Speech development in young children 1-3 years old

Early age is the most crucial period of a person’s life. The main and most important acquisition of an early age is speech. Speech acquisition is a complex, multifaceted mental process, the formation of which occurs from the moment a child is born. So, what are the stages of speech development in young children?

Speech is one of the mental functions that distinguishes us from representatives of the animal world and is one of the main needs. In addition to this, speech is closely related to the formation of other skills in a child, especially at an early age, when the baby has a desire to learn something new. We present to your attention the research work of a 2021 graduate of the Professional Nanny course, “Speech development in young children.”

Introduction

Nowadays, the development of speech in children at an early age is one of the most important and main problems, since not all children develop speech according to established standards. This problem is considered most deeply by Gribova O.E. “What to do if your child does not speak / A book for those who are interested” [3] and Tkachenko T.A. “If a preschooler speaks poorly” [13].

Purpose of the work: to study the stages of development and methods of speech formation in young children.

Object of study: preschool children.

Subject of research: stages of speech development and methods of its formation.

Research methods:

Research theoretical material on the topic of speech development in young children.
Formation of a methodological piggy bank for speech development.

Read fairy tales aloud

You can fill a child’s life with fairy-tale characters from the very first months of his birth. Firstly, in this way your baby will be able to get acquainted with words that you do not use in everyday life, and secondly, this is a great opportunity to experience common emotions and strengthen the internal relationship between the child and the parents. By the way, in addition to speech development , reading books at a very early age brings another small but very pleasant benefit - while reading, kids fall asleep much faster and sleep much more peacefully.

It is advisable to choose books to read based not only on the age characteristics of the child, but also on your preferences. In other words, from the books recommended for your child’s age category, give preference to those fairy tales that you personally like. The little listener will definitely feel your interest and understand that reading books can be a great pleasure.

Try to attract the child’s attention to the content of the fairy tale as often as possible, for example, by changing the intonation. With this you will not only “revive” fairy-tale characters, but also help your child develop his fantasy and imagination. It is also advisable to involve the child in discussing the fairy tale he has just read and comparing fairy-tale characters with real prototypes (for example, after reading the fairy tale “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats,” you can show the child pictures with a real goat and a wolf and invite him to find the differences).

Theoretical foundations for studying speech development in young children

Stages of speech development at an early age

What should be done to ensure that the child’s speech develops correctly, in time for the baby to grow into a social being?

The development of speech in a child can be divided into several stages:

Period of infant cries (0 months - 2-3 months)

The baby's first cry occurs as a component of a defensive reaction caused by the cessation of placental blood circulation and the cooling of his body in the external atmosphere. A new complex synergy of voice formation is formed before our eyes as a side consequence of the innate synergies of thermoregulation and respiration. It is important that the vocal reaction during the first respiratory factor is not enough for voice formation.

Walking period (2-3 months - 5-6 months)

Observations have shown that the baby reacts to human speech already in the first week of life and stops it by the end of the second. As soon as the baby stops crying, he carefully monitors his mother - her behavior and conversation, imprinting in his memory the leisurely and smooth movements of his hands, head and eyes, the slow pace and volume of her speech.

By 2.5-3 months of life, communication between an adult and him becomes the child’s need, so he again and again uses a set of behavioral reactions that stimulates the adult to communicate emotionally with him.

In the third month of life, the child develops a new skill - he is able to look for an adult and hint at communication. The child fixes a long, concentrated gaze on him and smiles.

In the fourth month of a child’s life, the most significant acquisition is the development of communication between him and an adult using speech sounds.

During the fifth and sixth months, changes also occur in the child’s neuropsychic development. Various speech sounds and movements that are purposeful in nature are added to the child’s proactive appeals to an adult.

During the second half of the baby's life, a business style of communication appears, in which the main role is played by his playing with objects. This communication remains the main one until about 3-4 years of age.

In the period from 6-7 to 9-10 months, the child begins to understand the speech of an adult, which radically changes his usual behavior and affects the development of movements and speech.

