In medical practice, we often encounter children older than one year who have not yet begun to speak. Such children are examined by speech therapists and psychologists to find out whether the child is mute or retarded. It should be said that muteness occurs only in cases of deafness and occurs as a result of serious diseases of the central nervous system (intracranial birth injury), or after a severe infection (encephalitis, meningitis), is the result of hereditary pathology or the result of exposure to certain antibiotics (streptomycin) on the auditory nerve ). If deafness is suspected, the child must be examined in the ENT department, where there is a special audiometric room.

Delayed speech may be a sign of mental retardation (mental retardation). To clarify this diagnosis, the child should be consulted by a psychiatrist and psychologist.

There is so-called passive speech (the child understands what is required of him) and active speech (verbal expression). Any child who knows how to show (at the age of one year) the close people around him (father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, etc.) or brings a known object upon request (completes a task) should be considered normal. There are children who, even at two and even at four years old, utter few words or even not a single word to convey their own thoughts. They hear and understand everything that is said, perform easy tasks, express their desires or protests with signs when it comes to them (that means they hear!).

Some children, when speech is delayed, use their own “gibberish” language, understandable only to them (and, perhaps, to their parents). It may have the intonations and nuances of human speech, but the sounds do not convey anything that can be understood by others.

In normal children who had a speech delay, a sharp change occurs by 18-24 months: they begin to pronounce words and express their thoughts no less clearly than children with non-delayed speech. (Compensation for long silence: once they start talking, these children do not stop talking for days.)

• When can we talk about a child’s mental retardation?

We can talk about this when the child does not fulfill several minimum conditions: if at the age of two years the child does not yet pronounce three words and does not know how to indicate with gestures his mother, father or grandparents, as well as 3-4 objects in the room; he cannot sit down and stand up on his own; if contact with the outside world is so weak that the child cannot distinguish a kind word from a categorical “no!”; if the child does not follow with his eyes objects located or moved to the side of him and does not try to grab them; if while playing “cuckoo” or “horned goat” he does not experience a feeling of “expectation”; if during feeding he does not establish any contact between him and the person feeding him; if the child normally takes only liquid food.

It seems to me that if you compare a mother with a company employee, then her direct responsibility is to worry about the child with or without reason. Well, what mother has never worried that the child does not hold his head up or does not sit down, does not get up, does not walk, does not smile, and so on and so on? And often, all these worries turn out to be groundless, because... the child still begins to hold his head up, sits down, stands up, walks, smiles, and so on. But we continue to worry. The child stood up - so why didn’t he go? The child turned over - so why didn’t he crawl?

So does my friend. Her experiences are based on the fact that a one and a half year old child does not speak. No! He speaks, but only a few words. “How can this be?” my friend cries: “Our neighbors’ daughter already tells nursery rhymes, but mine only tells mom and dad.” And every time the same conversation. All! Enough! My dear friend! I am writing Specially for you (especially for you)!

Until the age of three, there is no need to worry at all. In the period up to three years, a child can speak both at 8 months and at 1.5-2 years. You should worry if by the age of three the child does not speak at all. BUT! If you're worried, don't stress yourself out unnecessarily! Choose a time and go to a speech therapist or neurologist. I’m sure they will say: “The child is healthy. Wait, he’ll speak soon, don’t stop him.”

If in doubt, here are a few reasons from specialists - speech therapists and psychologists - why a child does not speak at 2 (as you can see, not even at 1.5) years.

• Perhaps you understand the child too well, and he has no need for words or speech. He can point his finger or say “oooh” and you will understand and do what he asks. So why should he learn to speak if he is understood?
• Remember, my dear, when did you learn to speak? Of course, if you don’t remember, ask your parents – yours and your husband’s. Heredity plays an important role here too. It is unlikely that your miracle will speak at 1.5, if you or your father spoke later.
• Listen to yourself. Are you talking to your child enough? It is “enough” and not too much or too little. What happens if there is insufficient communication with the child? That's right - he hears little, speaks little. Also with excessive “lisping” in a burry child’s language.
• Aren't you demanding too much from your child? A foreign language, musical abilities, counting, learning the alphabet - such a load can only slow down the development of speech, since it does not correspond to mental development. Slow down and don't demand everything at once.
• Remember, did anyone scare the child? Have you left him alone for a long time? Stress can also cause taciturnity.

Here's When to Worry– a 1.5 year old child does not speak, does not stand or walk, sleeps poorly and is not at all interested in the world around him. In this case, it is worth contacting a psychoneurologist. But I know that this is definitely not your case!

So! What conclusion have we come to? The baby’s speech develops individually, spontaneously and naturally. The child makes no effort to master the language. The central nervous system develops, and speech also develops. But! Any development requires stimulation. If you want your child to talk, communicate. A lot, often, for any reason and for no reason! And then, soon, I will finally stop listening to your lamentations about the fact that the child does not speak! And I’ll start looking for answers to your question: “How to stop a verbal waterfall?”

5 reasons why a child does not speak

Some babies begin to speak at the age of one and a half, while others are silent at both 2 and 3. It is then that parents begin to worry: is everything okay with the child?

Babies begin to speak relatively late, when they have learned not only to walk, but also to run quickly. And everything that happens before that is called the pre-speech period of development. And if each of its stages is completed on time, then parents have nothing to worry about. The main thing is to know what is characteristic of each new rung of the ladder leading to the development of speech. All necessary data is given in the table below.

Why doesn't the child speak?

The causes of speech development disorders are divided into social(the leading role is played by the environment in which the baby develops) and physiological(related to health).

Toward social causes Speech development delays include insufficient attention to the child: he does not speak because he simply has no one to talk to. The environment is such that speech loses its value, for example, the TV is constantly on, adults communicate loudly with each other, and many extraneous sounds are heard. The child gets used to not listening to speech, begins to speak late and mostly in quotes from cartoons, often not understanding the meaning of the words. If mom or dad speak too quickly, then the baby does not have time to isolate individual words and eventually stops trying to understand the adult and convey his request to him. Quite often, children in bilingual families have difficulties with speech; the baby simply does not know which language to focus on; he masters both at once, but over a longer period of time. And overprotective, over-attentive parents, guessing all the baby’s wishes, do not create in him the need to express his requests and emotions in words, depriving the baby of motivation to master speech. Excessive demands and a didactic style produce a similar result. If family members force the baby to pronounce the same words and phrases correctly, then the baby stops saying anything at all.

To physiological reasons Speech development delays include:

• Hearing impairment.
• Underdevelopment of articulation organs - lips, tongue, facial muscles, soft palate.
• Visual impairment.
• Stress – fear, parental quarrels, screaming.
• Brain damage caused by intrauterine and birth injuries, falls, or severe illness at an early age.

A physiological delay in speech development should be suspected if at 4 months the baby still does not pay attention to sound signals, does not hum, does not smile in response to the mother’s call, does not show a revival complex (vigorous movements of the arms and legs), and at 9 months does not show interest in toys with sound signals, and his only vocal reaction is loud crying.

Why is timely speech development so important?

If you do not take action, then as the baby grows, the set of deviations in speech development will increase:

• At 1.5–2 years The baby will not be able to say his name, name surrounding objects, perform a simple command, for example, wave his hand, approach his mother, or show a cat in the picture.
• At 2.5 years he will not be able to compose a sentence of two words (“Mom, give me”, “let’s go for a walk”). The baby’s behavior will change; when communicating, he will try to use non-verbal means of communication (facial expressions, gestures).
• At 3 years old the delay in speech development in the child will become especially noticeable from the outside. Even when parents do not pay attention to the problem, doctors and friends will not miss it. The baby will speak his own language, incomprehensible even to his mother, too quickly, swallowing parts of the word or, conversely, at a slow pace. He will have difficulty chewing food (the baby may choke on even a small piece), as well as increased salivation. Such a child constantly has his mouth open for no obvious reason (runny nose).

Delayed speech development: when to see a doctor?

The sooner treatment for delayed speech development begins, the greater the chance that the child will be able to study normally at school. To get to the bottom of the true cause of the problem, you may need brain studies (rheoencephalography, ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging), which will help determine the attending physician - a neurologist, otolaryngologist, ophthalmologist, etc. A defectologist is connected to 2-year-old children. From the age of 3, if necessary, a psychoneurologist or an orthodontist joins, and from the age of 4–5, a speech therapist also joins. Drug, physical and animal therapy cannot be ruled out.

The first method involves prescribing drugs that actively nourish brain neurons, as well as drugs that stimulate the speech zones of the cortex. Physiotherapy - massage, magnetic therapy, electroreflexotherapy - affects areas of the brain to improve blood supply to areas responsible for diction and memory.

