help you most accurately determine the causes of RRD:

• Pediatrician (assessment of the child’s overall development);
• Neurologist (study of the state of the brain, gross and fine motor skills);
• Otolaryngologist (hearing test);
• Psychologist (assessment of the level of mental development);
• Speech therapist (examination of articulation organs, diagnostics of the level of speech understanding, study of vocabulary, sound pronunciation, grammatical structure of speech, phrasal speech).
• In some cases, additional examination by a defectologist, audiologist, orthodontist, or psychiatrist may be required.

The reasons for delayed speech development may be the following:

1. Biological causes: birth injuries, prematurity, minimal brain dysfunction, inflammatory diseases (encephalitis, meningitis), increased intracranial pressure, hearing diseases, heredity.
2. Psychological reasons: lack of communication, overprotection, poor environment, and so on.

Correction of mental retardation in children

Methods for correcting and treating speech delay depend on the cause of the disorder and are established by specialists after diagnostic examinations. In some cases, doctors prescribe medication and massages. We will tell you in general terms about how to help your child learn to speak at home. These classes will be a good addition to working with specialists.

• Verbal communication with loved ones. Communication leads to development. Playing together with adults, emotional intimacy is something without which the harmonious development of the baby is impossible. Try to ask your child questions more often, encourage dialogue and joint exploration of the world.
• Exploring the world around us. It is necessary to support the child’s cognitive interest in every possible way, develop observation, thinking and imagination. To help your child develop a holistic picture of the world, walk with your child more often, talk and ask questions, read books, play, and conduct experiments.
• Development of auditory perception. Auditory perception makes it possible to understand speech, recognize various sounds of nature, household noises and hear music. An example of an exercise from this category is the game “Whose Sound?” An adult hides behind a screen and uses objects to make various sounds: rustling a bag, tearing paper, knocking with spoons, ringing a bell, pouring water, and so on. The baby must guess which object each sound corresponds to.

Regularity and consistency are important in speech development. When working with your baby at home, start by practicing simple skills and only when they are accessible to the baby, then move on to more complex exercises.

• Breathing exercises. The formation of speech breathing is the most important stage in the development of coherent and correct speech in a preschooler. The most effective way to develop it in preschool children is breathing exercises, which contribute to the formation of a smooth and sufficiently long exhalation and practice of pronouncing sounds and syllables. You can read more about breathing exercises in one of our previous articles.
• Articulation gymnastics. Speech or articulation gymnastics promotes the development of speech organs. Your baby will definitely enjoy these fun exercises and will help him learn to pronounce sounds correctly.
• Finger games are a unique way to develop a baby. They are a kind of massage and gymnastics for the fingers and toes. The movements are usually accompanied by short, funny poems, and children repeat them with pleasure. For kids, finger games are an independent activity, and for older preschoolers they can become a warm-up between exercises.
• Development of fine motor skills: playing with water and bulk materials, modeling, appliqué, drawing, lacing and much more. Choose games that your child likes, because pleasure from the process also plays an important role in the development of the baby.

The problem of prevention and early diagnosis of speech disorders

Tatiana Borisova

The problem of prevention and early diagnosis of speech disorders

A preschool educational institution is the first and most responsible link in the general system of public education. Mastery of the native language is one of the most important acquisitions of a child in preschool childhood. It is preschool childhood that is especially sensitive to speech acquisition. Therefore, the process of speech development is considered in modern preschool education as the general basis for raising and educating children. To provide effective speech therapy assistance, it is necessary to promptly identify the child’s existing disorders . Timely and correct identification speech deficiencies will help the speech therapist determine what kind of help they need and how to more effectively provide it. Having early and adequate help for a child makes it possible to much more quickly compensate for disturbances in the child’s speech development and thereby mitigate, and possibly prevent, deviations. With early diagnosis and timely correctional intervention, some children, despite the complexity of the defect, by the age of 3-5 years approach age standards in terms of general and speech development.

Problem . problems with sound pronunciation , poor expressive speech, and, in some cases, delayed speech development in children aged 2 to 3 years has increased significantly From this category, children are subsequently identified speech development allows them to be classified as a “risk group for general speech underdevelopment”

.
The main signs of these speech deviations are a pronounced deficiency in the child’s vocabulary and the late appearance of phrases, prerequisites for defective sound pronunciation. Early age is a period of intensive development of all mental functions. The main new development of this period is the mastery of speech, which becomes the foundation for the further development of the child. Therefore, it is important to notice and correct the delay in the formation of speech function , stimulate its development, promoting the full development of the child.
Unfavorable demographic processes in our society are accompanied by a sharp deterioration in the health of children. According to statistics, up to 80% of newborns are physiologically immature; perinatal disorders account for more than 60% of all pathology of the nervous system, directly contributing to the occurrence of general speech underdevelopment in children.

However, there are a number of difficulties that prevent the possibility of obtaining it, despite the fact that pathology of speech development can be identified in the first years of a child’s life:

• modern correctional programs are focused primarily on working with children aged 4.5-5 years with general speech underdevelopment;

• correctional work is aimed at correcting existing speech disorders , and not at their prevention, identification and timely speech therapy intervention at the age of 2-3 years;

• the lack of a program for young does not provide an opportunity to realize the potential of the “sensitive period”

in the development of children’s speech and avoid the appearance of general speech underdevelopment in the future;

• no assistance programs have been developed for families of “at-risk” young

;

• there is a problem of professional training of speech therapists to work with young .

• the existence of a shortage of places in special groups (for children 2-3 years old, as a result - lost time to prevent speech delays and an undecreasing number of pupils - speech pathologists in kindergarten with deviations in speech development .