At 8-9 months, the baby begins to imitate many sounds unfamiliar to him. The child reacts if he hears his name and can show one of the family members. His reaction to his name is reflexively connected with the sound of words, only in this way can the child learn to understand the meaning of the word.

Period of babbling pseudowords (9-10 months - 12-14 months)

By the end of the first year of life, the baby understands the meaning of more than 10 words and can pronounce at least 5 independently. He is much better at repeating syllables and even words after his parents.

At the tenth month, the child can associate a word he hears with an object familiar to him. Such associations promote speaking, and the baby already perceives simple commands.

Speech development of a child from 1 to 3 years of age.

For the development of understanding of speech at this age stage, it is characteristic that up to 1.5 years of age, connections between objects, actions and their verbal designations develop more intensively. However, the connection between them does not immediately become stable. It is possible that the child may not answer a task correctly understood correctly.

As a child ages, the need for communication arises - he wants to show, tell or ask something. If development occurs normally, then after the first year he develops active speech and the first words appear. True, they can only be understood by a child, depending on which sounds he is able to pronounce and which he cannot.

The period when the child begins to speak

At what age does a child begin to speak? In most cases, this happens by the age of two, even if he manages to utter his first words much earlier.

At the age of 3, the child’s perception of other people’s speech improves. But in some cases, the child hears new words pronounced incorrectly from his peers. Children begin to distinguish between words that are similar in sound and sometimes differ in one sound, focusing not only on a specific situation, but also on the sound design of the word. When learning a new word, a child strives to pronounce it correctly. Children begin to use more complex words with three or more syllables, although they may not always be able to pronounce all sounds correctly.

Speech development in younger preschoolers (4-5 years old)

At the age of 4-5 years, when the child already speaks well and talks with an adult on certain topics, it becomes possible to begin cognitive communication. The child acquires a sufficient vocabulary and begins to form grammatically correct phrases and pronounce sounds normally.

In the fourth year of life, children experience improvements in pronunciation, speech becomes more understandable and distinct. Simple common sentences predominate in children's speech.

In the fifth year of life, the child shows significant progress in mental and speech development. The baby is able to identify and name the characteristics and qualities of objects (for example, size and color), establish the simplest connections and accurately reflect them in speech. His speech becomes more varied, more precise and more meaningful. Resistance to attention and the ability to calmly listen to others to the end increases.

Development of speech in older preschoolers (6-7 years old)

A child of the sixth year of life improves coherent, monologue speech. It can convey the meaning of a fairy tale, poem or a specific situation. When composing a story, he concentrates his attention on the main details, and in most cases misses the secondary ones. In the sixth year, the child’s speech is still improving, phrases become more detailed and accurate, and pronunciation is clearer.

In the seventh year, the child’s speech becomes more and more precise, detailed, and consistent. During the retelling, the child talks not only about the main events, but also touches on everything that he himself read about. He is able to accurately describe a toy or picture, and answer questions posed by the parent after reading fairy tales.

Article:

Early childhood is the foundation of a child’s overall development, the starting period of all human principles; it is in the early years that the foundations of a child’s health and intelligence are laid.
In terms of the intensity of mastery of skills and abilities, in terms of the pace of development, early age has no parallel in subsequent periods.

Early age is the most important in the development of all mental processes, especially speech. Speech is not only a means of communication, but also a means of thinking, a carrier of consciousness, memory, information, and a means of regulating a person’s own behavior.

Currently, the education system in our country is at a new stage of development, when the content of preschool education is being revised. The Federal State Educational Standards for Preschool Education [1] have been adopted, in which one of the priority areas in pedagogy as part of the modernization of special education is working with young children to enhance speech activity, prevent and prevent the occurrence of various speech disorders. Early age is the period of the most rapid, intensive development of all mental functions. The main new development of this period is the acquisition of speech, which becomes the basis for the further development of the child.

The problem of developing active speech in children is relevant for a number of reasons [5]:

1) early prevention of speech disorders is one of the most important

problems of modern speech therapy;

2) a sensitive period for the development of a child’s speech from

1 year 3 years;

3) deficiencies in speech development at an early age entail a lag in the development of the child as a whole;

4) the lack of special support in preschool educational institutions for young children to provide assistance at the early stage of speech impairment;

5) a significant narrowing of the scope of “live” communication between adults and children.