Animal-assisted therapy (from the English animal – animal) is considered a promising direction for correcting speech skills: our smaller brothers – horses, dolphins, dogs – are involved in treatment. Particular attention should be paid to the development of fine motor skills, finger and outdoor games, drawing, modeling, appliqué, special speech games, the development of visual and auditory attention, increasing the volume of passive vocabulary, as well as creating conditions for active communication between the toddler and his peers. Usually, when the causes of the failure are eliminated and treatment is properly organized, by the senior preschool age, children with delayed speech development catch up with their peers. The effectiveness of the correction largely depends on the efforts of the parents.

In order for a child’s speech to develop correctly, parents need:

from 0 to 3 months talk tenderly to the child, sing to him, while standing, bending, walk around the crib so that the baby can follow the localization of sounds;

from 3 to 6 months talk to the child, causing response sounds (babbling) and maintaining a joyful state, smiling, laughter;

from 6 to 12 months stimulate babbling by entering into a dialogue when the baby babbles, repeat the simple words “mom”, “give”, “kitty” many times, teach how to perform movements and actions according to an adult’s word: “okay”, “give me a pen”, “goodbye”, “give me a toy”;

from 12 to 24 months learn the names of dishes (porridge, cutlet), dishes, furniture, clothes, animals, birds, body parts; develop an understanding of connections and relationships between objects (“a bird pecks a grain”); teach how to follow instructions of 2-3 actions: “go there”, “take this”, “bring it to me”);

from 24 to 36 months show the child more complex objects, actions, pictures, accompanying the introduction with verbal explanations; to teach to understand oral speech without accompanying visual images, to listen to short stories and poems; learn to speak in sentences, pronounce words and their endings correctly; provoke statements, teach to convey impressions, name the properties of objects.

What to do if a 1.5 year old child does not speak?

In medical practice, we often encounter children older than one year who have not yet begun to speak. Such children are examined by speech therapists and psychologists to find out whether the child is mute or retarded. It should be said that muteness occurs only in cases of deafness and occurs as a result of serious diseases of the central nervous system (intracranial birth injury), or after a severe infection (encephalitis, meningitis), is the result of hereditary pathology or the result of exposure to certain antibiotics (streptomycin) on the auditory nerve ). If deafness is suspected, the child must be examined in the ENT department, where there is a special audiometric room.

Delayed speech may be a sign of mental retardation (mental retardation). To clarify this diagnosis, the child should be consulted by a psychiatrist and psychologist.

There is so-called passive speech (the child understands what is required of him) and active speech (verbal expression). Any child who knows how to show (at the age of one year) the close people around him (father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, etc.) or brings a known object upon request (completes a task) should be considered normal. There are children who, even at two and even at four years old, utter few words or even not a single word to convey their own thoughts. They hear and understand everything that is said, perform easy tasks, express their desires or protests with signs when it comes to them (that means they hear!).

Some children, when speech is delayed, use their own “gibberish” language, understandable only to them (and, perhaps, to their parents). It may have the intonations and nuances of human speech, but the sounds do not convey anything that can be understood by others.

In normal children who had a speech delay, a sharp change occurs by 18-24 months: they begin to pronounce words and express their thoughts no less clearly than children with non-delayed speech. (Compensation for long silence: once they start talking, these children do not stop talking for days.)

• When can we talk about a child’s mental retardation?

We can talk about this when the child does not fulfill several minimum conditions: if at the age of two years the child does not yet pronounce three words and does not know how to indicate with gestures his mother, father or grandparents, as well as 3-4 objects in the room; he cannot sit down and stand up on his own; if contact with the outside world is so weak that the child cannot distinguish a kind word from a categorical “no!”; if the child does not follow with his eyes objects located or moved to the side of him and does not try to grab them; if while playing “cuckoo” or “horned goat” he does not experience a feeling of “expectation”; if during feeding he does not establish any contact between him and the person feeding him; if the child normally takes only liquid food.

However, the final verdict on the presence or absence of mental retardation is made by a psychiatrist.

A 1.5 year old child does not say: answers to parents' questions from a speech therapist - defectologist

Since the fall of 2014, all readers of “Native Path” have the opportunity to receive, without leaving home, online consultation and a system of online classes on the development of their child’s speech at any age from a speech therapist-defectologist from St. Petersburg, a leading specialist in the children’s speech center OPPI-ONLINE Tatyana Andreevna Komarova.

In December, Tatyana Andreevna’s article “14 reasons to contact a speech therapist with a child” was published on “Native Path”, in which we announced a competition for the most interesting question to a speech therapist from parents. We plan to record video answers to your most interesting and profound questions. The results of the competition have not yet been summed up, but today you can listen to the first answer of a speech therapist - defectologist to questions from the mother of a child slightly older than 1.5 years about delayed speech development.

I quote questions from the video that Tatyana Andreevna answered - questions for a speech therapist from a mother whose child was diagnosed by a neurologist with “delayed speech development”, because the child is more than 1.5 years old, but he does not speak.

"Hello! Child 1 year 7 months. Doesn't say a single word at all. He hums and babbles. Abbreviated woof-woof, B.B. is not even going to speak. He can say “ma-ma,” but not as a word, but as a syllable, and it doesn’t connect him with me at all. Most often the child just hums.

The child is healthy, born with an Apgar score of 9/9.

My conscience is completely clear. Since birth, I have been doing everything possible with my child (and your simply amazing site helps us!). And I constantly talk, and I ask questions, and I don’t jabber, and I show puppet theater, and I read, and I sing speech therapy chants, and I say simple tongue twisters, and tongue twisters at a slow pace, and nursery rhymes, I even demonstrate articulatory gymnastics on myself, and finger games, and We develop fine motor skills, and they are absolutely beautiful, and we engage in creativity, and as much as I sing to him, I don’t know a single mother like him.

And in terms of emotional contact and psychological climate in the family - everything is also very good!

And the child is smart and understands everything. The neurologist writes “Delayed speech development.”

In this regard, my questions:

1) Why are mothers constantly intimidated by fear: “If you don’t engage and communicate with your child, he won’t speak for a long time”? Now I don't believe it.

2) Our neurologist is going to activate the speech center with special medications that are given to people after a stroke. What can you say about this?

3) Now there is active propaganda of a very fashionable trend in medicine “Osteopathy”, supposedly this can help. What do you think about this too?

4) A speech development and correction center has opened in our city. The director of this center spoke on TV. Firstly, she assured everyone with a 100% guarantee that if a child does not speak at 1-1.5 years old, then he will DEFINITELY have problems at school. And in this center there is some kind of miracle device that you put on your head and it sends miracle impulses to the speech center (if necessary, I can give a link to the video). Here, too, I would like your opinion.”

The answers to these questions are in the video of the speech therapist and defectologist above on this page.

And you can read my advice on developing the speech of very young children in the articles on the site:

Get a NEW FREE AUDIO COURSE WITH GAME APPLICATION

“Speech development from 0 to 7 years: what is important to know and what to do. Cheat sheet for parents"

Hello! Thank you very much for answering my questions! Everything is intelligible and understandable.

Oh my God! The child is one and a half years old, but he does not speak. Catastrophe! Let's treat the child with medicine as soon as possible! The main thing is to explain to the mother “intelligibly and understandably” what pills need to be urgently put into the child so that “he will be like everyone else”, otherwise he will suddenly grow into an individual,oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooothan than than on than than than on than than i had a pattern, the main thing is to explain to the mother “intelligibly and understandably” what pills should be urgently put into the child so that “he’ll be like everyone else”, otherwise he’ll suddenly grow into an individual Leave the child alone, let him just LIVE, and not “develop according to the program.” At one and a half years old, a baby SHOULD NOT talk, just as at 10 years old a girl should not give birth, and a boy should not become a father, for example. Everything has its time. The baby has already persistently developed an allergy to “classes, training (=training), development.” And at the same time, on his mother, he simply has NOTHING to talk about with his mother, who does not allow him to simply live and enjoy LIFE, and not success in “development”.

A child really doesn’t owe anyone anything at any age. But for us - adults - it is very important to help him in a difficult situation.

And it’s one thing if a child babbles in the first year of life, and at one and a half years he babbles and speaks the simplest babbling words, tries to correlate a word and an object. Another thing is when he did not babble and there were not even the first sounds, and this situation continues until one and a half years or even three years.

You can wait three or even five years and then bite your elbows and regret what you missed. You can begin to take active action and really help the baby.

But our help and development activities with a small child are precisely the joy of life and a happy childhood, when both mother and baby are interested in joint communication and speech games. And not in coaching the baby and his “training”. And not in feverishly constantly conducting classes and waiting: when, when will he speak.

And in this regard, you are right - for children to talk, they need to be interested in their mother, so that their mother can play interestingly with them and use speech in her games, encourage them to speak naturally. But... 1) modern mothers often do not have knowledge about this. how can this be done, and this problem can be solved, 2) not all children have enough of this, alas.

