Speech development specialists do not give clear deadlines for when a child should speak at 2 years old. There are only approximate guidelines for norms that parents and teachers can rely on. Parents' concerns are understandable. However, if a child does not speak at the age of 2, Komarovsky believes that this is not yet a reason to diagnose him and is unnecessarily worried.
When should a child start talking?
There are norms of speech development by which you can understand whether the baby is developing normally or has deviations.
- By the age of 1, most children meaningfully say a few words: “mom”, “dad”, “woman”, “bi-bi”, “woof-woof”, “wee-wee”. Until the age of one and a half, children speak in one-word statements.
- At 1.5 - 2 years old, the baby's vocabulary expands, he begins to speak words consisting of several syllables: “car”, “grandmother”, “swing”. The child names close people and describes objects and actions. The baby develops a need for communication. He accompanies his play activity with speech, he is surprised to find that all the objects around him have their own name. This age is characterized by the active development of speech and determines a qualitative leap in the development of the child. Gradually, the baby begins to imitate not only the words of adults, but also their phrases. Vocabulary is actively developing, which by the age of 2 years is about 300 words.
- At 2 years old, the child masters the pronunciation of sounds, the grammatical structure of the sentence, continues to replenish the passive and active vocabulary. A characteristic feature of the speech of two years is that it is gesticulatory: consisting of facial expressions and sounds. When asked by an adult, the child not only makes sounds, but also accompanies his answer with facial expressions.
- By the end of the second year, the children's vocabulary is 200-400 words. At the same time, the baby pronounces many words incorrectly, distorting them, replacing some syllables with others: “chopper” instead of “hat”, “pipitalet” instead of “pistol”.
However, by the end of the second year of life, the baby begins to use his speech as a means of communication with others, primarily with adults. A two-year-old can turn to her parents with a request, express her emotions to them, actively declare her desire or not desire to do something.
Why a child does not speak at 2 years old: reasons
There are many reasons why a child does not speak at this age. Most often, the baby is influenced by several factors at once, which determine. Congenital pathologies can be combined with psychological causes that affect the development of speech, such as stress, pedagogical neglect, and others.
Reasons why a child does not speak at 2 years old:
- Pathologies of intrauterine development and birth trauma.
Intrauterine fetal asphyxia, difficult childbirth can adversely affect the development of certain parts of the brain, including those responsible for the development of speech. - neurological diseases. Any neurological pathology can cause underdevelopment of speech in a baby. From general muscle hypotonia to severe forms of brain development disorders.
- Hearing problems. Congenital deafness or even partial hearing loss always affects the development of speech. The cause of hearing loss may be an unfavorable course of pregnancy, poor heredity, or complications after an infection.
- Speech disorders such as or alalia can cause a child to not speak at all at 2 years old. Such disorders occur as a result of a combination of many negative factors during the course of pregnancy: alcohol consumption, smoking, intoxication, severe infections.
- Intellectual disabilities: mental retardation of varying degrees, mental retardation can also cause the child to start talking later. It is important to diagnose the disorder in time and start medical treatment and corrective work with a speech pathologist-defectologist.
- Autism. Autistic children lag behind in speech development due to their isolation and lack of sociability. Such babies do not make contact with adults, so they may not speak or lag behind their peers in speech development.
- Attention deficit. The lack of attention of adults to the baby can also cause a lack of speech in him. If the child is not paid attention, communicates little with him, his speech may develop extremely slowly or be absent altogether.
The opinion of Dr. Komarovsky
Dr. Komarovsky is a well-known pediatrician who has gained wide popularity thanks to television programs. In them, he gives expert advice to mothers of children on various parenting issues.
In his programs, he repeatedly revealed the topic of the development of children's speech.
Main theses:
- According to Dr. Komarovsky, mothers begin to sound the alarm too early about what the child is saying. Laughing, he says that mothers turn to him with this problem when the baby is not even a year old.
