Each mother looks forward to when her baby learns to pronounce the first words. But even after this joyful event, the anxiety is not getting smaller. Is it critical if at two years old the child does not speak in sentences? How to deal if a child pronounces sounds distorted, simplifies words? Let's talk about how to teach a child to speak correctly without a speech therapist, as well as about some common mistakes of parents.
Why is the baby silent?
Speech therapists from different countries note that modern children begin to speak later than the generation of their parents. In addition, they have more violations with the pronunciation of sounds. Very often, parents come to the reception asking how to teach a two-year-old child how to talk. Although, according to the norms, at this age you already need to speak in simple sentences.
The reasons for the lag can be as follows:
- Disorders of psychophysical development. These include hearing problems, abnormal structure of the speech apparatus, neurological and mental illnesses. This is due to the poor health of mom and dad, birth injuries.
- Underdevelopment of the muscles of the tongue, lips, jaw. The reason may be the constant sucking of the nipples, eating exclusively soft food.
- An unfavorable situation in the family, in which the baby does not feel safe, closes.
- Lack of attention. Sometimes all communication with a child in the family comes down to caring for him, the rest of the time he is left to his own devices or sitting in front of the TV.
- Multilingual environment. If mom speaks Russian and father speaks English, the child will later say his first words. But immediately - in two languages.
- "Speech negativity" when the baby does not speak because of obstinacy. As a rule, this is due to excessive pressure from adults who forced him to repeat words and scolded him for mistakes.
Speech development in infants
To prevent lag, you need to have an idea of generally accepted standards. A newborn child can report his problems in one way - a loud cry. However, as early as one month of age, babies begin to make vowels. Moreover, kids with hearing impairment do this. From 3 to 6 months, babies are actively developing walk. Sounds "aaaaaa", "guuuu" and others they pull with different intonations. Interestingly, speakers of different languages can easily recognize their little compatriots by walking.
After six months, babies appear babble. Now they are learning to pronounce syllables from consonants and vowels. At the same time, combinations similar to the words: "mother", "woman" can accidentally slip. However, the infant does not yet give meaning to the sound envelope. No babble is observed in children with hearing problems. Its absence is an occasion to turn to specialists.
Also, at 7-9 months, babies develop an understanding of speech. They can show where the mom or favorite toy is. Children clearly determine the mood of a person by his intonation, trying to repeat the words. You can teach your child to talk by properly dealing with him. Then by the year there are already meaningful words. In the baby’s speech, they can be from 3 to 10.
What do adults do?
How to teach a child to talk? First of all, he needs regular communication with loved ones. You can start it when the baby is still in the tummy. It is proved that newborns recognize the voices of their parents, quickly calm down to the song that they heard before they were born.
Speaking with the baby, comment on all your actions, name objects. Children perceive songs, rhythmic verses well. Speak emotionally, clearly, change intonations. Percussion vowels are best stretched a bit. Bend over to see the correct articulation, open your mouth exaggeratedly or stretch out your lips. From the first months, engage the baby in the dialogue, giving time for an answer.
With a six-month-old baby, roll over, repeating his babble. He will answer you. When contact is established, suggest repeating the new syllables after you: "ha-ha-ga", "tuk-tuk-tuk". At this time, learn the names of toys, objects and the sounds they make: “This is a cat, she says“ meow-meow. ”And here is the machine. She buzzes:“ BBC! ”Covering the toys with a scarf, play hide and seek. Teach the baby to show where the familiar item is.
Speech development in one year old babies
If by the age of 12 months a child can pronounce no more than 10 words, then in half a year their number increases by 3 times. Often children speak a language incomprehensible to others. At this age, it is characteristic:
- pronouncing predominantly open syllables - "ma", "di", "tu";
- the use of onomatopoeia or syllables instead of words ("meow" is a cat, "ki" is a book);
- using a variety of intonations to express your emotions.
At the same time, the passive dictionary is actively updated. Kids understand the speech of adults, show the named subject in a book. They carefully listen to conversations, try to answer. Parents often wonder how to properly teach their child to talk in a year if he does not make any attempts. Let's get acquainted with the advice of speech therapists.
Tips for Moms
Unfortunately, there are no magic ways. If you don’t know how to teach your child to talk in a year, develop a habit of not being silent. Communicate with the baby, paying his attention to objects around. Do not distort words, speak correctly, slightly stretching the stressed vowel. Remember that the baby must see what it is about. If you eat, talk about delicious porridge and a round plate. When preparing for bed, learn the verb "sleep" and bedding.
Here are some more helpful tips:
- Make sure that your speech does not consist only of nouns. Avoid phrases: "This is a machine." Describe it: “Look, what a big car! It is red and can drive fast and fast. Do you remember how the car buzzes? Correctly, bbc.”
- Actively use onomatopoeia, ask the child to play them, changing the volume, intonation.
- View picture books, learn new words from them.
- Ask your child questions more often, then pause ("Where is our red dice?"). If the baby is silent, answer for him yourself ("Here he is! Give it to me!"). Avoid any coercion.
- Play together with dolls, cars, soft toys. By organizing a zoo, you repeat the names of animals. Moving the cubes in the truck for building a tower, learn a lot of new verbs, understand the directions, the concepts of "big-small", "fast-slow."
- Correctly respond to the child's pointing gestures . Do not rush to immediately submit the required item. Ask: "What do you want?" Pause, then continue: "Are you thirsty, right? Okay, now I'll pour you some water."
