How to teach your child to talk on your own

A child does not speak at 3 years old: the main reasons

In general, there are two main groups of reasons why a 3-year-old child does not speak properly:

• physiological;
• social and psychological reasons.

Physiological reasons for lack of speech in children:

• Hearing problems. Any problems associated with the development of the hearing system have a negative impact on the baby’s speech development. Those children who have hearing loss will always lag behind in terms of speech development. It is imperative that your child's hearing is checked by a qualified doctor.
• Poor development of the speech apparatus. The child may have poorly developed jaw and facial muscles. It is necessary to pay attention to the presence of increased salivation, a gag reflex when trying to swallow solid food, as well as whether the mouth is often slightly open. The reason for this may be that the baby was weaned too early.
• Premature pregnancy;
• Serious illnesses suffered in the first years of life.
• A disease like autism.
• Features of genetics. The child may have a genetic predisposition to delayed speech development. This is inherited, and there may be no pathologies.

Psychological and social reasons:

• Lack of need and need to talk. If adults constantly guess wishes and take care of them, then the pet simply does not have any need to convey his wishes to others.
• Psychological stress. Due to some event that has a negative impact on the psyche, the process of speech development may stall. Such an event can be separation from mother, change of environment, illness. In this case, consultation with a child psychologist is necessary.
• Lack of attention. If you don’t spend a lot of time with your child and don’t involve him in general activities, he doesn’t develop a need to express his thoughts.

A child speaks poorly at 3 years old: how does a delay with intact intelligence manifest itself?

Delayed speech development refers to a situation in which a baby acquires speech later than the age norm.

Signs of speech delay

This phenomenon is characterized by the following features:

• qualitative and quantitative underdevelopment of vocabulary;
• unformed expressiveness of oral speech;
• lack of coherent speech by 3 years;
• incomplete pronunciation of words;
• inability to express your wishes.

For your information! Delayed speech development can be determined through a visit to specialists. Also, if the parents communicate a lot with the child, then the presence of this problem will become obvious to them.

How to determine the level of speech development in a child at home?

With due attention, it is not difficult to determine the level of speech development even at home.

For your information! The main parameter that you need to pay attention to is how different the level of speech development of a particular child is from this indicator among peers, in other words, how much worse or better he speaks.

In addition, there are special tables that reflect the correspondence of the dynamics of a child’s speech development to the age norm. This information is publicly available and understandable even to a layman. By comparing the development of a child’s speech with such a table, you can identify the problems and gaps he has and help get the baby talking.

Norms of speech development

By this age, the child should have coherent speech, and not moo and react inappropriately. He should already be able to construct sentences.

How to teach a child to speak the sound [r] without a speech therapist at home

By the end of the third year of life the following should be observed:

• clarity of speech;
• improving pronunciation;
• the ability to name all surrounding objects;
• the appearance in the vocabulary of such parts of speech as pronouns, adjectives and prepositions;
• attempts to coordinate words (use of genders, cases and numbers);
• the ability to memorize and retell short works of art.

For your information ! It is during this period that children, whose speech apparatus develops in accordance with age norms, show a special desire to communicate with both adults and peers. They learn to establish verbal contacts, learn habits, and begin to help.

How to help your child master speech

What to do if the child does not want to talk? Is it possible to get him to talk? Certainly. I just need to help him.

First of all, you need to communicate with the child. It is important to remember that the baby begins to speak by trying to repeat the words of adults. However, you should not force him to repeat words. Requests like “say MA-MA” will get you nowhere. It is better if the child becomes a participant in the dialogue and answers questions. It is important to give him time to think and, if he is not yet ready to answer, to prompt him. Perhaps he just doesn't know what to say yet. Then his mother’s answer will be a standard for him. And under no circumstances should he be punished for incorrect pronunciation.

It doesn't matter at all what the conversation is about. You can look at pictures in educational books, toys or objects that you come across on a walk. You can pronounce actions. For example, when a child is going for a walk, you can talk about how he buttons his shoes or jacket, what clothes he puts on. If he sits down to dinner, you can name the objects he is dealing with: a plate, a spoon. The main thing is that the speech is clear and correct. It is advisable to speak slowly. Over time, the child will learn to name objects independently.

There are exercises that will help your child talk. For example, you can read poems out loud and ask them to finish them in rhyme. You definitely need to ask him to describe everything that is around. But don't overdo it. The baby should not feel pressure in his voice, otherwise such exercises will cause negative emotions. When performing any exercises, you need to look at the child’s condition. If he is already tired, then it is better to stop the lesson, otherwise he will begin to be capricious and lose all desire to learn.

A very important factor in the development of a baby’s speech is fine motor skills. The fact is that the development of fingers and hands indirectly affects the part of the brain responsible for speech activity. Fine motor skills should be developed from the first months of life. This needs to be done daily.