- Also in his speeches, Komarovskikh repeatedly talks about the dangers of modern gadgets for the development of children. According to the doctor, today's children "communicate much more with phones and tablets than with their mother and father." Komarovsky emphasizes the importance of communication between parents and a child. Modern parents are very busy and experience constant stress themselves, however, despite the high pace of life, it is extremely important to find time every day to communicate with the child, says Evgeny Olegovich. According to the doctor, it makes no sense to take the baby to the doctors and “look for a magic pill” if he experiences a lack of communication in his family. Emotional communication with mom and dad sometimes gives a much greater result in the development of a child's speech than drug treatment.
- In his program “What to do if a child does not speak at 2 years old”, Komarovsky explains in detail the difference in the development of children who play with gadgets and toys. Evgeny Olegovich explains that when a baby plays with a simple rubber ball or a doll, he always needs a connecting object between the toy and himself - an adult. An adult explains to the child exactly how to play with this object, talks about its properties, emotionally reacts to the child's play with the object. Emotional communication between an adult and a baby stimulates his verbal communication.
First, the child develops a need to understand what adults tell him. Thus, the so-called passive speech is formed - the ability of the baby to understand the speech addressed to him.
At 2 years old, the child should be able to perform double instruction. For example: Take the Masha doll and give it to me. If a child at 2 years old does not speak, but understands the speech of adults, we can say that he has passed the 1st stage of speech development - the formation of passive speech. The next stage is the development of active speech, when the child begins to speak individual words, and then build sentences from them.
What to do if the child does not speak
For parents who are worried that at 2 years old the baby has not yet spoken, Komarovsky recommends that they turn to doctors.
Surveys
- ENT examination
It is necessary to conduct a hardware examination of hearing, make an audiogram, which will show the level of hearing of the baby, as well as the range of sounds that he hears. - Neurologist's consultation
Neurological pathologies are a common cause of deviations in speech development, from mild to severe. An examination by a neurologist will allow you to diagnose existing diseases and start treating them in a timely manner.
Before going to the neurologist, try to remember all the important developmental milestones: When the child began to roll over, sit, walk
When the baby began to walk, understand the speech of adults addressed to him
What skills and abilities does he have now?
The doctor will definitely ask you about this, so be prepared to answer these questions. - speech therapist consultation
A speech therapist will help identify developmental disorders of the speech apparatus. The most common pathologies are:
which frenulum
hypotonicity of the facial muscles and tongue. - Child psychologist consultation
The psychologist will examine the child's speech and identify his deviations from the norm. It will also help to figure out if there are psychological reasons for the lack of speech.
- Examine the child for physical and neurological disorders.
- Consult with a speech therapist and a child psychologist.
- Limit the interaction of the baby with any gadgets: phone, tablet, TV.
- Try to communicate more with the little one: name objects and phenomena out loud, loudly and clearly.
- Talk about the actions you are taking. “Now we will eat and go to play ball. Dad will come soon and we will go for a walk in the yard together.
- Do not scold the baby if he is silent. The negative reaction of parents to the lack of speech can only worsen the situation. On the contrary, try to reinforce the two-year-old's attempts to communicate with positive emotions: a smile, praise.
If the baby starts to walk at the sight of you: “ma-ma-ma”, smile at him and say:
“Yes, Sonechka, mother has come, now we will go swimming. Who among us likes to swim in warm water with a duck? Sonya! How does the duck say, Sonechka? Quack-quack, quack-quack!”
- Encourage any attempt by the little one to speak: new sounds, new words, attempts to imitate adults.
"Bi-bi", that's right Igorechek, the machine is signaling "bi-bi". - Ask your child open-ended questions: what do you see in the picture? What is the bear's name? What color is the ball?
- Read children's poems, fairy tales, sing songs to your baby. Look at the baby elephant:
The trunk of a child is long!
- I can do that too! -
Seryozha says to mom.
Lips rolled up
And how he pulled forward!
- Look how good! -
I look like an elephant!
- Learn together tongue twisters, tongue twisters, nursery rhymes.
***
Gray wolf under an old Christmas tree
I've been grinding my teeth for two hours.
Mouth opened wide
But he didn't catch the bunny.
***
Goes to Yegor's grandmother:
Climbing up the hill
After the hill - again lowland.
The river… The bridge arched its back.
