The causes of speech impairments in children are divided into two groups: biological (heredity, complications of pregnancy, etc.) and social. The first ones definitely require the intervention of specialists. The latter are conditional, depend on the individual characteristics of the child, can be corrected or disappear with age.
By each “control” age, the child must master a certain speech minimum. Up to five months, the child only walks; from about six months, humming is replaced by babbling; from 10 months to a year – the time when the baby pronounces the first words. By the age of one and a half, there should be about 20 words, by two, the first simple phrases are formed: “Mom, yourself!”, “Grandfather, give me!”. From 2 to 5 years old, colloquial speech is formed as such: vocabulary, the correct order of building phrases, pronunciation of sounds, etc. If you focus on the main milestones in the development of speech in a child, you can isolate 10 signs when it would not hurt to consult a speech therapist.
Sign 1. A baby under one year old has no humming and babbling at all, he is silent or indistinctly mumbles, and does not emit sounds characteristic of an early age such as “gyy”, “agu”, “kkhh”, “bobo”, “tutu”, etc. If this is your situation, then at the age of one year, the child needs consultation not only with a speech therapist, but also with a neurologist.
Sign 2. The kid is already 2 years old, and he “understands everything, but is silent,” or his vocabulary does not exceed 10-12 words. A professional speech therapist consultant knows how to stimulate speech in such children, you will need a course of classes. And in general, the optimal period for the development of speech is precisely from 2 to 3 years. Therefore, it will not hurt to take the child to the first consultation with a speech therapist in order to check whether the speech is age appropriate.
3 tag… The child, who is already past 3, still speaks his “bird” language. Even if he chirps a lot and actively, but there are very few understandable words, or he mumbles, swallows a lot of sounds – it’s time to go to a speech therapist!
Sign 4. The kid replaces normal words with completely dissimilar sounding: instead of “bunny” – “boo”, instead of “car” – “kick”, etc. That is, it is clear that he means a completely specific object, but cannot sound it correctly title.
Sign 5. The child is already 4-4,5, and he still says “obyasko” instead of “cloud”, “lofka” instead of “spoon”, “tyaynik” instead of “teapot” … By this age, the phonetic system should be almost completely formed, in Normally, a small person already correctly pronounces most of the sounds, except for some particularly problematic ones (“p” or hissing).
Sign 6. Your baby began to speak with stutters, pauses, repeating the first sounds, syllables, words, that is, stuttering.
Sign 7. The child rearranges the sounds and syllables in words: not “then”, but “top”, not “chatting” but “botlay”. Replaces some simple sounds with others: instead of “k” pronounces “t”, instead of “d” – “v”. This is more or less normal for a three-year-old, but if the child is older, there is a problem.
Sign 8. A child over 6 years old does not remember poetry, cannot retell a short text, breaks the structure of words, skips syllables, swallows endings.
Sign 9. Larting, that is, problems with the letter “r” in older preschool age. Speech therapists know how to “start the motor”, that is, they put the child’s tongue in the right position. Two or three sessions are enough. It is more difficult with the nonpronunciation of the letter “l” – there is also such a defect.
Sign 10. Small vocabulary, clumsy and poor speech in a younger student. This happens not only in children with whom they read little and generally talk, but also in those who do not lack attention.
Consultant-speech therapist-defectologist Elena Kuts:
– The main social cause of speech defects in children is a lack of communication. From infancy, adults should listen to the sounds that the baby makes, repeat them, talk to him, smile – in short, communicate. This is how a small person naturally develops a desire and need to talk.
And yes, do not lisp with the growing child! This causes the 5- or XNUMX-year-old to continue to soften sounds (see Reason XNUMX). Speak right yourself!