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The human being does not share with any of the other species inhabiting the planet the gift of speech. This aptitude would have been inscribed in its genetic code between Homo habilis and Homo sapiens. Standing, by modifying the development of the respiratory and vocal systems, widened the range of sounds and improved their control. The increase in brain volume and its remodeling have given humans the means to take advantage of it. Equipped with this heritage, your little one (except hearing impairment or neurological problem) will naturally enter the world of language.
0-11 months: Baby makes sounds
When born, the little human leaves the aquatic element for the terrestrial element. He does not control his movements. He sees only very confusedly. On the other hand, he has already fine hearing, and this since the 6th month of gestation. He recognizes the mother’s voice, which he perceived particularly well because it was driven by the bones of the mother’s spine and pelvis, acting as resonators.
He is particularly sensitive to prosody, the “music” of the language., regardless of sounds and meaning, because it is governed by the right hemisphere of the brain, which evolves in utero faster than the left hemisphere, which processes sounds. Intonation, belonging to prosody, will remain a primary guide for him.
The newborn perfectly perceives the contrasts between the sounds. Quickly, he begins to organize them. All languages are based on the arrangement of sounds according to particular rules. A necessarily complex system, which the little one will nevertheless decipher in a few months, thanks to an integrated “program”, probably independent of other so-called higher faculties, since mental retardation does not systematically prevent a child from speaking. This high-performance genetic program, however, only works if it is provided with information. The little one learns to speak above all by imitation.
Physiologically speaking, his vocal apparatus must improve before allowing him to emit articulated sounds. He does not control his breathing for 3 months, where he will voluntarily open his mouth to breathe. One to two months later, he will check his phonation (sound emission). As for bringing the movements of his articulators into line (larynx, pharynx, soft palate, glottis, tongue, jaws, lips), it will take him five to six years to achieve this perfectly.
For him, words, like sounds, represent signals and will remain so until he is 8 months old. He recognizes the ones he hears most frequently. He reacts to them, not because he understands their meaning, but because they arouse his attention. So it is with his first name, those of his brothers and sisters, the words “mom”, “dad” … or “bottle”! Words that already evoke pleasant sensations in his mind.
To capture the messages, he uses facial expressions that his parents do not fail to address to him. During his third month, he discerns a pleasant face with a sorrowful expression, and reacts accordingly.
In response to his sensations, he too produces sounds. During his first two months, his cries express well-being or discomfort, linked to the functioning of his body. Then he vocalizes, lying down only. It is the time of “arrheu” and “agueu”. After the 3rd month, he chuckles, screams with joy, laughs. As he does not yet control his phonation, his own vocal productions often catch him off guard!
At around 5 months, he made an important discovery, also made possible by the improvement of his eyesight. : the relationship between the movements of the mouth and the sounds it produces. To speak, you have to articulate. This, with the new mastery of his vocal emissions and better control of his articulators, opens up many possibilities. It explores the diversity of sounds, their duration and their volume.
It enters the babbling age between 6 and 10 months
That is to say, it emits syllables (a vowel, preceded and / or followed by one or more consonants), and repeats them identically. He chooses his repertoire from the syllables he hears frequently (therefore, the most used in his mother tongue) and which he is able to articulate. He gratifies you with suites (“ba ba ba”, “pe pe pe”, etc.), all the more enthusiastic as they do not aim to express anything.
New major discovery around 9 months: words have a meaning! He quickly concludes that they have an effect. Words help to act and make people act. Interesting ! This encourages him to not only recognize, but also memorize new words, drawn from those that come up often. He first understands them in situation; then, around 11 months, out of context. His parents often overestimate his already considerable prowess. So much the better ! Their wonder stimulates him.
Before trying to pronounce the words he knows, he continues to exercise his articulators by developing his babbling, which becomes polysyllabic (two or more different syllables in a row). Around 11 months, if you think you hear a deliberately formed and recognizable word coming out of your mouth, you can consider that it is not a hallucination!