From the experience of mothers of my speech courses, I know that 80-90% of mothers with young children who come with delayed speech development not only at one and a half years, but also at two and a half, having learned to communicate correctly with the baby, completely get rid of delayed speech development . And the baby not only catches up, but also surpasses his peers in speech development. Only due to the fact that the mother learned to communicate correctly with the child.

But there is another 10-20% - which Tatyana talks about in this video - these are children with serious speech therapy problems whom the mother herself cannot help. And then we need unity in helping the child: a neurologist + a speech therapist-defectologist + a mother who conducts speech games at home and activates the child’s speech and performs the speech therapist’s tasks with the child. And you need to get this help on time.

The only thing I personally advise all mothers is to go to a very experienced neurologist, or better yet, talk to several specialists. Because I often encounter a situation where a completely healthy baby is prescribed unnecessary medications and a lot of examinations, especially in paid clinics where the doctor receives a salary depending on the amount of prescriptions made to the child. In this regard, it is better to double-check than to do harm.

But speech and individuality are very connected - you are wrong about this. Because There is also a child’s linguistic personality, and it manifests itself in preschool age too. But it only appears if speech is developed. Then an individual speech style, figurativeness of speech, brightness and accuracy of words, the child’s verbal creativity, and linguistic flair appear and develop. If a child has difficulty pronouncing sounds and speaks with difficulty, then there can be no talk about any individuality. And speech is a mirror of the baby’s inner world; it is connected with his perception of the world and himself in this world. Therefore, our task is not to run away from the situation, but, understanding the importance of speech in the life of any person, in the development of his individuality, to actively help the child master speech, including as a way of self-expression and knowledge of himself and the world around him.

Everything is very individual. I would advise mothers whose babies do not speak until they are 2 years old to calm down. I myself was very worried about this. I work with the child every day and in a variety of ways. I have everything and change the types of activities in one lesson and don’t overwork, and we work on motor skills and speech. Using early development methods, we, thank God, have everything is normal in speech. There is a good book by the author L. Surkova, “How great it is with a child from 0 to 3.” The author is a candidate of psychological sciences and a practicing psychologist, a mother of 4 children, gives very good recommendations to parents on education and child development. Read it - you won’t regret it!

And one more thing:) and this is the main thing! So engage and play with your child so that YOU are no less interested than him, and seeing that the child has lost interest, just switch to something else with him or leave the child alone for his own sake - games. And it is also very important that the mother herself is like a child, in games with her child, then this emotion. the mood will be passed on to the child, I was convinced of this myself, from my own experience. Infect the child in the game, and through the game, with your positive emotions and interest, and then success in development will be ensured! Only the child who truly sees the living emotions and interest of his mother, and even better, his mother and father, in playing with him, he will develop more harmoniously and strive for development.

How to teach a child to speak at 1.5-2 years old with exercises

A two-year-old child still has a small vocabulary, then parents need to worry. Usually at this age the baby can already speak in sentences of 4-5 words, and he can also use pronouns, singular and plural, and also knows his name. A child’s vocabulary should contain about 300-400 words with which he can express his emotions and desires.

Connect words with images

In order for a child to connect words with images, you, as a mother, talking with a child who is two years old, must look at the baby and observe his reactions. Also, the baby should see your face and see how his mother reacts to his words, so the baby will be able to study facial expressions and emotions.

When talking to your toddler about certain objects, you must show him pictures of these objects. If we are talking about a cat, you can find a photo of a cat in a book, show your child a cat on the street, or a video on a tablet. This way, the baby will better remember the words and associate them with objects from the real world.

Talk to him constantly

Any speech therapist will tell you that it is very useful if mom and dad constantly talk to a child who is two years old. Talk to your child while walking, while playing board games and doing household chores. This will help your child choose the right words in a given situation and quickly speak in whole sentences.

In addition, as any speech therapist recommends, such activities will look like a simple game, they are not complicated and the baby does not need to be forced to do anything, he will be drawn into communication himself and will beautifully and correctly repeat the words after his mother. Such lessons will be of exceptional benefit to the baby, and mom and dad will be able to easily and effortlessly teach the baby to talk.

But such classes and exercises in speech must be built according to certain rules. Mom and dad should not distort words in front of the baby, any speech therapist will tell you this. Children remember everything very quickly and firmly, and it can be very difficult to relearn how to say this or that word correctly.

As every speech therapist recommends, mom and dad should read fairy tales to their child. It is best that these are books with pictures that will stimulate the baby’s imagination, and reading will expand his vocabulary completely unnoticed by the baby, who is already two years old.

Try not just to tell the baby something, but to involve him in a full-fledged dialogue. The baby may not always answer you correctly, but any speech therapist will recommend such training as the best lessons for any child over two years old. The baby will be able to develop his speech, speak coherently and clearly, this will definitely benefit him.

Ask your child questions

If mom and dad ask the baby questions, then at first he will try to answer using gestures and emotions. Try not to follow your baby’s lead and ask him questions, demanding verbal answers. Of course, the baby, who has entered his third year, will not like it at first.

Perhaps the baby will cry and try to achieve what he needs with the help of gestures. Stand your ground clearly and demand an answer from the child, even if it is not said very correctly. Such lessons will very quickly turn from a duty into a game, and the baby will answer you more willingly.

Any experienced speech therapist will give the following advice to parents whose child, who has entered his third year, does not speak:

• Develop your baby's fine motor skills. Play finger games, use educational toys and improvised materials, such as buttons, jars, lids, scraps and other similar things.
• The mother and father of the baby, who is now in his third year, must agree and not allow the child to use only gestures in dialogue. It’s better to teach your child simple words together, such as give, na, thank you.
• Let your two-year-old child communicate with other older children. By talking with children who speak well, the child will learn; such inconspicuous exercises will only benefit the child.
• Mom can use a trick and “forget” the end of the phrase. Your child can finish it correctly for you, and thus your lessons can continue unnoticed by the child.
• If a baby, who has entered his third year, asks a question, you must listen to him very carefully. This attitude greatly stimulates the child’s interest in keeping classes regular and interesting.

Learning to pronounce sounds

The mother of a baby who has entered his third year should definitely encourage the baby to learn to pronounce certain sounds. As any speech therapist will recommend, you should start these lessons with vowel pronunciation. It is desirable that the baby is interested in constantly repeating new sounds and sound combinations. Let the baby repeat them as much as he wants.

When the baby has mastered vowel sounds well, it will be possible to move on to consonants. Start with simple ones, such as b, c, d, and gradually move on to more complex ones. Dr. Komarovsky recommends teaching such lessons in the form of a game so that the child does not get bored. It would be a good idea to watch short educational videos with your baby in which characters pronounce sounds.

Many mothers wonder how to teach how to teach a child to say the letter r. A speech therapist may recommend the following methods:

1. Learn a few rhymes with the letter r with your child.
2. Grow playfully, trying to show the baby the correct position of the lips and tongue.
3. Do special exercises prescribed by the speech therapist. Usually such exercises can be found in videos.

In order for your baby to pronounce the letter L correctly, you must do the following exercise, as recommended by Dr. Komarovsky. Ask your baby to smile widely and run his tongue along the inner surface of the teeth in the lower jaw. First, you can find a training video and watch it to explain it to your child.

To do this, you need to stick your relaxed tongue out of your mouth and swing it up and down, trying to pronounce the letter R.

Teaching a toddler to say the letter Z is very simple. Ask your child to say S, but in a raised voice. Reinforce this exercise with the words tooth, hare, star, umbrella. Show your baby how the throat muscles tense when a ringing sound is made, bring his hand to your throat.

When and what to do if the child does not speak? — Dr. Komarovsky

Child 1 year 10 months talking

Child aged 1 year and 10 months: developmental features, psychomotor skills

A child at 1 year and 10 months is changing both physically and mentally. Every day the baby becomes stronger: the proportions of the body change - a sophisticated baby grows from a chubby toddler. At 1 year and 10 months, bad habits cannot be avoided: at this age, a child may begin to pull things off. If you haven’t taken care of reliable fastenings, then everything, from your hat to your socks, will soon end up on the floor. For the researcher, this is a fascinating process; he will learn to dress on his own later, but for parents, such pampering causes a lot of trouble.

Even when getting ready to go for a walk, you can easily lose patience: you put a hat on your child, but he pulls it off, you struggle to put his socks on his feet, and the child gets rid of them. From the point of view of adults, such behavior resembles whims, although for a child this is still the only accessible way to express and defend his opinion. However, parents’ concern that the child will catch a cold or overheat is completely justified. You can get out of this situation without loss: if you can’t convince the baby to put on the right thing, then let it be equipped with a snake or buttons - they will be more difficult to deal with than with buttons or Velcro.