- Encourage the “silent child” to communicate with other children. Try to visit playgrounds more often, invite peers to visit so that the baby has the opportunity to communicate with other children.
- Do not anticipate your child's desires. Give him the opportunity to declare them to adults. Specify his requests: what kind of juice will you be, apple or peach?
- Keep your child as stress-free as possible.
So, if a child does not speak at 2 years old, Dr. Komarovsky advises not to panic, examine the baby and create favorable conditions for development at home, then he will certainly speak.
The child does not speak, speaks with gestures, although his peers have long been speaking in sentences. How to act in such a situation - wait or see a doctor?
1. transferred intrauterine oxygen starvation (hypoxia), birth trauma, infection or intoxication with drugs.
2. Hearing damage. If the baby does not hear well and, accordingly, does not understand well the speech of others, then in most cases he suffers from some kind of violation in the pronunciation of sounds and words, it is very difficult to master his own speech.
3. or weakening of the body after serious illness, as a result of which a delay in the maturation of the child's nervous system, and hence speech, is possible.
4. Heredity. If the mother or father (or both parents) spoke late, then there is a high probability that the child will also be the same. But if a baby at the age of three cannot speak simple sentences, then this option should not be considered.
5. Speech delay may be the result of a general developmental disorder.
What to do if the child does not speak?
First of all, you need to determine the specific cause of a possible violation in the crumbs. To do this, contact the experts:
- pediatrician;
- speech therapist;
a neurologist or psychiatrist.
Using simple tests, a speech therapist will determine how much the baby’s speech corresponds to his mental development. In order to confirm the diagnosis, a speech therapist can refer the child to a neuropsychiatrist, who will ask the mother about the course of pregnancy and childbirth, the behavior of the baby in different situations.
The ENT will determine on examination whether the speech delay is caused by problems with hearing or articulation apparatus (for example, a short hyoid frenulum). To do this, he will examine the baby's oral cavity and make an audiogram (hearing test).
Despite the fact that a child is diagnosed with speech development delay after he reaches 3-4 years old, it is advisable to consult a specialist when the baby is one year old and repeat the examination at two and three years. The sooner a problem is found, the easier it is to deal with it.
But what about parents whose baby is healthy and develops normally intellectually? According to experts, you need to wait until the age of three, because by this age most children have a strong leap in development and the child begins to speak. Of course, just sitting and guessing is also not the best way out, therefore, if by the age of two the baby uses only a couple of words and gestures, you need to try to deal with him using simple and exciting methods.
What mistakes in education lead to the fact that the child does not speak?
1. Parents try to guess the wishes of the crumbs by gestures. That is, the child does not need to learn to speak. He is understood without words.
2. Mom gives the baby not enough time, talks little to him, reads, does not tell him fairy tales during games.
3. The child has poorly developed gross and fine motor skills.
5. The family speaks two languages. The child understands words, but cannot separate them into languages. Or the same item has several names and the baby gets confused. It is better that one language is used in the first two or three years of a baby's life.
The child was diagnosed at the clinic "erased dysarthria" and general underdevelopment of speech of the 2nd level. It turned out that this is one of the most common speech therapy verdicts. It became clear that it was impossible to “outgrow” the problem, you need constant language drill at home and with a specialist.
A private teacher was found in the family, who did logomassage twice a week, kneading the atrophied muscles of the tongue with a special tool, conducted all kinds of warm-ups, put on sounds. A year later, individual lessons gave a visible, and most importantly, audible result.
By this time, Sasha took turns in the speech therapy group in the garden. In such groups, as a rule, there are half as many pupils, their own special preschool program, daily group and individual classes with a speech therapist.
Photo source: abecedaroditeljstva.com
Also in the formula for success, an obligatory component is constant work at home with parents.
For a year in the special group, Sasha turned from a silent man into a restless "why". A year later, the unpleasant diagnosis was annulled and the boy went to school without any problems.
This true story ended well. But do children always manage to "step over" the delay in speech development? And how common is this problem in general?
Our questions were answered by a speech therapist of the kindergarten No. 262 in Minsk Olga Novatskaya.
