Many parents know that it is necessary to show the child a speech therapist before the period before he goes to school. But very often adults postpone a visit to a specialist, as they are sure that with age the baby’s speech will improve. Sometimes this does not happen ...
Speech Development Norms
When a child at 5.5 years old does not speak well, one can judge the presence of a delay in speech development. However, in order to assess the degree of deviation, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the norms. Most children reach a certain speech perfection by the age of 6, especially when adults have given their development a sufficient amount of time and attention.
The parameters of speech mastered by children by 6 years:
- Vocabulary is quite large. The child uses the words of different parts of speech. He has a decent supply of knowledge about the environment and objects.
- Mistakes made in the use of cases, prepositions, and matching words by gender and number are minimal.
- A child easily builds complex and complex sentences.
- All vowels, consonants, and sounds are pronounced more often. Sometimes there may be problems with the pronunciation of the letter "p".
- Children are able to choose the right intonation, and can also control the pace and volume of their speech.
- It is common for a child to answer questions with the help of a detailed answer. He can easily retell a story, compose a story or a fairy tale, and also come up with a description, referring to the pictures.
- Easily finds excess objects, and also knows how to generalize and distinguish concepts.
Causes
Delayed speech development in children at 5 years of age is not uncommon. Typically, speech disorders are expressed as follows:
- Disturbance of sound pronunciation.
- Speech disorders are triggered by hearing problems.
- The pace and rhythm of speech is impaired.
- Due to developmental delay, the child loses the existing pronunciation.
Consider the most common causes of delayed speech development.
- Organic - disruption of the nervous system occurred in utero. This can be: a malocclusion, a short frenulum, the structure of the articulation apparatus, rare or small teeth, a massive or narrow tongue.
- Functional - mental characteristics of the child, as well as the specifics of its development.
What should bother
If a child at 5.5 years old does not speak well, this should alert parents. The fact is that by the age of 4-5, children should speak coherently in their native language. If this does not happen, then it is time to consult a doctor.
What should bother parents:
- A child over the age of four has practically no coherent speech.
- Children talk, but they have a very poor vocabulary.
- Words and sentences are not consistent. That is, the baby can not formulate his thoughts using words.
- In the speech of the child there are many errors of lexical, grammatical and phonetic nature.
The easiest way to understand whether everything is fine with the baby with speech is possible with the help of strangers. If they understand the speech of the child, then everything is in order.
It often happens that children under the age of 3 years are fully understood only by their mother. For this period, this is considered normal, but if the child is 5 years old, then this situation is an occasion to contact a specialist.
Correction Methods
When a child of 5.5 speaks poorly, parents need to pay special attention to this. Typically, these kids are engaged with a speech therapist. And corrective work is carried out with the child on the basis of a diagnosis made by experts.
It should be noted that parents can further increase the effectiveness of the speech therapist by the fact that they will follow the recommendations at home.
Consider the most popular correction methods that you can perform at home:
- Ask your child to pick up words that are similar and different in meaning, guided by pictures.
- We teach the child to classify objects according to their shape and colors.
- Educational games for children 5-6 years old ("Living-inanimate", "Edible-inedible").
- Invite the baby to make a sentence of 3 words, then of 5 and so on.
- Consider pictures with your child, help him make stories based on the images he sees.
- Come up with simple puzzles about surrounding objects and ask your child to guess them.
- Share your opinion and emotions from walking, going to the theater, visiting excursions.
- Read your child children's fiction. After reading, ask about what he remembered.
- Invite the child to name the words in the hidden letter. For example, the letter "c" (sun, elephant, dream).
- Practice repeating verses and sayings with your child.
It is important to understand that the timely identification of problems, as well as corrective work, can correct speech defects when a child of 5.5 speaks poorly.
Speech Therapist Recommendations
In order for children at the age of five to develop correctly, and also improve their skills, speech therapists recommend:
- Exclude heredity. You must ask your close relatives about the age at which they spoke.
- Recall information about pregnancy, namely, whether the baby was full-term. Perhaps the baby had an infectious disease. These are the main reasons for the lag in speech development.
- Check for hearing problems in the child.
- Create harmony around the baby. Regular conflicts and quarrels within the family negatively affect pronunciation.
- Learn poetry with a child.
- Have a regular checkup at a speech therapist every year, starting from 2 to 3 years old.
- Engage with your baby, develop fine motor skills of fingers.
When to contact a speech therapist
- If a child over the age of three speaks a lot, but in an incomprehensible language.
- If the baby does not pronounce simple sounds or replaces them with others.
- If you hear the difference between the speech of your child and his peers. And especially when it worries you.
- At the age of 4 - 5 years, the child speaks slurred, and also does not pronounce some sounds.
- If after 4 - 5 years the baby continues to speak many sounds softly, namely: "kisya", "sliver", "lambotka".
- If the children start talking with hesitations, repeat the first syllables or sounds, and also stutter.
- A child aged 6 years with difficulty memorizes a small poem, and also can not remember and retell the story. Moreover, you have noticed in your child difficulties associated with the answers to the questions posed.
Based on the results of a consultation and examination by a speech therapist, some children may need to consult other specialists. In addition, physiotherapy, therapeutic exercises, massage and drug treatment can be prescribed.