Early stimulation of speech development in children is relevant at the present time and corresponds to the general priorities of the development of education in the Russian Federation.

the problem of early identification and corrective education of preschool children with speech disorders is becoming increasingly important . The works of L. S. Vygotsky, N. G. Morozova, R. E. Levina, M. S. Pevzner, N. S. Zhukova, Yu. F. Garkushi indicate the need for an early start of correctional work with children with speech development _ In the specialized literature, issues of diagnosis young children are discussed by the following authors: N. M. Aksarina, G. V. Pantyukhina, K. L. Pechora, E. L. Frucht, E. M. Mastyukova, T B. Filicheva, V. P. Balobanova, E. V. Kirillova, O. E. Gromova, N. N. Matveeva, E. A. Strebeleva, etc. All of them highlight the following areas of preventive young children age : development of visual and auditory perception, emotional reactions, normalization of muscle tone and the functioning of the organs of the articulatory apparatus, hands and fingers, development of general movements and actions with objects, normalization of breathing, development of understanding of speech and the prerequisites for active speech, development of interaction between an adult and a child. It is the use of the sensitive period of development that is successful in correcting speech disorders . An analysis of the literature on the research topic indicates the need for a comprehensive preventive developmental impact on the somatic, psychomotor spheres and speech of young . The formation of attention, perception, memory, thinking, general, fine, articulatory motor skills in parallel with the development of speech will contribute to the motor, cognitive and speech development of a young child . The age from 2 to 3 years is of particular importance in the lives of children: it has enormous opportunities for forming the foundations of a future adult personality, especially its intellectual development. At this time, such intensive brain development occurs that will not occur in any of the subsequent periods of life. It is during this sensitive period that the foundations of intelligence, thinking, and high mental activity are laid.

In this age interval, two are observed (the first - 1-2 years of life and the second - 3 years)

of three critical periods in the development
of speech function . Any, even seemingly insignificant, unfavorable factors operating during these periods can affect the development of the child’s speech. Therefore, already at this “favorable”
age, it is important to provide speech therapy assistance to eliminate
speech disorders .
If we identify the likelihood of speech underdevelopment and begin speech therapy work during the sensitive period of formation of higher mental function, this will make it possible to use all the advantages of sensitivity and, therefore, prevent or mitigate speech disorders , and in some cases even eliminate them, thereby ensuring the full development of the child. Also, scientific experiments have shown that well-organized early correction can prevent the appearance of secondary developmental deviations, and for a significant part of children, provide the opportunity to be included in the general educational stream at an earlier stage of age development.

A major role in the search for effective solutions to the problem of early intervention was played by the modern rethinking of the provisions of the outstanding Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky on the social development of infants and their relationships with adults, as well as on the use of favorable early periods to prevent socially determined lag and associated secondary developmental deviations. Young children have special educational needs and are in dire need of comprehensive, qualified psychological and pedagogical assistance.

Thus, the earlier the work begins, the sooner it is possible to teach the child speech: this is explained, first of all, by the fact that the younger the child, the less he notices his defect, and the less embarrassed he is about his speech. In addition, a small child’s horizons are narrower, his thoughts are simpler, the speech he needs should be more elementary in structure and poorer in vocabulary than the speech of an older preschooler. Consequently, you can master it and catch up with your peers in a shorter period of time. Without special correctional work, teaching children with severe impairments in a public school becomes impossible. In addition, even a relatively small delay in the development of speech leaves a heavy mark on the development of the child, inhibits the formation of intelligence, and distorts character.

In the structure of the domestic healthcare, education and training system, there are specialized institutions for children with speech pathology , but not all young are covered by timely not only preventive , but even correctional and developmental work. Most of them attend general education preschool institutions, where there is no early psychological, medical and pedagogical assistance to children. Traditional technologies do not take into account the characteristics of children with speech , which reduces the effectiveness of developmental activities. In this regard, there is a need to look for new forms of speech therapy work with young .

Modern studies of the development of children of early and early preschool age indicate that the level of neuropsychic and speech development of the majority of children entering kindergarten does not correspond to the age norm. young children are observed in the development of those functions that are formed during this sensitive period. First of all, this is active speech and sensorimotor development, since from 2 to 3 years it is these functions that are most sensitive to the influence of unfavorable biological factors:

• deterioration of the environmental situation;

• iodine and fluorine deficiency;

• pregnancy pathologies;

• birth injuries;

• poor health of children;

• underdevelopment of the organs of the articulatory apparatus.

The following are identified as social reasons causing deviations in the development of these functions:

• unfavorable speech education of the child ;

• decline in the speech culture of society as a whole.

A modern child, who spends a long time in front of a TV and computer screen, does not perceive the linguistic norm of his native language and articulation; his communication is limited to the use of gestures and facial expressions, delaying speech development .

The nature of violations of the pronunciation side of the speech of children entering preschool educational institutions indicates failures in the formation of the speech system in the early stages of development : defects in the pronunciation of sounds of early ontogenesis ([g], [x], [t], [d], softening of consonants, interdental and lateral sigmatisms, confusion of sounds both in place and method of articulation, and in acoustic characteristics, which indicates underdevelopment of phonemic hearing.

The lack of preventive measures to prevent speech disorders in early preschool age can lead to disruption of the communication process , difficulties in adapting to the children's team, speech negativism , and secondary delay in cognitive activity.

Speech therapy work on the prevention of speech disorders in young children should be built taking into account the basic provisions of special pedagogy in the field of early intervention ( early targeted and differentiated “step-by-step”

education; use of specific methods, techniques, teaching aids; deeper differentiation and individualization of learning; mandatory inclusion of parents in the developmental process.

conclusions

Speech development is a complex process, and it occurs differently for each child. 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 must definitely consult with specialists to rule out health problems and delayed speech development.