A child at 1 year and 10 months may begin to show unprecedented demands for little things. Parents may encounter unreasonable whims: if instead of a red plate the baby is given a blue one or if they feed them unloved porridge. Be prepared for the fact that this list of requirements may increase as you age. Children treat food, dishes, and toys very carefully. The child will insist that when he goes to bed, his favorite bear cub is next to him, his favorite fairy tale is read to him at night, and his favorite dress or suit is worn for a walk. It is, of course, not easy for parents to accept such demands, but try to understand your baby, because for a child this means stability and a sense of control. So even if you are tired of reading Chicken Ryaba every evening or watching the color of the dishes, be patient, because even such a little thing is happiness for a child.

Young children are not yet able to memorize information on the fly, so it is repeated repetition that allows them to learn something new. They expand their vocabulary and remember faster. You will soon be very happy to hear from your little one’s lips a retelling of his favorite fairy tale or line from a song. It is in your power to speed up this process, because a child of 1 year and 10 months loves attention very much: the more you communicate with him, the faster he will learn to speak. Speak in the manner of fairy-tale characters, tell him about the world around him - and the effect will not be long in coming. By the way, at 22 months, children begin to defend their rights and defend their things with the word mine; they realize the value of what surrounds them. At the same time, kids become more sociable and get along with other children more easily.

Child at 1 year and 10 months: basic indicators of psychomotor skills

• Children aged 1 year and 10 months love active activities, they run, climb, throw things around, and begin to participate in joint games;
• New words appear in the baby’s vocabulary, he speaks well, so not only mom and dad understand him, but also strangers;
• The child dresses independently (though he still can’t cope with the laces) and undresses;
• Children of this age imitate the actions of adults - they help their mother collect things, wash, iron, copy behavior;
• At 22 months, the child is very sociable - he strives to tell everyone about what he has learned new.

Child 1 year 10 months does not speak

Show previous comments (showing %s of %s)

Galina Kuzma (Statsenko) my daughter 2.2 only says mom, dad, give, etc. Repeats many words, says only one phrase: I love you, she is also hyperactive, she sat down at 4 months, walked at 7, etc. Recently I approached a speech therapist I knew, she said that if she doesn’t speak before the age of 3.5, then this is a problem, but otherwise there is no problem. My daughter also can’t listen to fairy tales, she snatches a book and starts reading to me herself))))) she actually watches cartoons. don't worry, I think everything will be fine)))) Text is hidden expand

Yulia Filatova My son was hyperactive from birth and practically didn’t speak until he was about 3 years old. I mean articulately and understandably. No one understood him except me, neither children nor adults. Clarity in speech appeared by the age of 5 and somehow by itself. I’m with him I didn’t do any special training. But at 6 I began to pronounce all the letters, including r. The speech therapist at the kindergarten didn’t even take us under control, she said that each child has his own individual development of the speech apparatus and the alarm should be sounded after 6-7 years if with normal physical and psychological development The child never spoke. Text hidden expand

Alla Zavyalova (Stultz) We are already 2.9 and speak only a few words. Just went to nursery, also hyperactive. Don't worry - he will talk! Text hidden expand

Irina Tekotskaya possible delay in speech development, i.e. ZRR (with intact intelligence, hearing, vision, etc.), i.e. Speech development is delayed and the child speaks as if he were younger. I agree that you need to be examined, because... Impaired speech function is one of the symptoms of many problems, and only a neurologist can make an accurate diagnosis.

but the main thing is that it’s time to study. The main question is how? At this age, the main way of learning is imitative activity through play. Not all children have sufficiently developed this activity, so it is worth starting from this side. These are games like the clumsy bear, and ladushki, and games based on other nursery rhymes. Develop speech imitation: rocking a doll - aaaaaaa, Doll Katya is crying - wow, etc. increasingly. Don't forget onomatopoeia - meow, ha-ha-ha, etc.

But the most important thing is the development of passive vocabulary, understanding of instructions, etc.

Although no, that’s not the main thing. The main thing is that under the age of 3 years, the child will only do what is really interesting to him; find ways to captivate the child, avoid activities in the generally accepted form. If he doesn’t want to listen to a book during the day, maybe move it to the evening? Animals can be buried in cereals and found - development of motor skills + development of passive vocabulary + learning onomatopoeia. Text hidden expand

Tatyana Usacheva My son is 2.6, so he only started repeating words a month ago. He’s also active, sometimes you wonder if he’ll ever get tired. these are children and there is no need to take them to doctors again, they will find a bunch of unnecessary things)))) my mother always tells me if I start to suspect something is wrong with the child, how come we used to live in villages, no medical care. the sister, and even more so the doctor, did not go home, and they did not take the children to the hospital every month and nothing grew up. Now I go to the stadium with my son, take a ball, that’s where all the activity burns out)))) so if the child has no other signs of illness, just offer her active games, and she will definitely start talking. Text hidden expand

Svetlana Rota (Samoilova) my 3-year-old son doesn’t say anything. I live abroad, I’ll tell you what to do. At 2 years old, we went to an ENT specialist to check whether the child can hear or not, everything is fine, then at 2 and a half years old, we went to a neurologist, now we go to classes with a speech therapist, the results are there, the main thing is not to be late with the deadlines that I pointed out. Text hidden expand

Girl 1 year 10 months fighting

Good afternoon My daughter is 1 year 10 months old. About 3 months ago she started beating people. It can hit a very small one-month-old baby, a one-year-old, and an adult. As soon as he sees it. that someone appeared on the horizon, came up to him and hit him with his hand. He even beats those he knows well, with whom he plays every day on the street. I explain it to her. that fighting is bad. I am ashamed in front of other parents that she constantly offends their children and they cry. Therefore, I try to anticipate her actions and if I see that she is about to hit, I hold my hand, if I have time. I also get hit in the face when I take something away (for example, someone else’s toy that she took away) or when she hits herself somewhere (I take her in my arms to calm her down, and she hits me). In addition, he can fall to the floor if he wants something. I try not to notice it. And he yells when he wants something. How should I behave so that she understands that she can’t do this? Thank you

Your daughter's age corresponds to early. At this time, children begin to actively defend their independence and independence. The task of parents is to limit the child’s desires to demand, appropriate, and destroy when he tests his strength. And the main thing in this is to find a balance, an equilibrium between the ability to cooperate with other people and insist on one’s own, between freedom of expression and its reasonable limitation. If you approach these manifestations too strictly, you may develop constant wariness, stiffness, and unsociability. You need to know that at this age the child’s desires are unstable, quickly passing, he cannot control and restrain them, only adults regulate them. When communicating with children, he always proceeds from his own desires, completely disregarding the desires of others. He is self-centered and does not understand the other and does not know how to empathize with him, hence the manifestations of aggressiveness towards the one who has infringed on their interests. Emotional outbursts and hysterics are best extinguished when adults react to them calmly enough, and, if possible, ignore them altogether. Otherwise, there will be positive reinforcement - the child will get used to the fact that his anger and tears are followed by increased attention from adults and will be capricious even more in order to achieve it. Therefore, check whether you give your daughter enough attention when she behaves well? And also watch - maybe she had an example to follow in terms of hitting (or maybe she gets spanked in the family)? The child will quickly adopt the behavior patterns that he sees. Patiently explain to your daughter that hitting is forbidden, that it hurts, that it’s bad. This period will pass and the faster the more understanding and love the child receives from his parents. Good luck to you!

Girl sleeps with dad

Hello, Raisa Ivanovna! My man has a daughter from his first marriage, she

Tantrums on the street in a 10-month-old baby

Hello! I have a 10 month old son who recently started throwing tantrums on the street.

Girl 2 years and 4 months, refuses to talk

Mine is 2 years and 4 months old. He's too lazy to talk and that's it. By

An 8-year-old girl often goes to the toilet

Hello, My daughter is almost 8 years old, she is impressionable, she worries about everything,

Pissing at 12 years old

Hello Raisa Ivanovna. My daughter recently turned 12 (09.01) but

Emotions of a child at 2.5 years old

Good afternoon, Raisa Ivanovna. My daughter is 2.5 years old. me lately

Question: The child is 1 year and 8 months old and does not speak a word. He only hums and rarely speaks to mom. Why does he call everyone mom?

Video: why a child does not speak at 2 years old

You communicate with him a little, read to him, comment on what is happening. or dad is such a silent person. Some people hit it at 3 years old and can’t shut it up. company of peers is needed

We didn’t start talking right away either. We are already 2 years old and started talking 1-2 months ago. Everything will come with time, all children are different.