Therefore, it is important to begin work on developing children’s speech activity and preventing speech disorders from an early age, to notice and correct the delay in the formation of speech function in time, to stimulate its development, promoting the full development of the child.

Many psychologists and teachers paid great attention to the problem of developing active speech in young children, among them L.N. Pavlova [12]. In her opinion, speech is a necessary component of any activity; he considered even a child’s drawing to be a kind of child’s speech. Based on a long study of the processes of thinking and speech, L.N. Pavlova came to the following conclusion: “The meaning of a word turns out to be both a speech and intellectual phenomenon... it is the unity of word and thought” [12].

L.N. Pavlova revealed the psychological nature of speech [12]:

1. Speech occupies a central place in the process of mental development.

2.Speech is multifunctional in nature; speech has a communicative function, indicative and intellectual, significative function; all these functions are interconnected.

3. Speech is a polymorphic activity, sometimes acting as a loud communicative activity, sometimes as a loud one that does not carry direct communicative

4. Functions, how internal speech is. These forms can transform into one another.

5. In speech, one should distinguish between its physical side, its form, and its semantic side.

6. The word has an objective reference and meaning, that is, it is a bearer of generalization.

7. The process of speech development is a process of actual development, which, being internally connected with the development of thinking and consciousness, covers all the listed functions, aspects and connections of the word.

The main directions of research are philosophical problems of psychology. It is believed that the main and determining factor for speech is its relationship to thinking. The correlation between thinking and speech, as well as the development of children’s speech, says that “a child normally masters speech by using speech in the process of communication, and not by studying it in the process of learning.”

Psychologist D.B. Elkonin [17] believes that speech should be considered not as a function, but as a special subject that the child masters in the same way as other tools.

But not only psychologists and linguists paid great attention to issues of speech development. A huge contribution to the development of children's speech was made by teachers who developed a pedagogical system that takes into account the characteristics of the natural development of children. Komensky gives recommendations on the formation of speech: “up to three years of age, the main attention should be paid to correct pronunciation, at 4-5-6 years - to enriching speech” [12].

A special role in the system of initial language teaching.

It is based on the idea of national education, believing that children from a very early age should assimilate elements of folk culture, master their native language, and get acquainted with works of oral folk art [12].

The issues of speech development of children are most fully presented in the works of the prominent teacher Elizaveta Ivanovna Tikheyeva [15], who created a system of work on speech development, which was based on the progressive ideas of Western and Russian pedagogy. Considering the development of speech in inextricable connection with the formation of the child’s personality, she identified the main tasks, content and methods of teaching native speech based on the material of familiarization with nature and the surrounding life. Essentially, she laid the foundation for the methodology for the development of speech as a science.

The theoretical basis developed by E.I. Tikheyeva consists of the following principles [15]:

1. Speech development is carried out in unity with mental development.

2. Children’s speech develops in a social environment, in the process of communicating with adults and peers.

3. Management of speech development should cover all periods of life.

4. Training in special classes is a necessary and important means of speech development.

Investigating the problem of speech development Tikheyeva E.I. [15], was of the opinion that in order for a child to speak, he needs to hear the speech of an adult, he needs to talk to him. Speaking means having a certain vocabulary, actively using it, being able to construct statements, forming thoughts, and understanding the speech of others. The child learns all this with the help of an adult. In the third year of life, the need for communication and the development of various forms of verbal communication become a necessary condition for the child’s mental development.

No less interesting is the point of view on the development of speech by I. Chumakov [16]. He argues that in the human body and brain from birth there are some specific inclinations for the acquisition of speech and its basic attributes. These inclinations begin to appear and are finally formed around the age of one and open up the possibility for accelerated development of speech from one to three years (this refers, first of all, to the assimilation of speech itself, while the development of speech as a means of thinking continues until puberty). This age is called sensitive for speech formation. During this period, speech development usually occurs without complications, but outside of this period it is either difficult or even impossible to acquire language. This explains why children of immigrants learn an unfamiliar language faster than adults themselves, and children who were raised outside human society, i.e., who did not have the necessary conditions for mastering a language at that age, cannot acquire human speech skills at a later age [16].