The development of speech in children in 1.5 years
Until this age, babies speak little. Their dominant passive accumulation of vocabulary. But from the age of one and a half years, according to the norms, active mastery of speech begins. The kid repeats everything behind others, confusing the syllables, skipping sounds or replacing them with others. The same word is used in different meanings and can be understood only on the basis of the situation. "Baba" may mean that the grandmother came to visit or, conversely, left. Or maybe it was she who gave this toy.
Closer to 2 years, children begin to combine two words into phrases ("give the ball"), understand numbers, cases, faces. All this requires the active participation of adults. How to teach a child to talk in a year and a half?
Play together
All recommendations regarding one-year-old children remain relevant. It is important to talk a lot with the baby, involving him in the dialogue. Speak the words clearly, but it's time to refuse to stretch the vowels. Do not be afraid to use complex names. Say "dolphin" instead of the generalized "fish". Avoid “repeat,” “say,” so as not to provoke a negative reaction. Much better children perceive the word "guess."
How to teach a child to talk during a fun game? The following ideas will come in handy:
- Buy your baby a toy phone, periodically talk to each other on it.
- Talk with the child on behalf of the toy, prompting dialogue. Let your character confuse the names of the items. The kid will probably want to fix it.
- Get involved in the game that interests the child. If he is building a turret, learn to count the dice: “one dice, two dice” and destroy the building with the joyful “Wham!”. If the daughter rattles dishes, offer to cook dinner for the dolls. Ask what you will cook - porridge or soup? Offer the baby to try the dish: is there enough salt, sugar?
The development of speech in children in 2 years
By this age, babies should pronounce from 100 to 300 words. During the year, their vocabulary is actively updated with verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech. Children say simple sentences, they themselves ask questions to adults. By the age of three, the number of "incomprehensible" words is significantly reduced, the first "why" appear. The active dictionary has approximately 1000 words.
At the same time, the question of how to teach a child to speak clearly is not yet raised. Distortion of sounds is quite acceptable, especially in complex words of 3-4 syllables. Most often, babies incorrectly pronounce hissing, as well as sonorous ("p", "l").
What to do to parents
How to teach a child to talk in two years? At this time, the children already understand the verbal instructions, recognize the objects by the description ("take the red little ball"). To expand the vocabulary, comprehensive classes are well suited when one topic is studied during the week (the so-called "thematic weeks"). For example, you go through the names of fruits and vegetables.
Your week may include:
- information block (reading fairy tales and poems on the topic, watching cartoons, presentations, playing with cards);
- painting pictures, modeling vegetables from plasticine, creating simple applications;
- finger games;
- visit to the real garden;
- helping mom prepare a salad or soup;
- role-playing games, during which the baby helps the toys to harvest, cooks the bunny soup.
We develop fingers
Speech therapists have long known how to teach a child to speak in a short time. We need to pay close attention to the development of fine motor skills. Parents can rub and iron the handles of a two-month-old baby. With six months comes the time of finger games. Buy toys with buttons, cubes and designers. From about a year, children cope with the inserts, by two years you can buy a mosaic, large puzzles, laces.
As early as possible, start drawing with the baby, sculpt from dough and plasticine, play with cereals, make simple crafts, applications. The more fingers are loaded, the more successful the child's speech development proceeds.
We read books
Are you tormented by the question of how to teach your child to speak sentences? Stock up on children's tales, poems, nursery rhymes. You can use them from birth. Read fairy tales emotionally, imitating the voices of heroes. If it’s hard for a child to focus on history, consider the pictures. Tell us what is painted on them, ask them to find a familiar character.
For the development of speech, it is useful to learn short poems, stage fairy tales with the help of toys, cards. From two years old, a child can take on the role of one of the characters, pronouncing his words.
We speak purely
How to teach a child to speak correctly without a speech therapist? If the baby does not have physiological problems, it is enough for him to hear the correct speech without "cursing". Although focused work on the development of the speech apparatus will also not be superfluous. Teach a 1-year-old baby to drink through a straw, chew hard fruits, crackers. Make grimaces, imitate sounds: porridge snorts - "pf", a mosquito buzzes - "and-and-and."
Special articulation exercises will develop the muscles of the tongue. The baby will be able to repeat the simplest exercises at 8 months, but it is better to start regular classes at 2 years. At this age, they are used to prevent violations. If a child after 5-6 years old has certain speech defects, special exercises are selected to correct these shortcomings.
When do I need the help of specialists?
Let's be honest: there are times when a speech therapist consultation is necessary. What signs indicate this? We list them:
- An infant of 8 months and older does not make contact with people around him, does not understand the question: "Where is mom?"
- At 2 years, the baby does not utter a single word.
- By the age of 2.5, the child does not say simple phrases ("I'm thirsty," "where is dad?").
- At 3 years old, the child speaks “his” language, while there are practically no “adult” words in his vocabulary.
- Speech appeared, and then suddenly disappeared.
- A 4-5 year old kid speaks inaudibly, distorting words beyond recognition.
- The child stutters.
- After 5 years, not all sounds are pronounced correctly.
If you are concerned about how to teach your child to talk, pay attention to one more thing. The psychological comfort of the baby is very important. When there is contention in the family, the child does not feel safe. He has no desire to express himself, to make contact. Therefore, hug your heir more often, say how you love him, how proud you are of each achievement. And then everything will surely work out.