Play more with him, catch and hide and seek, and show cartoons, old, Soviet. and you yourself sing lyal-oyalya in front of him and shake pam pam. and in gibberish. and more often encourage him to talk not: “here, hold the glass.” a - Dima wants to drink and the bear wants it too - no, the bear doesn’t want water, only Dima wants to drink. so that he can formulate proposals,

This is not so scary, now most children begin to speak around the age of two, or even later. The child is simply lazy. And he doesn’t see any urgent need to speak, because you already understand him. And what “ma” calls, he just realized that they react to it and do what he wants. Try to ask more often what he wants, name the words and let him either nod or repeat.

no need to panic! some children under 4 years old are silent! then your mouth won't close!

this is purely individual, my eldest son is the same and 3 years old except Nadya and his uncle didn’t say anything, and uncle didn’t say anything when I was reading books to him, pointing at men, my husband was terribly offended because at 3 years old he burst out and didn’t know how to answer questions and the youngest spoke in for a year, so don’t be upset if k4 doesn’t talk, then go to the doctor

There will be a reason for concern at 3-4 years old, but not now..mine too except Dai..Na..Mom..Go..doesn’t squeal anything..although I sing..read..and try to repeat the words..to everything its time..the eldest began to speak at 2 and a half years old..

in this question read 51781594

I think there is no need to worry too much until the age of 3; now many people start speaking by the age of 3. But try to read fairy tales, poems, tell stories more often, explain what you are doing and why, give him tasks, also explaining why, why, why he should do it. Now they sell a lot of educational games, etc. My son and I started training at 7 months. cards (each package on a specific topic, for example: “animals”, “fish”, “natural phenomena”, cards with some actions of people, animals, etc.), studied every day for 30 - 40 minutes , as a result in 1 year. and 2 months He began to speak immediately in sentences, after a couple of months he could explain tolerably why he thought this way and not otherwise, he reasoned. In general, do more with him.

Everything will be fine, he will talk.

Don’t worry, each child has its own development, it won’t calm you down to start talking;)))

Each baby develops differently. But at this age, I advise, based on personal experience, to visit an ENT doctor, dentist, speech therapist, speech pathologist and audiologist. These doctors will help you identify the cause. Don't wait 3 years! There are cases when a child needs help before the age of 3.

I agree, consult a specialist, there may be a delay in speech development, it’s better to be safe, don’t wait for a certain age.

Don't worry, he'll talk. All children develop differently, a speech therapist does not see children under 5 years of age for speech delays, I know this for sure, I worked in a special school.

Talk to him, read books, show him pictures.

mine was silent until two years old, and then immediately spoke in sentences. Before that, he also only “mooed.”

Find a music disc by Moscow professor Kiryushin. Let the child listen to classical music for children

I advise you to contact specialists: a neurologist and a speech therapist! If the child has any early pathology (history of asphyxia, PEP, REP, hyperexcitability syndrome, etc.), then this must be done immediately. In this case, there is a high probability of more than a simple delay in speech development. According to standards, by the age of 2 years a child should speak in sentences of 2-3 words. You can’t wait three years, because the period up to three years is the so-called sensitive (most favorable) period for speech development, so you shouldn’t miss this time. Find a good speech therapist or speech pathologist who will help you and your child. Good luck to you and success to your baby!

A child should speak 10 words per year. this is the norm. If not, go to a neurologist. he will prescribe massage, electrotherapy (laser on points, electrophoresis.) and medications and injections are needed to promote brain development. This must be done, otherwise autism is possible. (see internet). There is no need to be afraid, but making the necessary observations and consultations is the duty of parents.

It’s stupid and dangerous to wait for something to suddenly start talking by the age of three.

Don't waste your time. Although anything can happen. and norms are just average ideas. Many autistic people have been geniuses. Same Einstein.

One of the main factors in the full development of a child is speech. Thanks to this skill, all basic mental processes are formed: attention, memory, thinking.

The formation and active development of speech skills occurs in the first three years of life. If the pace of language acquisition slows down or stops, then in speech therapy this is called delayed speech development (SDSD). Children with developmental disabilities experience great difficulties in learning to read and write in the future.

What to do if your child doesn't talk? How to recognize ZRR in time? What are the causes of this pathology? Let's look at these questions in more detail.

Norms of speech development

Science identifies three stages in the development of children's speech. Normally, a child should go through all of them:

1. Pre-speech stage. It occurs in the first months of life and lasts up to one year. The formation of speech begins with the pronunciation of certain sounds, which are called baby babble and humming.
2. The pregrammatical stage lasts up to two years. At this time, the foundations of word formation are laid.
3. The grammatical stage begins at three years of age. The child learns to speak correctly, taking into account endings, and remembers the order of words in sentences.

Important! Up to 1.5 years, a child has a passive vocabulary of 30-80 words. The period of a sharp leap in speech development occurs at the age of 1.5-2 years. During this period, the child already knows about 300 words. By the age of three, the number of words increases four to five times.

Causes of delayed speech development in children

The following reasons may lead to a diagnosis of RRD:

1. Birth trauma that led to intracranial hemorrhage. In this case, the speech areas of the brain may be injured, which will subsequently lead to speech delay in the child.
2. Infectious, viral diseases suffered during the period from four weeks to four months of pregnancy. The development of intrauterine pathology during this period can cause severe speech underdevelopment.
3. Traumatic brain injuries and severe illnesses before the age of three can cause complications in hearing, vision and speech.
4. Delayed speech development is often associated with pedagogical neglect or overprotection. In the first case, adults are reluctant to maintain communication with the baby, and all attempts by the child to engage in an active conversation are suppressed. With excessive guardianship, all the child’s actions and desires are predicted in advance. This deprives the baby of incentive to develop communication skills.
5. Inferior speech environment, which is represented by deaf-mute parents and relatives with speech defects. In this case, the child will copy all the speech deficiencies in adults. Limitation of social contacts due to illness also leads to RRD.
6. Pathologies in physical development. Underdevelopment of speech areas, apraxia of facial muscles, cleft lip, critically low birth weight, fetal immaturity in multiple pregnancies.
7. Heredity. If one of the parents has hearing loss, then there is a risk of having a baby with the same pathology.
8. Mental disorders. If by the age of three a child speaks poorly, this may be a symptom of autism or mental retardation. Traumatic situations, prolonged stress, and severe fear lead to the refusal of active speech.

You should be aware that a slight delay in the development of speech skills can be observed in a family where the parents speak different languages. Acquiring two or more languages ​​simultaneously in early childhood requires a little more time. Typically, by the age of four to five years, spoken language in bilingual children reaches normal levels.

Signs of delayed speech development in children

The diagnosis of RRD is made only in the early preschool period. But usually, with timely contact with specialists, this defect can be corrected.

The first alarm bells can be noticed already in the first year of a child’s life. The absence of an emotional response to toys or an adult’s smile, a slow reaction to what is happening around them may indicate neurological problems. At six to seven months, a child is able to make various sounds for hours, he actively babbles, and by one year he parodies the facial expressions of his parents. If you do not notice this in your child, you should consult your doctor.

The following signs may also indicate problems in speech development:

• At 1.5 years old, the baby does not respond to his name, does not understand the simplest requests, does not say “mom”, “nanny”, “dad”. There are difficulties chewing and swallowing solid food.
• By the age of two, the child speaks only a few simple words and does not try to link them into sentences. The baby does not remember new names of objects or names.
• At 2.5 years old, the active vocabulary consists of 10-20 words. At the same time, the child cannot name parts of his body and does not understand simple questions: “Who is this?”, “Where is mom?”, “What is the dog’s name?” Instead of asking, the baby hums and points his finger.
• At three years old, a child is rarely silent or his speech is very unintelligible. Even close people have difficulty understanding him. The baby does not know how to actively listen, poems and fairy tales tire him.
• Drawing out words, speaking too slowly. At the same time, no one in the family has such violations.
• Communication occurs through mirror phrases that he hears from adults. The child’s speech is also represented by memorized phrases from cartoons and games.
• Regardless of age, the baby always keeps his mouth slightly open. Excessive salivation without jaw pathologies.

The child’s excessive selectivity in interlocutors should not be mistaken for ZRD. If you are worried why your child does not speak in an unfamiliar place or avoids contact with unfamiliar people, including children on the playground, then seek advice from a child psychologist. The child may be embarrassed or afraid of rejection.

What to do for a child’s speech development

For full speech development, it is extremely important to create an emotionally favorable environment. Actively encourage your child to voice requests and desires. Always try to listen carefully to the child’s speech, do not interrupt him or rush him, do not correct him unnecessarily, do not criticize him. All this will have a positive effect on the development of speech skills.

How to teach a child to talk if you have already noticed a lag in speech activity? Here it is important to devote more time to live conversation, because TV and radio will not provide emotional reinforcement, which is very important for motivating a child to talk.

However, do not be overly active with conversational requests: “Tell me what it is?”, “Name what you see?”. Such pressure from parents often leads to a backlash. A child may develop speech negativism, when the baby remains silent, speaking out against excessive external pressure.