What can cause speech delay
Unfortunately, today's children begin to speak much later than their peers another 15-20 years. To The number of children with delayed speech development and other speech disorders is growing inexorably.
There can be many reasons for this. Even before pregnancy leaves an imprint on the child heredity and lifestyle of future parents.
In the intrauterine period, they negatively affect toxicosis, Rh-conflict between mother and child, stress, previous diseases mother during pregnancy.
Also, the causes of speech disorders can be birth trauma: traumatic brain injury, asphyxia, cord entanglement, severe illnesses, transferred up to a year: purulent otitis media, meningitis, encephalitis.
Sometimes speech disorders in children can occur due to the fault of others: unfavorable social and living conditions leading to pedagogical neglect. Or, on the other hand, this is an overkill leads to the fact that the child ceases to strive to improve his own speech.
Modern gadgets also contribute. The fact is that the formation and development of speech occurs only in direct, lively communication, where the child not only listens, but also answers, is included in the dialogue, not only with words, but also with thoughts, actions and feelings.
Therefore, there is a recommendation to exclude watching TV / cartoons for children under 2 years old. Undoubtedly, in the modern world, we will not be able to completely protect children from a computer, tablet or phone, but first of all, it is necessary to remember about their measured and reasonable use by children.
How to properly communicate with a child
For parents, it is important from the very birth of a child - talk about everything that is happening around. All your daily rituals: bathing, feeding, dressing for a walk and much more.
Everything that the child does, try to designate a certain sound or word. A child at an early age is like a sponge that absorbs and accumulates the entire vocabulary.
Pay attention to the development of fine motor skills of the child's hands. It must be remembered that all speech zones are at the fingertips of the child. Daily finger games, such as "Magpie-crow cooked porridge", "Ladushki", "Horned Goat", finger massage, modeling, games with cereals and natural materials contribute to the activation and development of speech centers in the cerebral cortex.
The next thing to pay attention to is the development of phonemic awareness. Phonemes are words that sound similar, for example: kaska-kashka. The development of phonemic hearing in young children is very important for the development of correct speech.
Photo source: integratsia.com
You can take various musical instruments: tambourine, bell, piano. The child should not see what subject you have chosen, it is necessary for him to determine by ear which instrument sounded.
The same can be done with bulk material. Pour different cereals into empty jars: peas, semolina, rice. If you shake these jars, they will sound different.
Perhaps the games will not immediately give a positive result, but in the process of games the child will develop memory and thinking, which is the basis for the development of phonemic hearing
How speech normally develops
Typically, the child first year There are about 10 words in the dictionary.
By the age of two there should be simple two-word phrases: give me mom, go mom, who came, etc. It is important to remember that boys begin to speak later than girls, closer to 2.5-3 years.
By the age of three adjectives and simple prepositions appear in speech. The speech of the child becomes more understandable for adults. The sounds C, Z, C appear in sound pronunciation, children begin to use a phrase of three to four words.
At the age of 4-5 years sounds of the upper rise appear: W, W, H. In the speech of children, the so-called "word-creation" appears.
Photo source: kinder-land.by
At 5-6 years old sounds L, R are formed. At this age, the child correctly pronounces all the sounds in speech. In his stories, he uses both compound and complex sentences.
When to sound the alarm
Thus, if by the age of three, the child speaks literally 10-15 words, does not connect words into phrases, you need to contact a specialist.
The same recommendation if at the age of 4-5 years the child has a poor vocabulary, frequent misuse of words, distortion of endings, the child retells fairy tales poorly, does not pronounce sounds, rearranges, skips sounds in a word.
If the child, in addition to the lack of speech, does not respond to the name, does not respond to instructions addressed to him, does not look into the eyes of an adult, prefers solitude, or there are some inappropriate movements - this is a reason to contact a specialist.
In no case should you be afraid of writing on a card. If the child corrects his speech disorder in the course of correctional work, then the card records “speech development corresponds to age, speech is normal”.
Anastasia Dekhtyar
Are you familiar with the problem? Tell us about your experience in the comments
An important condition for the formation of personality is the development of speech. How to understand why the child is not talking? When do you need to sound the alarm and which specialist to contact if the child does not speak for a long time?