First of all, you need to massage your hands. You should start with the little finger. After massaging each phalanx and fingertips, you need to stroke and massage your palm. You can also massage with a special massage ball. To do this, you need to roll it between your palms, press it, or transfer it from hand to hand.

Exercises to develop fine motor skills

It is useful to perform exercises for squeezing and relaxing your hands. Very young children cling to adults' fingers. An older child can be given a piece of paper and asked to squeeze it as tightly as possible.

To develop fine motor skills and tactile sensations, it is useful to sort through sand or cereals. To make it more interesting for the child, you can hide some small toy in a can of cereal or ask him to string beads on a thread. You need to remember that you need to do all the exercises together, be very careful and not leave the child alone with small objects.

Modeling from clay or plasticine, painting with finger paints or origami - all this will be useful for the development of the baby. In addition, it is necessary to gradually involve the child in the process of dressing. Let him button his own shirt and lace his shoes.

To develop motor skills, you need to master finger games. This is very useful, because while doing the exercises the child hears words that he will be able to repeat over time. First, you should perform all movements with the baby’s hands. When the child masters the actions, he will perform them independently. If it is difficult for a child to reproduce an exercise, you need to help him fix all his fingers correctly.

The issue of speech development needs to be approached comprehensively. Systematic implementation of exercises and constant communication will allow your child to talk and prepare him for further learning. It is important not to stop focusing on the development of the child. Based on the level of speech development, one can judge the child’s psyche, since the formation of the psyche, thinking and speaking occurs simultaneously.

Tags:Speech

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A child does not speak at 3 years old: what to do?

All parents who are faced with the problem of delayed speech development in a child are wondering why he doesn’t say what to do, how to teach, whether it is necessary to force or eliminate pressure, how long it will take. Komarovsky gives some explanations.

Advice from Dr. Komarovsky

Dr. Komarovsky, if a boy or girl has speech problems, strongly recommends contacting qualified specialists:

• ENT. A hardware hearing examination and audiogram will be required. This will determine whether the child has hearing problems.
• Neurologist. It is the presence of neurological pathologies that often causes speech development disorders. It is important to note in a conversation with a doctor when the child began to perceive human speech, at what age the humming began, and what skills are inherent in him at 3 years old.
• Speech therapist. Specialists in this profile can determine the presence of speech apparatus disorders (for example, a short frenulum or poor development of the facial muscles and tongue).
• Psychologist. Perhaps insufficient speech development is due to reasons related to the psychological state.

Dr. Komarovsky identifies the following as the most important steps that parents need to take:

• examination of the child for physical and neurological disorders;
• consultations with a speech therapist and psychologist;
• limiting the long inactive time that the child spends playing with gadgets;
• spending more time communicating with the child;
• frequent use of names of surrounding objects when communicating with a child;
• pronouncing the actions being performed, what will be called.

Important! Under no circumstances should you scold a child for silence. Any child’s attempts to speak should be assessed positively and praised.

When communicating with a child at the age of three, you need to ask him simple open questions - why, why, how, etc.

He should also read children's literature aloud, learn short poems, sayings and nursery rhymes. It is important to encourage the child’s communication with other children in every possible way.

You cannot predict a child's wishes. He must have a need to express his needs and wishes. And his requests need to be clarified.

The child should be protected from additional stress.

Drug treatment

In some cases, if a child has a delay in speech development, doctors prescribe a complex of medications. Such tablets are aimed at improving the nutrition of brain neurons. Due to this, the work of the speech areas of the brain is stimulated. Among the medications used in this case are Cortexin, Cogitum, Neuromultivit and some others.

Important! In no case should drugs be prescribed to a child on their own; this can only be done by a doctor, based on the presence of real indications for such therapy.

Along with taking the medications listed above, another set of measures is usually prescribed:

• microcurrent reflexology;
• light therapy;
• acupuncture;
• massage;
• classes with a specialist in the field of neuropsychology
• summer walk and warm-up in the fresh air.

Frontal speech therapy lesson in the preparatory group

Corrective method

The correctional method involves a set of measures, the purpose of which is to eliminate the child’s speech defects. Relevant activities are carried out by professionals in the field of speech therapy and defectology.

Among such events are:

• Articulation exercise. These are special exercises aimed at ensuring that the child correctly uses the tongue, lips, and lungs when pronouncing sounds.
• Installation of sounds.
• Onomatopoeia.
• Word imitation.
• Logorhythmics is a set of special exercises based on music, movements and words.

Pedagogical methods

This group of methods for correcting speech problems can be used by parents at home. The main aspect of this method is the process of developing fine motor skills.

For your information! Numerous studies have found that movements made with the fingers activate the part of the brain that is responsible for spoken language.

Accordingly, the following actions must be taken with the child:

• exercise your fingers;
• massage the baby's fingers;
• play games related to earbuds;
• exercise with sand and cereals, as well as in water;
• test substances that feel different to the touch;
• organize finger theater and shadow theater;
• sculpt (both clay and plasticine, and dough are suitable).