All learned words first fall into the passive dictionary, then the child begins to use them in speech. You just need to push the child to active communication.

Using rhythm will help with this. Outdoor games with sound or musical effects, board group games with lively active communication allow the child to become more relaxed, and the words themselves will come out of their mouths.

Use techniques daily to develop and stimulate fine motor skills. The centers of the brain that are responsible for the movements of the hand and fingers (fine manual motor skills) and the articulation zones are in close relationship. If you develop your hands, your speech can “pull up” automatically. Finger games (“magpie-white-sided”), massaging the fingertips, sorting through cereals, putting together puzzles, lacing, and playing a musical instrument give good results. For drawing, choose solid dyes - crayons, pencils. If your baby prefers paints, use your fingers instead of a brush.

Constantly talk to your child, talk through all joint actions, and monitor the correctness and clarity of your speech. Develop your hearing and attention. To do this, play the games “Find out who’s talking”, “Broken phone (learn the word by whispering)”, “Which instrument is lost now?”

For correct production of sounds, classes with a speech therapist are required. If the delay in speech development is associated with mental or neurological disorders, then you need to visit a neurologist, speech pathologist and psychiatrist.

Failure to provide competent support at a young age can lead to mental retardation, problems with adaptation, isolation, infantilism, and the formation of unique character traits.

With active activities and timely treatment, RRD is completely eliminated before school. At older ages, no deviations are observed. The most important thing is not to delay contacting specialists!

A year-old child does not speak: how to teach a child to speak?

What to do if a child does not speak at one year of age? When do children start talking? When does a child begin to say “mom”, “dad” and other first words? Why does the child speak poorly? What games with your baby will awaken his dormant ability for active speech? I will try to answer these questions in this article.

If a child does not speak at one year: what is important to know?

Classic norms of neuropsychic development in early childhood

According to the indicators of neuropsychic development of children in the first year of life previously adopted in our country, developed by N.M. Shchelovanov, child:

• By 10 months, he rejoices in roll call with his mother and, imitating, repeats different sounds and syllables after her. For example, “di-di”, “ta-ta-ta”, “da-da”, “ti-ti-ti”.
• By 11 months – pronounces the first words like “av-av”, “mama”, “baba”.
• By 12 months, the child begins to speak a few simple words - “mom”, “aunt”, “Katya”, “Manya”, “dad”, “boom”, “grandfather”, “bibi”, “bye-bye”, “iya” "(Ira), "de" (where), etc. (within 10 words). Each child has a different set of words. Some people say “baba” but don’t say “mom”. Someone perfectly names all relatives, but does not say “where”, “boom”, “tick-tock” and other words. Those. The list of words that a child says per year can be anything, but their number is approximately 10-12.

Every year a child's word has many meanings. So, for example, he can call “kitty” not only a toy or live cat, but also the fluffy collar of his mother’s fur coat, chicken, cotton wool, mother’s soft hair, a fluffy blanket, etc. This is also normal for the baby’s speech development, because each word goes through a number of stages:

• from the first naming stage (“kitty” is everything fluffy to the touch)

• until the main characteristics of the object are identified (then only cats will be called “kitty”, and any of them - black, white, big, small, live, toy, in a picture, in a cartoon)

• and ending with the development of logical thinking (“kitty” - that’s what cats are called - these are animals, and domestic animals at that. Such generalization occurs much later at the end of preschool age).

The indicators of a child’s neuropsychic development given above have existed for decades. However, recently more and more children “do not have time” to speak and say their first babbling words within the required 12 months. And there is even a question about changing age norms towards their “Americanization”, considering the lack of speech even in a 2.5 year old child to be normal. But at three years old, lack of speech is already considered an alarming sign.

What is the reason why a child does not speak at one (two) years of age? Should I worry? What every mother needs to know

First. There are very large individual differences in the speech development of children.

And many children who speak later not only catch up, but then also overtake their peers. Much depends on the conditions in which the baby grows. And these conditions are organized for him by adults. And it is these conditions that either stimulate or inhibit the appearance of speech in a child - you can read more about this in the article. This means that in most cases you can change the conditions, and the problem will be resolved. Indeed, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the problem is in no way connected with a violation of the child’s health (in my practice, I work with ordinary children - I have only seen one non-speaking child with a serious medical reason for the lack of speech out of all the silent children). And you don’t need to stuff your baby with medications at one year old so that he can talk faster!

Second. I associate the late appearance of speech in modern children with the fact that in many families the culture of nurturing the baby has disappeared, i.e. speech games with him, which our grandmothers and great-grandmothers have been playing with children for centuries. Very often, families simply don’t talk to the baby, believing that “when he starts talking, then I’ll talk to him,” and this is fundamentally wrong! In addition, families do not have folk games - rhythmic, musical, combining speech and movement, and pestles and nursery rhymes are now considered obsolete. But it was precisely these folk speech games that were structured in such a way that it was almost impossible not to speak in them (see more about this -). I will continue the description of these simple but very effective speech games today.

Third. What is important to do if your baby is silent? Watch your baby carefully:

1. Does he understand what is said to him?
2. Does he listen to you with interest?
3. Does he recognize the names of familiar objects (ask the baby: “where is kitty / lalya / tick-tock clock, etc.” and see if he chooses them from other objects)?
4. Does he recognize the adults he knows: “Where is the woman? Where is grandfather? Where is Vova?
5. Does he carry out your simplest verbal instructions, for example, bring shoes, give, take, sit, etc. (between the ages of one and a half years)?

If he does all this perfectly, it means that his reserve of passive speech (i.e., understood) still exceeds the development of active speech (i.e., spoken), and a moment will arise when the child “suddenly” speaks. But how sooner or later this will happen will depend solely on adults, who either do not pay attention to the lack of speech, or simply do not know how to help the baby (and therefore cannot help), or help the child and stimulate the appearance of his first words.

Fourth. You need to know that it is absolutely useless to stimulate the appearance of speech by forcing the baby to speak: “say mom, say watch, say fork,” etc.. The disadvantage of this method is that although the child may begin to repeat this word, the problem is that he will not use it in life. After all, for a child, a word is always associated with an object (“lyalya,” “tick-tock,” “gaga,” “av-av,” “tyapa”—slippers, etc.) or an action (“boom,” “give.” , “na”, “go-go”, “kuku”, etc.) But simple repetition of sounds does not provide this connection. But folk speech songs and songs are precisely tuned to connect words with action and therefore are easily perceived by children, and in them he easily begins to repeat combinations of sounds and words.

Fifth. Recently, articles have appeared in the press stating that the appearance of speech is associated exclusively with the development of the brain, and therefore it is useless to engage in speech games with the baby.

What can you say to this:

1) For centuries, absolutely all peoples of the world have developed a culture of nurturing babies with verbal chants, sayings, songs, and games. Adults intuitively found ways to develop a child, adapting to his needs. And then such problems with speech, which are observed in many modern children, simply did not exist!!! And now, when speech games are gone, there are problems with speech, and the number of problems is only increasing! And this despite the fact that now in stores there is an abundance of educational toys, books, pictures for children that simply did not exist before!!!

2) All experts categorically disagree with the denial of increased communication with mother in the development of children’s speech. This claim has also been refuted by many scientific experiments. Speech is indeed very closely related to the functioning of the brain. But it develops only in communication.

Let us remember the sad stories of the Mowgli children who never spoke, because... raised by animals. But if you adhere to the theory of brain maturation, then their brains by nature should have matured and they should have spoken.

It is also known how often delays in speech development occur in children from orphanages who have not had full communication with an adult.

Let me give you an example of a very cruel experiment conducted abroad with children many years ago. There was then a point of view that there is a certain “metalanguage” that is the basis of all other languages. And if you “don’t forcefully talk to the child, forcing him to speak his native language,” then he will begin to speak in this “metalanguage.” To test this point of view, children of different nationalities who did not have parents were gathered in one house. All responsibilities for their maintenance, care, and nutrition were performed by deaf and dumb people. They did not communicate with talking adults. What happened? All these children did not speak any language at all and were very far behind their peers in development. But if it was all about the maturation of the brain, they should have spoken!

Toys should not obscure the communication with mother and other loved ones, which for centuries has led to the baby’s well-being and normal speech development. The toy is designed to enrich the content of communication between mother and baby, but not to replace it!!!

Psychologists call speech a mirror of a child’s development, because It is in speech that his well-being or ill-being is reflected. And now in the 21st century this “mirror” shows us an increasingly worsening situation.

Creating a developmental speech environment at home

What should a mother do if the child does not speak? The answer is quite simple - create a “nutritious” speech development environment. What kind of speech environment is this?