Among foreign psychologists who dealt with the problem of speech development, it was noted that they were of the opinion that speech development depends on the child’s inherent ability from birth to perceive and intellectually process information. According to the author, children's spontaneous word creation is confirmation of the child's intellectual ability to process information. Therefore, the development of speech is associated with the development of thinking. It has been established that the child’s first statements relate to what he already understands, and the progressive development of thinking in the period from one to three years creates the prerequisites for the child’s successful development of speech. He noted that in children in the third year of life one can observe a tendency to monologue. Children at this age sometimes speak out loud without addressing anyone. This monologue speech was called egocentric, trying to connect it with his theory of egocentrism. Egocentric speech: does not serve the purpose of the message, does not perform communicative functions; this speech is not for another, but for oneself; it proceeds regardless of whether it is listened to and understood; The features of its content and structure are associated with this functional character [7].

Having analyzed theoretical sources on the problem of speech development in children at an early age, we can conclude that this problem is very relevant.

Features of speech development in young children

The rapid development of speech in the preschool period is associated with the child’s objective activity. In the second year of life, the child’s interest in everything around him increases: he wants to see, know, and pick up everything. These desires exceed the child’s capabilities, and the baby is forced to turn to an adult for help. However, the available means of communication (gestures, facial expressions, individual words) are no longer enough for the child to be understood, so that his increased need for communication is satisfied. A contradiction arises, which is resolved through the emergence of a new form of communication - active speech. This leap in speech development usually occurs between the ages of 1 year 5 months and 2 years.

The transition to active speech is an important stage in the entire mental development of a child. First of all, this is the transition from infancy to early childhood [11].

The second half of the second year of life is characterized by intensive development of the child’s vocabulary (by 1 year 8 months it reaches 100 words, by 2 years - over 300 words). In the dictionary of children of the 3rd year of life, according to V.V. Gerbova [7], nouns denoting means of transportation, household items and objects of living nature predominate. At the same time, the passive dictionary is 1.2 - 1.3 times higher than the active one. Over the course of an early age, the child’s vocabulary becomes more complex—the polysemy of a word is replaced by higher stability, and the subject-related nature of the word is clearly expressed. In addition to a rapidly growing vocabulary, the end of the 2nd year of life is characterized by the assimilation of the grammatical structure of sentences.

In this process, two periods are distinguished: from 1 year 3 months to 1 year 10 months and from 1 year 10 months to 3 years.

The first is the period of sentences consisting of amorphous words - roots, which in all cases are used in one unchanged form. Here the stage of a one-word sentence (1 year 3 months - 1 year 8 months) and the stage of two-three word sentences are clearly distinguished.

The child’s first sentences are one-word and have several varieties: sentence - the name of an object such as a noun (uncle, dad); proposal - an appeal expressing primarily a request, a desire (babi-babi-babi, theta-theta, tata); a sentence expressed by some kind of interjection or autonomous word (chick-chick, am-am). Very often these are verb forms (sleep, eat).

The appearance of a two-word sentence is caused by new needs that arose as a result of the contradiction between the previous form of verbal communication and the child’s need to more accurately express his desires [7].

The second period in mastering grammar is the period of mastering the grammatical structure of a sentence, associated with the formation of grammatical categories and their external expression. It is characterized by the rapid growth of different types of simple and complex sentences and the assimilation of function words.

These processes of speech development enable a child by the age of three to master almost all cases and all objective relations that are expressed with their help.

At the first stage of development, the child’s speech is situational. Since it is closely related to practical activities carried out jointly with adults and peers, but most often takes place in the form of dialogue [7].

Nurturing the sound culture of speech in the third year is closely related to children’s mastery of new words, the correct pronunciation of vowels and simple consonants, the use of general speech skills (speech breathing, tempo and rhythm of speech, diction, etc.). The child learns to: perceive and reproduce the sound image of a word, convey its rhythm, speak calmly, not loudly, at an average pace; use speech breathing correctly (speak while exhaling, reproduce the rhythm of the poem).