Other techniques related to the pedagogical method of speech correction are the following:

• staging;
• theatrical performances;
• study of folklore;
• writing stories.

Adviсe

Reading fairy tales contributes to the development of speech skills in a child

Some parents literally dream that their little one will be silent for a little while. They begin to get annoyed that he constantly comments on something, puts in his “two cents,” and asks a million questions. While other parents worry that their baby is silent, although it would be time to speak.

1. Treat your baby as an individual, as important and significant as any adult in your family. Talk to him, consult with him, discuss everyday matters. Ask, for example, what to cook for dinner. And even if the baby doesn’t answer you, he begins to develop the habit of needing communication between people. At the same time, the toddler begins to better understand passive speech.
2. It is important to remember that often the lack of desire to speak is due to the overprotectiveness of parents, manifested in the fact that they decide everything, are responsible for the child themselves, thereby preventing him from developing. If this is your case, then it’s time to realize that you are harming the baby. Let him speak, answer, make decisions on his own.
3. When going for a walk with your baby, going to the store or to the clinic, walking along the road, discuss everything that comes your way. A car is driving, point it out, you can also say that it is, for example, big or small, red or black.
4. Ask your child questions often. They can be absolutely elementary, you can start with those whose answer is “yes” or “no”. At first the little one will be silent, but over time he will understand what you want from him.
5. It’s great if there are older children in the family who already speak, or if there are such toddlers in your circle. After all, a role model is important for a child. Leave your baby more often in the circle of other children who have already begun to speak, so that he adopts this skill.
6. Do articulation exercises with your child, a special warm-up for the cheeks, lips, and tongue. You can demonstrate how a tiger growls, a frog smiles, or a wolf licks its lips.
7. A child with speech delay needs to read as many books as possible and talk to him more often. Read poems and fairy tales, look at pictures, accompanying them with a description of what is depicted in them. Let the little one participate in this process. Do not leave it in front of a computer or TV.
8. It is unacceptable to snap at a child, to insult him because he cannot speak, and certainly not to compare him with the neighbor’s toddler, who has been babbling for a long time. This way you will only aggravate the situation even more; the baby may become completely withdrawn.
9. If speech problems are caused by pathological factors, then you should definitely seek advice from a pediatrician, who will then refer you to a more specialized specialist, a neurologist or psychologist. When the doctor finds out why the baby does not speak, he will be able to prescribe special treatment. To confirm an accurate diagnosis, a specialist may refer you for certain laboratory tests.

Literature on the topic Koltsova M.M. "The child learns to speak"

Currently, there is a large amount of literature devoted to the problem of developing a child’s speech. One of the most recognized and proven books in this area is Baby Learns to Talk.

This book covers the main stages of speech development, and also gives advice on how to promote its development in a child.

What is speech and how did it originate?

According to the author, speech is what allows people to unite, helps them understand each other, and also helps to form common views and beliefs among people.

For your information! Speech is an integral attribute of cognition of the world, distinguishing man from animals, placing him a step higher in development.

It is believed that the prerequisite for the emergence of speech in human format were those signals (often complex) with which animals exchange information about danger, communicate with each other regarding food, sympathy and watering. In other words, they share experiences and impressions and develop an action plan. This is, in fact, what human speech is intended for.

How does a child understand speech, and what is the role of movements in development?

The child compares the words spoken by others with the events and people around him, with the feelings and impressions that he experienced and learned.

According to research conducted by Fomina, speech is directly related to fine motor skills. This is explained by the fact that the projection of the hand occupies approximately 1/3 of the cerebral cortex. The development of speech directly correlates with the development of motor skills of the hands.

How should you talk to your baby?

The conversation must be structured clearly, correctly and completely pronouncing words. It is required to pay attention to the objects surrounding the child, bring him into dialogue, and stimulate the expression of his needs in verbal form.

Over 2 years old

At the age of 2 years, a child can already speak in sentences of 3-4 words, tell short stories and answer questions based on the text he hears. He understands speech addressed to him well and can carry out simple tasks.

A three-year-old child's vocabulary ranges from 200-300 to 800 words. The constant increase in vocabulary allows you to construct phrases and express your thoughts. The baby already says his name and age. However, there may still be problems with presenting the content of fairy tales heard or events that happened to the child. At this age, children are still poorly able to pronounce sounds that are difficult to articulate and replace them with simpler ones, so speech is difficult to understand to others. In addition, a sharp increase in the number of words in the active dictionary often leads to grammatical errors.

It is at this age that the questions “Why?”, “Why?”, “How?” usually begin, and the desire to constantly communicate appears. In this case, the baby can pronounce some words correctly, and some incorrectly. This phenomenon is absolutely normal for the early stages of speech development.

At the age of 5 years, the active vocabulary consists of 1900-2200 words, and by 7 years it already reaches 3500 words. The grammatical structure of speech is constantly being improved, the rules for changing words and combining them in a sentence are learned.