There is no exact definition of when the baby will speak. Each person is individual, and what is considered the norm for one, will be completely unacceptable for another. This also applies to the development of the child.
The baby can begin to hum and form simple combinations of vowels by 2-4 months. At this age, he copies the intonation of the speech he hears and uses it to communicate with others.
From about 7 months, the baby can begin to babble and master individual syllables. So he tries to repeat the speech that he hears from the people around him. If the cooing does not turn into babbling, it is recommended to have your hearing checked.
Around the age of one year, many children begin to speak simple words consisting of 1-2 syllables, such as "mom", "dad", "give", and master onomatopoeia, such as "tu-tu", "meow".
Table of development of speech skills by age
1 to 2 years
In the period from 1 to 2 years, the baby begins to learn words in large quantities. Basically, these are the names of favorite toys and surrounding objects, less often - the designation of actions. He mainly uses simplified words and onomatopoeia, and understanding of speech is ahead of speaking.
Phrasal speech up to 1.5 years, as a rule, is absent. Only after one and a half years the child begins to build simple sentences of 2 words.
By the age of 2, sentences can already consist of 3 words, but they are most often grammatically unrelated.
Thus, a baby who does not suffer from hearing impairments and perceives well the correct speech of others begins to speak at 14-18 months.
By the age of 2, a child's vocabulary contains between 100 and 300 words.
Over 2 years old
Tell short stories and answer questions based on the text you hear. He understands well the speech addressed to him, and can carry out simple instructions.
The dictionary of a three-year-old child has from 200-300 to 800 words. The constant increase in the dictionary allows you to build phrases, express your thoughts. The kid already says his name and age. However, there may still be problems with the presentation of the content of heard fairy tales or events that happened to the child. At this age, children still poorly pronounce sounds that are difficult to articulate and replace them with simpler ones, so speech is incomprehensible 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 there is a desire to constantly communicate. In this case, the baby can pronounce some of the words correctly, and some incorrectly. This phenomenon is absolutely normal for the early stage of the formation of speech.
At the age of 5, the active vocabulary consists of 1900-2200 words, and by the age of 7 it reaches 3500 words. The grammatical structure of speech is constantly being improved, the rules for changing words and combining them in a sentence are assimilated.
What to look out for
All of the above are normal. The development of an individual child depends on many factors. This is the pregnancy of the mother, and heredity, and diseases suffered at an early age. However, if the baby’s speech causes concern among parents, there is no need to postpone a visit to a specialist.
Modeling is a great activity for developing fine motor skills and speech.
Parents should be concerned if their child:
- by the age of 1.5 he has not mastered simple words, does not know his name and the names of surrounding objects;
- by the age of 2 does not try to repeat words after adults;
- at 2.5 years old, he is not able to compose simple two-word phrases;
Delayed speech development corresponds to a certain behavior of the baby. So, if he does not look into his eyes, cannot chew food, speaks indistinctly, makes guttural sounds instead of words, you need to contact a specialist.
Developed speech is the key to successful learning and personality development. You can deal with the child as soon as he begins to understand the speech addressed to him, which happens about 7-8 months. The sooner you start exercising, the sooner you can identify developmental disabilities and deal with them. However, do not overload the child. If the development of speech is far ahead of the norm, this can affect the nervous system. To avoid a nervous breakdown, you need to protect the child from strong emotions. He needs rest, walks in the fresh air and moderate conversations.
Possible causes of delayed speech development
To understand why the child does not speak, you need to contact a specialist. Perhaps one of the most common causes of delayed speech development in a child is hearing loss. When a baby does not perceive speech well, he cannot reproduce it. If the child does not respond to the name and does not say anything, it is necessary to show it to the ENT and pediatrician.
Features of the maturation of the nervous system
Every person is unique. It is useless to compare the success of your child with the achievements of other children. For example, boys later than girls begin to walk and learn to speak. This is absolutely normal.
If a child has a general developmental delay, this also affects speech. Most often this is characteristic of premature or children with a general developmental disorder.