12-18 months: he creates a lexicon
By pronouncing his first word, the little one puts an end to an unbearable suspense: will he first say “mom” or “dad”? Maybe he will get everyone to agree by electing something quite different! His choices during these six months when he is going to build up a lexicon depend on several factors: his articulatory capacities, his environment and his tastes.
Language is pleasure in itself. The little one understood that words allowed him to participate in the life of those around them. He also likes, quite simply, the sensations they provide and, without worrying about the meaning or the context, selects some of them for the sole reason that they please him.
To each child, his “style”. Some prefer names almost exclusively (so-called referential style); others use both nouns, adverbs, adjectives, pronouns, or even ready-made expressions that would pass for sentences (expressive style).
How does he manage to extract the words from the speech and differentiate them? It cannot rely on meaning. It is his gift for prosody that saves him. Let us salute this remarkable performance: his ultra-thin ear can distinguish the inflections and the tiny pauses which mark the border between the words of a sentence, without any other indication.
Understanding and transmission evolve in parallel, but one keeps a clear lead over the other. Five to six months pass between the first word and the moment when the little one can pronounce fifty. But at the same time, he assimilates the comprehension of about two hundred words.
The first few weeks, it gives the impression of stagnating. An avalanche of words is expected to follow the first. But the little one is still struggling to decipher and code the language. He stores, and restores more or less according to his temperament. A word that seemed forgotten suddenly reappears, not necessarily in the appropriate context.
As usual, he proceeds by trial and error. His attempts concern both form (pronunciation) and substance (meaning). It accommodates in the two domains of approximations. If the articulation of a consonant gives it a hard time, it replaces it: “papo” for “hat”, for example.
He indulges in his first deductions since the sheep also has four legs, why not call it “cat”? Admittedly, he is mistaken, but thus shows that he begins to create categories of words. Small complication: he knew that words meant things; he discovers that a thing can be designated by several words. For example, “Papa” is also called “Fred”, or “Monsieur”, even “Minou”. To simplify his task, stick to generic words at first: he eats his “mash”, not sometimes his carrots, sometimes his zucchini; he puts on his “coat”, not his anorak or jacket, etc.
Six months after the first word, the process speeds up. He learns seven to ten new words a day, which he speaks and memorizes. The sentences will not be long in appearing.
18 months-5 years: from grammar to conversation
To assimilate ten words a day, that requires putting a little order! The child does this by organizing his words into sentences. Without being in the least aware of it, he enters the extremely complex world of grammar.
The conquest of grammar is a long-term adventure. Around 2 years old, the little one attacks the morphology (variable and invariable forms of words). Separating the name of the article, respecting the gender and the number, and above all combining, poses serious problems for him. A little later and at the same time, he advances in the syntax. His sentences first have three terms, more or less correctly arranged. Then, the sentences lengthen, and he connects them one or the other by conjunctions (that, who…) and coordinations (and, but…). For a long time, he will use formulas such as “and then”, “eh ben”, etc., intended, not to link sentences, but to keep the word long enough to find his words.
Learning strategies differ markedly among children. You have to assimilate vocabulary, articulation and syntax, and everyone gets by at best with these requirements. Some speak profusely, even pretending to speak while imitating the music of the language. They don’t care about the quality of their production; they move forward doing. Others store almost in silence, and only launch sentences that are already well constructed and understandable. No “scientific” cause for this variety. No superiority of one method over the other either; the essential criterion remains a good understanding of what he hears.
The first sentences are in telegraphic style. It lacks the linking words. However, the child respects the word order in force in his language (and differentiates it in his two languages, if he is bilingual). He will maintain this accuracy even as he lengthens his sentences.
In the two or three terms that make up the very first sentences, there is almost always a so-called “pivot” word accompanying a content word. For example: “Mom there”, “still cuddly” …
Around 2 years of age, the sentences grow. He experiments with the negative form of which he will make great use (“Do not want!”). It precedes the names of articles, with more or less success, the connections leading to confusion (“an airplane” is understood as “a navion”). He uses “me” as opposed to “you”.