At an early age, the child’s descriptive speech also appears. Its appearance is associated with the expansion of the child’s social circle, his ideas, and the growth of his independence. Situational, condensed speech can no longer ensure complete mutual understanding. Gestures and facial expressions, so widely used in situational speech, in this case cannot significantly help the child. The contradiction that has arisen between the need for communication, mutual understanding and the limitations of the available means for accepting communication leads to the emergence of descriptive, detailed speech. An important role in its formation belongs to an adult who introduces the child to examples of such speech, to its standards (communication, conversations, conversations, fairy tales, stories) [7].

Another extremely important area of a young child’s life is his communication and relationships with peers.

As studies by V.V. Gerbova [7] show, the need to communicate with peers arises in the third year of life. At this age, children’s communication has a very specific content, which is an emotional-practical interaction.

Interaction in the form of imitation of each other promotes self-awareness and stimulates the child’s speech activity.

E.I. Tikheeva [15] noted that speech activity, if we count the number of words spoken at the moments most favorable for statements (for example, but the time of independent activity, in a child 2-2.5 years old is on average 25 - 28 words By the age of 3, it increases by 3-3.5 times.The need to ask, explain, comment, in turn, activates the vocabulary (during the third year it increases 5-6 times, complicates the grammatical form of statements).

Thus, the process of formation of the first function of speech in children, i.e., mastering active speech as a means of communication, goes through several stages during the first years of life.

At the first stage, the child does not yet understand the speech of the adults around him and does not know how to speak himself, but here the conditions gradually develop that ensure the mastery of speech in the future - this is the preverbal stage [15].

At the second stage, a transition occurs from the complete absence of speech to its appearance. The child begins to understand the simplest statements of adults and pronounces his first active words - this is the stage of the emergence of active speech.

The third stage covers all subsequent years up to 7 years, when the child masters speech and uses it more and more perfectly and variedly to communicate with surrounding adults - this is the stage of development of active speech communication [15].

Games and exercises are proposed, as well as special work techniques with the help of which it is possible to “talk” the child and give impetus to the further development of active speech.

Much attention in the method is given to establishing contact with a young child and developing emotional communication with the baby.

Through imitation and joint activities with the child, social experience is acquired. Through imitation, children master everyday and play skills and master speech.

Thus, the child repeats the movements or actions of an adult taking place before his eyes, and tries to reproduce the speech heard from his lips.

With repeated repetitions, movements and words gradually become fixed in the child’s mind and turn into skills - now these are his own actions, gestures, and speech. Over time, the need for direct observation before imitation disappears - the child remembers the adult’s ways of acting, gestures and facial expressions, and manner of speaking, and gradually they become part of his own personality.

The games and exercises that make up the content of the methodology are aimed at:

1. Development of imitation.

2. Development of emotional communication.

3. The development of business communication is interaction aimed at achieving a common goal [15].

The general goal can be set by the situation itself (for example, in a game, or it is determined by one of the communication partners). In this case, both the adult and the child can take the initiative, and then the other plays the role of an assistant. In other words, communication occurs either on equal terms, or there is a leader and a follower. When working with a child, it is useful to use different types of interaction so that he can play different roles - partner, assistant, leader [6].

4. Development of auditory perception, speech hearing.

5. Development of movements, motor skills, fine motor skills.

6. Organization of special speech games and exercises: vocabulary development; speech imitation - repetition of individual sounds that carry meaning in a game;

7. Use of rhythmic exercises.

Thus, one of the important stages, and the very first in young children, is the formation of active speech based on the need for communication and interest in communication [6].

Literature

Voloshina N. A. Articulation gymnastics for boys (for girls). M., Childhood - press, 2011
Vygotsky L. S. Thinking and speech. - M., 1982
Ushakova T. N. Psycholinguistics. M., Per - se, 2006
Elkonin D. B. Developmental psychology. M., Academy, 2001

The role of the family in the development of a child’s speech

Everyone knows that it is the family that helps a child develop himself as an individual and explore the vast world, but the modern pace of life does not always allow parents to pay enough attention to their children.