1. Audio CDs with recordings of children's songs, folk jokes and nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and poems should be played at home. Moreover, it is audio recordings that are needed, not video or TV, because... any picture distracts the baby’s attention from the word. The baby's favorite rhymes and songs need to be played many times so that he remembers them better and begins to finish the words after the announcer or singer!
2. It is very important to tell your child fairy tales and stories. Any! But... just tell it, and not read it from a book!!! When you tell, the baby sees your face, you can observe his reaction. You intuitively adjust your speech to your child, change your intonation, pause somewhere. You can tell bedtime stories (but not scary ones), you can do daily “fairy tale minutes” during the day. It doesn't matter that you forget or miss some words. That's why they are fairy tales, because they are “told” and not “read.”
3. Look at the pictures with your child. Pictures should be clear, realistic, with large images without unnecessary details. Tell the story yourself based on the picture and ask your child questions: “Who is this? Where does he live? What does he say? Where did he go? Where are his paws, ears, tail? What paws? Small ones. What kind of tail? Big, long. What color is pussy? Gray”, etc. Even if the child is silent, he still understands your speech and accumulates a passive vocabulary of words that he will pronounce later.
4. When talking to your baby, always say the full “adult” word first, and then its simplified version. For example: “Here comes Bibi’s car. What's coming? The car drives and hums: beep, beep, beep, beep. Who is this running? The dog is running aww. What does the dog say? Av-av. Aw-aw-that’s what a dog is!” Simplified words will help your child begin to speak. After all, he is simply not able to pronounce the word “dog” right away, but the word “av-av” is quite accessible to him.
5. Please note that the way to master words is as follows: first the repetition of syllables (babble), then the appearance of simple words (av-av), then the appearance of simple sentences from simple words (“Iya bah”, which means “Ira fell” or “on av-av”, i.e. “ on the dog"). At the same time, the baby always distorts words, pronouncing them in “baby language”; this is normal and should not cause concern.
6. Play speech games with your baby using folk songs. I want to offer several folk speech games with the baby, stimulating him to repeat syllables and words. They will not require any material investments from you and are very simple, but they will require time and love for your baby, a desire to listen to his interests and characteristics. They will bring you and your baby joy, play with words, a creative impetus for inventing your own games, and, of course, the child’s first syllables and words.

Note to mom

• It is best to start playing these games at the end of the child's first year of life. But it's never too late to start! These games can also be useful for non-verbal children 2 years old.
• Choose from the list those games that your child and you like. So, one child will prefer to hide toys and look for them:
  “Where is the car - beep, where is the dog - aw-aw.” And another will be happy to throw the ball into the basket and shout “boom” at the same time.
• Write down in a notebook all the syllables that the baby is already saying (ko, de, yes, ba, ka, ma, ga, na, etc.). Use in games those sound combinations that your baby already has in his speech. Gradually expand this list, offering your baby new syllables - five, ti, kach, aw, give, etc. Change songs, come up with new lines and rhymes with the ones that have already appeared in his “repertoire” of sounds and words.
• One game or one song should be repeated many times. But not immediately, i.e. not 20 times in a row! And, for example, regularly at breakfast 2-3 times, and if the baby likes it, then 4-5 times. Or while playing with the baby 1-3 times. Every day without a break.
• The game should be stopped when the child is not yet tired of it, really likes it, and wants to continue. Otherwise, you will become satiated with the game.
• Don't focus on what your child isn't saying. Don't expect instant results. Remember the law “quantity turns into quality”. This law works 100% here. Just play and enjoy communicating with your baby! A satisfied, joyful mother, her calm melodious singing or pronouncing syllables and words, her desire to play with the baby - this is what a child first of all needs to speak!

Speech games for one-year-old children

Speech game 1. “Porridge”

Say rhythmically, moving your finger in a circle over the baby’s palm:

“Too-too-too,
Too-too-too.
Don't cook the porridge - tuuuuuuuu!
Cookaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasure...
Cook it upooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

• You can move your baby's finger in a circle around your palm. This song encourages the child to say the syllable “tu” to the rhythm of the song. But the pronunciation of the syllable “tu” will not happen immediately, but only after repeating the song many times, when it becomes recognizable to the baby.
• It is convenient to sing the song during breakfast, stirring porridge. You can “cook porridge for the dolls” and stir it with a toy spoon in a toy saucepan (if your child is already 2 years old, he will also be interested in this). While singing a song, it will be good if the baby can see the mother’s face and her lips stretched out into a tube “tuuu-tuuu-tuuu”.

Speech game 2. “Big legs – small legs”

We take big steps with the child and talk or sing along in a low voice, slowly

“Big feet walked along the road - stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp.” And now we mince and say in a thin, high-pitched voice and quickly: “Little legs ran along the path: stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp.”

The game encourages the child to repeat simple syllables and words.

Tips for playing the game:

Game 3. Family

Bend your child's fingers over each line, starting with the thumb:

This finger is a deeeeee (pull eee).
This finger is a baaaabushka,
This finger is awesome
This finger is maaaaaaa,
And this is our Katenka (we say the child’s name and bend the little finger)
There is another option for ending the song: “This finger is me. That’s my whole family!”

Most new mothers are constantly worried about when their children will begin to smile, hold their heads, laugh, roll over, sit, crawl, walk. Usually, when a child turns 1 year old, fears about the baby’s physical development are over. But a new stage begins - parents begin to more and more carefully monitor the development of their baby’s speech. Even knowing that the child does not owe anything to anyone, parents often compare their child with other children - “But Masha’s daughter already speaks 20 words a year, but ours keeps mooing!”

Norms of speech development

There are standards for physical and psychomotor development that pediatricians focus on. According to the domestic methodology for assessing indicators of neuropsychic development, a child:

• at 1-2 months he can scream with different intonations (cries of joy and displeasure);
• at 2-3 months he coos and “booms” - this is the transition of the speech apparatus from screaming to babbling;
• at 5-6 months he begins to make babbling sounds, repeating after his mother, or independently (ba, bu, pa, ma), sounds can be repeated; at the same time, he recognizes his own name, distinguishes between kind and angry intonations;
• at 7-10 months he actively babbles - repeats various sounds and syllables after his mother (a-a-a; o-o-o; ka; ma-ma-ma; ba-ba-ba; pa-pa-pa);
• at 11 months says the first words (mom, dad, baba, kaka, aw-aw, give);
• by 12 months has a small set of simple words. These can be “mom”, “dad”, “aunt”, “uncle”, “baba”, “boom”, “give”, “na”, “am” and various onomatopoeias such as “meow”, “mu”, "ha-ha-ga." According to various sources, the norm for the number of words in 1 year is from 2 to 10.

The difference between babbling and babbling words is that the word necessarily means something specific, the child puts a certain meaning into it, while babbling is a set of sounds that the child is just learning to speak, and therefore repeats them, “talking” to him. yourself or your parents. Babbled words consist of one to three syllables, usually identical and open. One “word” can have several designations, since the number of sounds that the child pronounces is limited. For example, “ka-ka” can mean garbage, the croaking of a crow, a swing (kach-kach) - and this will not be one word, but several. If you listen more closely, you can discern that the pronunciation for different words will be different. Also, due to a little “life experience”, the baby can call in one word all the objects and phenomena that are similar to him - for example, the word “uncle” will mean all strangers, even women, “bibi” - everything that has wheels - a car, a bicycle, a cart.

Should I be concerned if my child does not speak at one year of age?

Often, hearing from a mother that a child of 1 year does not speak, or says “few” words, the doctor, with his attention to this aspect of development, can cause concern and even fear in the mother that the child is behind in development. However, it is worth noting that a professional neurologist, speech therapist, defectologist, and simply a qualified pediatrician never considers speech separately from other indicators of development.

If the child develops normally in the area of ​​gross (motor functions) and fine motor skills (a “pincer” grip is formed), is keenly interested in the world around him and does not have a history of risk factors for delayed speech development (pathological childbirth, hearing and vision impairment), but at the same time doesn't say, no need to panic! For your own peace of mind, consult a pediatrician and neurologist - they will evaluate the child’s development as a whole. You should not completely rely on the fact that the child will speak on his own - of course, this can happen, but nowadays cases of delayed speech development are quite common, which are better to prevent than to try to correct the consequences in the future.

It’s normal not to “talk” at one year of age, but it is important to ensure that your one-year-old child:

• reacted to the speech of others, his name;
• performed imitative play actions, demonstrated understanding of simple commands;
• made various babbling sounds, even if it seems to you that they do not resemble words.

Active speech begins to develop at 1-1.6 years, and for each child these periods are individual.

What determines when a child starts speaking?

The answer to this question is ambiguous.