More and more, his progress will follow, and nourish his psychomotor development in general. Around 2 and a half years old, his interest goes to words designating his body, the discovery of which fascinates him. Around 3 years old, he said “I”, a sign of progress in consciousness and the affirmation of his singularity. Around 4 years old, when he has settled the question of cleanliness, he enters the period (more or less long) of “poo, blood sausage, poo!”. As his social life and his imagination grow richer, the desire to tell an anecdote or a story stimulates him enormously.
School poses a new challenge for him, to make himself understood by others than his parents. He will have to get rid of language habits that no longer “work”. He will also have to speak “in public”. The teaching team, who are familiar with the problem, will help them take the step.
From the middle section, many activities are organized around a theme (nature, animals, the body…). The child acquires specialized vocabulary. Surprise: words extremely complicated to pronounce (the names of dinosaurs, for example) are assimilated with great ease. His thirst to discover the world motivates him all the more since he only learns for the moment by having fun.
A word of advice: get yourself a children’s encyclopedia if you want to be able to answer all of his questions!
He remains influenced by his family environment, his vocabulary and his style of expression. If you are a talkative family, don’t be surprised if he does too! He adopts certain verbal tics that he hears frequently – including incorrect mistakes! It is obvious: the more you converse with him, the more he progresses with happiness. Books, recorded stories, nursery rhymes, movies, help you accompany it in shared pleasure.
Language in children: dealing with little worries
As each child progresses at their own pace, don’t be quick to suspect a delay or a speech problem. This conquest will, like the others, be strewn with obstacles. On the other hand, in the event of obvious disturbance, it is necessary to react quickly to block the road to academic difficulties. and / or future relationship problems. Language disorders are all the better to treat if they are treated early.
The so-called “simple” delay can be seen from 3 years to a really important gap with the average of children of the same age: limited vocabulary, uncertain grammar, incorrect pronunciation, difficulty of expression. After verifying that the child has good hearing, it will be necessary to look for the causes on the side of heredity, neurology, or even a psychological problem. There are other types of delay, clearly more serious: aphasia (the child hears, possibly understands, but has never spoken); dysphasia (the structure of language does not go beyond a certain stage). Fortunately, these disorders are also much rarer!
Joint defects are common. That the child stumbles on certain pronunciations remains quite normal up to 3 years. Beyond that, an articulation so laborious that it harms the understanding of his words, without regular progress, must alert. In addition to the rigorous hearing examination, your doctor will undoubtedly prescribe a visit to the dentist, a bad organization of the teeth can indeed disturb speech. Another possibility is a difficulty in anticipating the movements of the muscles and organs involved in speech (a so-called “sensorimotor” problem).
Do not confuse “stuttering” and stuttering. The first is a temporary blockage of speech, often due to the need to search for words, quite banal. The child suffering from stuttering, he has difficulty restarting when he blocks; he repeats syllables or words, regardless of his will. This easily identifiable disorder can occur as early as 2 years (or much later, until adolescence). No physiological cause has yet been demonstrated. Psychological factors are very likely to come into play. Notably, little perfectionists, often influenced by excessive parenting demands, put so much effort into avoiding imperfections that their speech gets blocked. Socially, stuttering takes a heavy toll. By dint of struggling to expel his words, the stuttering child loses his train of thought. There is also the risk of losing the taste for communication. He needs a lot of patience and tenderness.
The lisp is nothing dreadful. The child leaves his tongue between his teeth when speaking, as he did when breastfeeding. We even find this charming little flaw… until a certain age. However, if we take too long to treat the problem, the tongue risks acquiring mechanical habits that will become difficult to get rid of. Beyond 5-6 years, entrust it to a specialist.
Who to consult?
An oto-rhino-laryngologist (ENT) to check his hearing.
A speech therapist, which will identify the disorder with the help of tests (validated by the profession: do not dare to perform tests yourself!) and will propose the modalities of rehabilitation. For this same service, you
can contact a medical-psycho-pedagogical center (CMPP).
A phoniatrist, doctor (unlike speech therapist) specializing in voice and speech disorders, and therefore able, in addition to assessment and rehabilitation, to search for root causes.
A psychologist, a neuropediatrician, a psychomotor therapist, on the advice of the attending physician, if the causes of the disorder require it.