Psychological trauma
The most serious test for the baby is an early separation from the mother. If during the first year of a child's life, the mother had to leave for a long time, this must be told to the doctor. Perhaps this is the reason for the silence. In addition, psychological trauma can cause a situation where the child has stopped talking, although everything was fine with speech before.
Lack of communication
The child must see and hear live speech. For this, a TV, computer or radio is absolutely not suitable. The kid should be involved in the conversation. At the same time, parents should not indulge whims and distort words the way the child himself usually pronounces them, you should not lisp with him and babble like a child. The speech of adults should be measured, calm and intelligible. This will help the child learn the correct pronunciation of words.
The reason for the silence may be pedagogical neglect. This happens when parents do not give the necessary attention to the child. Most often this applies to children from disadvantaged families. When such a child gets into favorable conditions, he quickly catches up.
A special case is the lack of motivation. The child may simply not want to talk. If parents, grandparents indulge all the whims of the baby and guess his whims from a half-word, he simply does not need to learn to speak in order to get what he wants.
How to help your child learn to speak
What to do if the child does not want to talk? Can you talk to him? Of course. You 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, trying to repeat the words after adults. At the same time, one 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, prompt. Maybe he just doesn't know what to say yet. Then the answer of the mother will be the standard for him. And in no case should you punish him for the wrong pronunciation.
It doesn't really matter what the conversation is about. You can look at pictures in educational books, toys or objects that you meet on a walk. You can speak actions. For example, when a child is going for a walk, you can say how he fastens his shoes or jacket, what clothes he puts on. If he sits down to dinner, you can name the objects with which he is dealing: 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 to talk the child. For example, you can read poems aloud and ask them to finish them in rhyme. Be sure to ask him to describe everything that is around. But do not overdo it. The kid should not feel pressure in his voice, otherwise such exercises will cause negative emotions. When performing any exercises, you need to look at the condition of the child. If he is already tired, then it is better to stop the lesson, otherwise he will begin to act up and lose all desire to learn.
A very important factor in the formation of a baby's speech is fine motor skills of the hands. 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. You need to do this daily.
First of all, you need to do a hand massage. 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, it must be rolled between the palms, pressed or shifted from hand to hand.
Exercises for the development of fine motor skills
It is useful to perform exercises for compression and relaxation of the hands. Very young children cling to the fingers of adults. An older child can be given a sheet of paper and asked to squeeze it as tightly as possible.
For the development of fine motor skills and tactile sensations, it is useful to sort out sand or grits. In order to make it more interesting for the child, you can hide some small toy in a jar of cereals or ask them to string beads on a thread. It must be remembered that it is necessary to do all the exercises together, be very careful and not leave the child alone with small objects.
Modeling from clay or plasticine, drawing 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 do the buttoning on his shirt and lace up his shoes.
For the development of motor skills, it is necessary to master finger games. This is very useful, because during the exercises the child hears words that he will be able to repeat over time. First, you should perform all the movements with the hands of the baby. When the child masters the actions, he will perform them independently. If it is difficult for a child to reproduce some exercise, he needs to be helped to fix all the fingers correctly.
It is necessary to approach the issue of speech development in a complex manner. The systematic implementation of exercises and constant communication will allow the baby to talk and prepare him for further learning. It is important not to stop developing the child. By the level of development of speech, one can judge the psyche of the child, since the formation of the psyche, thinking and speaking occurs simultaneously.
The reasons why the development of speech in a child occurs with a delay may be different. Influence is exerted by various factors - from physiology to psychological aspects. Some of them can be corrected independently, with others you will have to seek help from a specialist, but it is extremely important to figure out what “prevents” the child from speaking.
Qualified assistance will be provided by a professional speech pathologist. At the initial examination, the specialist will determine the reasons why speech is delayed and suggest ways to correct it.
Reason 1. Individual pace
Undoubtedly, each child is unique and should develop in his own timetable. If your baby went a month earlier than the neighbor's son, but said the word "mother" a few weeks later, there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their own pace.
Such a delay in the development of speech is called tempo. With a little delay, everything will go back to normal and the child will form his ability to speak in the same way as all children.
Just pay attention to the fact that experts “allow” to attribute only a slight lag behind the norm to individuality. Be careful!