First of all, physiological factors influence speech development. Hearing impairment does not allow the baby to correctly perceive speech and reproduce sounds accordingly. Poor vision, like hearing, prevents speech from developing - after all, a child learns to pronounce sounds by looking at the movement of the lips of surrounding adults. Also, delayed speech development can be caused by birth trauma during pathological childbirth (caesarean section, in particular, is a risk factor for speech disorders), neurological problems, and general delay in physical development.

If we do not consider cases of speech delay associated with physiology, many factors influence the formation of speech in a child:

1. Genetics. Often, delayed speech development can be inherited. If one of the parents was silent until the age of two or three, there is a high probability that the child will begin to speak a little later than expected. However, this does not mean that playing and studying with a child is useless. Continue to talk to him as much as possible - let him at first accumulate only passive vocabulary.
2. Gender of the child. It is generally accepted that boys begin to talk later than girls. There is some truth in this - speech in boys is formed somewhat later, and delays in speech development occur more often. But even in this case, you should not attribute the child’s “silence” only to his gender. There are also some differences in the words used by boys and girls - girls are characterized by a larger number of words denoting objects and a relatively late formation of phrasal speech, while boys often speak “in their own language” for a long time, and begin to copy words denoting actions early , movements, and therefore “sentences” appear relatively early in their speech.
3. Intelligence, mental and cognitive abilities of the child - all this depends not only on heredity and physiological reasons, but also (perhaps even to a greater extent) on the amount of time and attention given to the child, his trust in the world, and, consequently, his desire to study this world. Never underestimate your baby - be close to him, help him make new discoveries, talk as much as possible - this does not require special aids and toys for “early development” and raising a brilliant child.
4. Having constant communication with parents . This is perhaps one of the most important points in speech development. However, in modern realities, it is becoming common to use such toys and child care devices that allow you to leave the baby alone and do things yourself. Believe me, no toy, TV or gadget can replace mom’s voice and mom’s hand. Speech can develop only with constant interaction between a child and an adult, and not only verbal interaction - gestures, facial expressions, and intonations are also important here.
5. Motivation for speech development . Put yourself in the baby’s shoes - if you immediately get what you want with one movement of your hand, do you really want to strain and call the surrounding objects words? Therefore, it is important for a child not only to have loving people nearby, but also to receive an adequate attitude towards himself - overprotection will not bring any benefit. Pointing gestures are quite normal for children aged 8 months to one year, but by the age of one and a half years, you should try to encourage the child to indicate what he wants in verbal form.
6. Overload with activities . If you're trying to teach ABC, English and math to a child who doesn't yet speak, the impact on their development may not be what you'd like. Such a load does not correspond to the child’s developmental level and can inhibit speech development. Psychologists do not recommend overloading a child’s brain with symbols - the baby, of course, will remember them, but this will prevent him from mastering the skills needed precisely during this period.
7. Baby using a pacifier . If a child’s mouth is constantly occupied with a pacifier, it becomes easier for him to communicate using gestures, or he “withdraws into himself.” Therefore, the baby can start talking much later. Also, if a pacifier is used for a long time (more than two years), malocclusion may occur, which will subsequently affect the quality of speech - for example, the pronunciation of whistling and hissing sounds. If you use a pacifier while caring for your child, try to give it up at least by the age of two, and until then use it to a minimum (for example, only for sleep).
8. The child is one of twins or triplets . Despite the fact that there are no official standards for twins, speech therapists usually note later speech development in such babies. Children from twins communicate with each other for a long time in “their” language, i.e. they lack the motivation to move on to “normal” words. Parents of twins should pay special attention to their children’s speech development.
9. Stress experienced by the child may have a negative impact on speech development. Divorce or quarrel between parents, moving, unfair punishment can affect the child’s psyche, and this will be expressed not only in poor sleep and restless behavior, but also in reluctance to speak.

What to do if a child does not speak or speaks “few” words at one year of age? How to teach a child to speak?

First of all, exclude physiological reasons speech problems - consult a pediatrician and neurologist. Most likely, if there are problems, you already know about it, then the specialist will advise you on how to treat the child, whether a special massage or medications is needed.

If the doctor reports that everything is fine with the child’s health, then until the age of two, the main thing you should take care of is constant communication with the child. Don't overuse the pacifier if you use one; do not try to entertain your child with cartoons - they will not be beneficial for speech (not to mention vision and the nervous system). It is often difficult for parents to communicate with a child who does not respond to them, so to speak, unilaterally. But speech development is a gradual process, you will have to wait several months for the results of the classes, but what joy they will bring you! If adults only talk to each other, the fast pace of their speech does not allow the child to learn to repeat words. Sometimes parents, especially if the baby is their first, simply do not know how to talk to their child correctly. But it’s not difficult to learn this - you need to constantly pronounce your actions, describe surrounding objects, talk to the child as if he is about to answer you. It is important to speak slowly, focus the baby’s attention on your lips (this is how children learn to pronounce sounds), and highlight simple words that the child can repeat with intonation. Reading poetry and nursery rhymes and singing children's songs are very useful for speech development. Television and even audio media can never replace communication with mother for a child. It is important not to babysit with your baby - you should be the standard of correct speech for him, but the use of simple onomatopoeic words (fell - bang, car - bibi, pipe - dudu, fish swims - glug-glug, eat - am) will help the child speak faster.

Reading books to children - an important element of development, because it is both a game and imperceptible learning. You need to start instilling a love for books as early as possible - from 7-8 months you can already start reading aloud. This creates a warm atmosphere in the family, helps the child master his native language and assimilate new concepts and images. You need to read slowly, in a chant, emphasizing simple words with intonation that the child can repeat. The child perceives and remembers onomatopoeia best ("meow", "mu", "woof-woof"), lightweight words (car - bibi, duck - duck, pipe - doo-doo, clock - tick-tock) and repetition words (here and there, here and there). It happens that a one-year-old child does not show interest in a book. But even if it seems to you that the child is not listening, just read while sitting next to him, or try to interest him with the pictures in the book. Draw your child's attention to familiar objects in the pictures, ask questions - "What is this? What is the baby doing? What does the cat eat? Does the bear have horns?" At first, you will answer them yourself - this is normal, the main thing is that the child is interested.

What books should a child read? Classic poems by Chukovsky, Barto, Marshak, Mikhalkov, Tokmakova are best suited for reading to little ones. Choose books with bright large illustrations, pictures in which the baby recognizes something familiar to him (animals, small children, a sandbox, toys that he has). There are manuals aimed specifically at speech development, here are some of them:

• “Album on speech development for the little ones” (authors S.V. Batyaeva and E.V. Savostyanova),

• "Big speech therapy textbook" or "Lessons of a speech therapist" (author E.M. Kosinova)

• subject and subject pictures and cards of different authors

• series of books "First phrases. Let's start speaking" (author S.N. Savushkin)

• "About the Bunny" (author Gendenshtein L.E.)

and many others.

The development of speech is inextricably linked with the formation of fine motor skills, so the importance of finger games and games with small objects is invaluable. It happens that the child does not give his mother his hands for the “white-sided magpie”, and the mother decides that the baby is still too small for such games - but this is not entirely true. Don't insist, just show the game movements yourself. Gradually, the baby will like it, and he will want to repeat the movements, albeit in his own way for now.

Drawing is useful for developing motor skills finger paints, sculpt from salt dough, press plasticine with fingers .

Of course, you should not give small objects unattended - there is a high probability that they will be swallowed. Use for games counting sticks , clothespins , toys specially designed for the development of fine motor skills - lacing , labyrinths , while walking, introduce your baby to the world around him - look and touch flowers, pebbles, twigs. All this will have a beneficial effect on the child’s speech development. If the stage when the baby puts everything in his mouth has passed, start playing with beans, pasta, buttons - but you must be nearby!

Exercises are very useful for speech development articulatory gymnastics , the simplest ones can be done with a one-year-old child. Show your baby how a frog smiles - stretch your lips as wide as possible in a smile, what an elephant's trunk is like - stretch your lips forward, depict a growling tiger, a hippopotamus that opens its mouth wide, a cat lapping up milk, click your tongue like a horse. At first, the child will look closely at your actions with interest, and soon he will want to repeat them. Blow into a pipe or a dandelion with your child, lick your lips after a delicious porridge. These simple exercises (you can come up with them yourself, or you can use examples from books or the Internet) will not only help the child’s articulation apparatus develop, but will also become a pleasant and useful part of your communication with him, because gestures, facial expressions and sounds are important in the formation of speech no less than words.

If your baby is persistently silent, do not get angry with him and do not constantly say: “Say”, “Repeat” - this will only cause persistent verbal negativism. You can’t force someone to speak, just as you can’t force someone to eat. Let go of the problem, continue talking, playing and studying with your child - let it bring you joy! Gradually you will see the results of your efforts, and they will pay off all the past experiences. We wish you success in your activities with your child - may your monologue soon turn into a dialogue!

Photo from Lori's photo bank