At an early age, an adult provides solutions to three main psychological tasks:

developing the child’s ability to imitate speech and distinguish speech sounds, which is the basis for understanding the meaning of what is said;
increasing active and passive vocabulary;
formation of the ability to use speech in communication.

Statistics show that in families where close relationships are formed, children grow up active and independent. In those families where there is a lack of attention in the early years of the child, in adolescence he becomes withdrawn and aggressive.

A child’s speech is formed through the speech of his family members. And only in an environment of live communication, he not only listens to others, but also joins in the dialogue.

Parents are required to know how important the speech of adults is for the formation of a child’s speech and how exactly to conduct a conversation with him. Adults must speak correctly, without distorting words, pronouncing each sound clearly, take their time, pronouncing endings correctly. Faking adult speech to resemble child speech slows down its development, because distorted words reach the child. It is especially important to pronounce unfamiliar, new and long words especially clearly.

Parents who decide to conduct speech development classes at home need to do the following exercises:

2-3 games to develop fine motor skills,
articulation gymnastics (preferably 2 times a day),
2-3 games to develop auditory attention or phonemic awareness,
2-3 games for the formation of lexical and grammatical categories.

Develop fine motor skills of your hands

Scientists have proven that the speech zone in the cerebral cortex is in close proximity to the projection of the hand. This fact allows us to consider the child’s hands as an “organ of speech”, almost equivalent to the articulatory apparatus. That is why experts at one time put forward the assumption that subtle movements of the fingers have a direct impact on the formation and development of the baby’s speech function. Thus, in order to teach a child to speak, you need not only to train his articulatory apparatus and communicate with him, but also to develop fine motor skills .

The development of fine motor skills is also useful because in the process of developing children's fingers, the baby develops attention, imagination, thinking, coordination, observation, motor and visual memory. In addition, developed fingers will help the baby subsequently quickly master independent dressing, eating and other household and educational activities.

The best methods for developing fine motor skills are considered to be:

hand massage, as well as finger exercises and games such as “ladushki”, “horned goat” and “white-sided magpie”;
bean baths (the child takes out small toys from a bowl of beans);
modeling from a variety of materials (plasticine, clay, salted and regular dough);
mosaic;
games with cereals (for example, sprinkle beans, peas or buckwheat with your fingers);
lacing games;
games with beads and buttons (you can string beads on a thread or lay out panels from buttons);
puzzles;
rolling balls, pens, pencils, etc. on the table with your palm.

How to determine that a child has speech delay

Delayed speech development is a later acquisition of oral speech in comparison with conventional norms for children under 3 years of age. Delayed speech development can be characterized by qualitative and quantitative underdevelopment.

In order to correctly understand how to determine delayed speech development, it is necessary to know the stages and conditional norms of speech development in children at an early age.

Normally, at 1 year of age, a child’s active vocabulary contains approximately 10 words, and the passive vocabulary contains about 200 words. Up to a certain time, the passive vocabulary is much larger than the active vocabulary. Approximately 1.6 - 1.8 months. words from the passive vocabulary burst into the active vocabulary. In some children, the period of passive speech lasts up to 2 years, although in general speech development is normal.

Deviations in speech development within the normal range are allowed for 2-3 months in girls, and 4-5 months in boys. Only a speech therapist can correctly understand whether a child has a speech development delay or not.

Signs of delayed speech development at different stages of speech ontogenesis may be: lack of response to sound and speech, inactive attempts to repeat other people’s words, absence of one’s own speech at different stages of its development, absence of non-speech methods of communication.

Causes of delayed speech development

Why did the child have a delay in speech development? Causes may include disturbances during intrauterine development and the birth process, as well as adverse effects that the child encountered in the first years of his life.

The most severe disorders occur during 3-4 months of intrauterine development. At this time, the fetal nerve cells form brain structures. The causes of delayed speech development in children associated with the course of pregnancy and childbirth can be factors such as early and late toxicosis of pregnancy, extreme prematurity, birth trauma, intoxication with chemicals and drugs. Delayed speech development may be influenced by genetic factors.