Reason 2. No need
Oddly enough, the anecdote about the English boy who was silent for many years and spoke only when he was served improperly cooked porridge is not so far from reality. Children who are overprotective of parents do not really need to learn how to verbally express their desires. Lack of motivation has a big impact on development.
Reason 3. Pedagogical neglect
Such an unpleasant term does not mean at all the need to engage in special exercises with a newborn child. A baby from birth should be surrounded by speech. If they do not talk to him, only when performing the necessary care and feeding, do not communicate constantly, the formation of speech is impossible. Without hearing the speech addressed to him, the child is not able to expand the passive vocabulary, and will not begin to speak well.
Reason 4. Bilingual family
Bilingual children "have the right" to start speaking with some delay from the norm. Hearing around them speech in different languages, they find themselves in a more difficult situation than their peers, who need to learn only one language.
In order to build speech correctly, a child needs to separate one language from another. This requires a certain amount of time. So it is quite acceptable to delay the start of speech formation, and the absence of common sentences, and errors in the grammatical construction of phrases.
Reason 5. Stress, unfavorable psychological environment
Unfortunately, stress affects not only adults, but also children. A strong fear, an uncomfortable psychological climate in the family, even quarrels between parents can cause a lag in the formation of speech. Children need calmness, positive emotions and a reasonable daily routine.
Strong feelings, fear, psychological trauma can lead to stuttering and delayed speech and mental development.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the problem of "hospitalism" in children. The absence of speech syndrome caused by weaning from the family in children placed in medical institutions is associated with both psychological stress and lack of communication. Unfortunately, cases of occurrence of this syndrome and at home children are probable. Formal care of a child without well-established communication, love and attention from loved ones provokes a developmental lag.
Reason 6. Negativism in a child
Sometimes parents are so persistent in their desire to “talk” the child that they can cause denial in their child. Especially if the baby is stubborn from birth and is not inclined to make concessions.
The constant requests of the family to say a word lead to the opposite result - the baby may withdraw into himself and refuse to communicate at all.
Reason 7. Genetic predisposition
If the child is in no hurry to start talking, you should ask when his mom and dad said their first word. Heredity is a great thing. Perhaps the baby simply received the genes of a not very hasty parent.
However, be careful. Too much delay in the formation of speech can lead to other difficulties. For example, mental retardation.
Reason 8. Complicated course of pregnancy and childbirth in the mother
The correct formation of the child's nervous system can be prevented by intrauterine hypoxia or difficult childbirth. As a rule, difficulties are detected during examination by a neurologist at an earlier age, but may become noticeable during the period of active development of speech.
Correction requires careful implementation of all the recommendations of specialists - from a neurologist to a defectologist.
Reason 9. Hearing impairment
For the formation of an active vocabulary, it is necessary that the child first of all perceive the speech around him. If he does not hear at all or hears poorly, he will definitely have certain difficulties with the formation of speech - from its complete absence to problems with pronunciation and construction of phrases.
You can check your child's hearing with an otolaryngologist.
Reason 10. Imperfection of the articulation system
The sound is formed during the operation of the speech apparatus. If there are problems here, this will certainly affect the speech development of the child. Decreased muscle tone, insufficiently long frenulum of the tongue and other disorders cause difficulties with articulation.
It is worth paying attention if the child cannot chew solid food, he has frequent salivation, his mouth is constantly ajar.
Reason 11. Alalia
This term means the primary underdevelopment of speech centers. It occurs as a result of damage to the cerebral cortex during early infancy or fetal development. This condition is described in more detail in the article about alalia.
Let's just say that it will not work to cope with alalia on your own, be sure to seek help from specialists.
Also check if your child has .
Reason 12. Problems of intellectual development
The formation of speech is directly related to the mental and mental development of the child. Various genetic diseases, autism, Down syndrome, mental retardation will undoubtedly affect speech. Working with specialized specialists will help to establish communications and correct the formation of speech.
In order to help your child learn to speak, it is important to know why the delay has occurred. You should not wait until the silent child speaks immediately in common sentences. Consultation of a speech pathologist-defectologist will help to find the cause of the problem and build a plan for its solution.