Pathologies during pregnancy and childbirth are not always the causes of underdevelopment. Sometimes disorders are caused by factors affecting the health and upbringing of the child - these are reasons of a biological and social order.

Biological factor . Biological factors include complications after vaccination, a slow rate of maturation of the nervous system, as well as long-term diseases that weaken the child’s immunity at an early age. The biological basis of RRD is most often the presence of minimal brain dysfunction in the child caused by perinatal brain damage.

Hearing loss. It is very dangerous if a child has reduced hearing or cannot hear anything. When hearing loss occurs, a child’s speech cannot fully develop. In this case, even minimal deviations from the norm can be considered the cause of RRD. It is very important at what age the baby lost his hearing. If this happened at 5-6 years old, the child can retain speech skills. When a child is born deaf or has hearing loss in the first years of life, the chances of such a child speaking are zero.

Social factors. Such factors include frequent stress, lack of attention and communication in the family.

Prevention

If parents notice that their child’s speech development is lagging behind the norm, then they definitely need to contact the right specialist. Neurologists, speech therapists, defectologists, and corrective teachers are working on solving this problem. In special cases, the help of a facial surgeon or orthodontist may be needed.

In case of impaired understanding of speech, incomplete mobility of the lips, tongue, low level of fine motor skills, if hearing impairment is suspected, the following studies are carried out: hearing test, examination of speech understanding, examination of fine and gross motor skills, examination of articulation organs, examination of vocabulary, examination of phrasal speech.

Based on the results of the examination, the degree of mental retardation is determined and corrective work is planned. How is delayed speech development treated? Drug therapy, magnetic therapy, electroreflexotherapy, dolphin therapy and hippotherapy are carried out; A teacher and proofreader works with the child.

With uncomplicated forms of pathology and with fully completed correctional work, by the time the child starts school, the delay in the development of the child’s speech will be overcome. To do this, it is important that parents support all the requirements and recommendations of specialists.

Measures to prevent speech delay:

creating conditions for a favorable course of pregnancy and childbirth, the first years of a child’s life;
the formation of a speech environment rich in educational toys and various objects;
ensuring normal social conditions for the life and development of the child;
assessment of speech development by a speech therapist no later than 2-2.5 years.

In order to quickly compensate for delayed speech development, you need to promptly pay attention to the child’s communication problems. There are several degrees and varieties of RRD, which only a specialist can diagnose. He will also find out the possible cause of the development of a speech defect affecting the central nervous system and brain.

Speech Acquisition Rates

It is worth noting that individual rates of speech acquisition can vary greatly. If children who have begun to walk pronounce their first words somewhat later than their peers, this does not mean that they are behind them in development. They may just be focusing on practicing other skills right now. If a child under 2 years old has only 2-3 words in his active vocabulary, then this is not a reason for concern, especially if he understands the speech of adults, listens to them with interest and learns the names of many things. If the child’s active vocabulary does not grow and the situation does not change at 2–2.5 years, then you need to take a closer look at the child, understand why he is silent, and help him speak.

V. Vetrova gives the following typical variants of speech difficulties in children 2–2.5 years old:

Delay at the naming stage . A child can repeat the names of various objects after an adult, but does not speak himself. Often the parents of these children teach them the names of objects, but talk to them little, interact little, and do not read. A word that is not included in interaction with surrounding people cannot become active.
Delay at the stage of emotional communication with an adult. Parents and children have mutual love: emotional acceptance, affection, smiles; the word is superfluous. We need to move to a new level of interaction with the child so that he speaks. This is most effective when doing joint actions with objects.
Orientation to the objective world . Usually this child is “inundated” with toys, he manipulates them with pleasure, keeps himself busy, exhibits motor activity, and does not strive to interact with other people. In this case, it is necessary to include cooperation with an adult in substantive activities: play together, read books, develop emotional contact with the child, teach him play actions that are “human in nature” (feed a doll, feel sorry for a bear), etc.
“Childish” words can interfere with the development of normal speech. If parents fulfill all the child’s wishes and speak “children’s” language (for example, “av-av”, “cous-cous”, “bo-bo”), then speech development slows down. Such a delay is often typical for twins who intensively communicate with each other in their common childish language. Adults need to switch to a more “adult language” when communicating with a child.
The rapidity of speech development . If the child understands everything, listens with interest, speaks a lot himself, with good diction, and detailed, correct sentences and complex words; but at the same time he sleeps poorly, cries in his sleep, has a lot of fears, is lethargic, capricious, etc., then he cannot cope with the information load. Such a child must be limited from unnecessary speech impressions: walk more, play, interact with peers.

It is important to emphasize that the need to have speech is often placed before the child by adults. Children begin to actively pronounce words under the influence of persistent influences from an adult. Therefore, it is necessary to talk more time with the child, especially when playing together.

Conclusion on Chapter I

From the very first days of life until the end of the preschool period, children have the most important task - the formation and development of speech. Each year of a child’s life is divided into stages and at each of them speech is improved - from the first infant cry to the composition of complex sentences.

During early childhood, children undergo intensive speech development. During this time, the child’s active vocabulary exceeds the passive one; the child learns that each object has its own name; after he hears the word, he tries to repeat it; he learns to compose simple and complex common sentences.

The development of a child’s speech is closely related to communication with adults, and a lack of this communication can lead to delayed speech development and also affect the development of the baby’s psyche. A child’s communication with the people around him allows him to increase his passive and active vocabulary, improve his pronunciation and the content of his speech.

What is child speech?

Surely you have no doubt when you are asked what the word “speech” or “language” means. However, most people struggle to find a clear and understandable definition. This is because “speech” is a really broad concept! Let's figure out what speech is. Let's start with the obvious.

Speech consists of words combined into sentences.
Speech (language) is used for speaking, reading and writing.
There are many different languages, usually associated with different countries.

However, this is not quite the entire concept of speech. For example, the same word can be used for very different effects. It all depends on the tone of voice and even facial expression during a conversation. Not all languages can be spoken or written. For example, take sign language. Languages may differ in nature. There are, for example, languages such as Braille, programming languages or Chinese.

Our goal now is to stick to the simple idea that language is the ability to communicate effectively .

Basically, when we talk about the definition of speech, in a child context, communication covers everything. From crying to understanding yes and no (receptive language) to hooting and speaking (expressive language).

Read more about SPEECH DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AT AN EARLY AGE.

Ways to develop speech in young children

Game activity as a means of speech development

Play is of great importance in the development of speech in young children. They love to play short outdoor games that help develop their speech. The more children enjoy the game, the more effective the result will be.

Play develops language, and language organizes play. The word is part of reality for the child. It is very important to properly organize the play environment, combining the interests of children and objects that will help in the development of speech.

Passive vocabulary is words the meaning of which a child understands, but does not speak due to age or due to delayed speech development. Children pronounce words and sounds as they hear them.

Games and exercises for developing passive vocabulary:

"Errands." Choose a toy that is in front of the child and ask him to perform some action with it. For example, brush a doll’s hair, feed a teddy bear.
"Do It". Ask your baby to clap his hands, jump, squat, spin, raise his arms up, close his eyes, open his mouth, etc.

Speech games aimed at developing vocabulary:

"Balls and cubes." Offer to match items by color and place them in baskets. It is necessary to mark the color on the basket.
"Big small". It is suggested to put large cubes and large balls in a large basket, and small ones in a small one.
"Wonderful bag." Consider toys with your child: cubes, balls, be sure to pronounce their shape, and then hide them in a bag. Then the child must determine the shape of the object by touch and pull it out.

Speech development with the help of fiction

Fiction has a huge impact on the development and enrichment of a child’s speech.

A child’s first acquaintance with fiction begins with nursery rhymes and songs, then he listens to folk tales. A journey into the world of a fairy tale develops the imagination of children, and encourages them to write.

The book is considered as a means of developing children's speech and improving its content. She provides the child with mental and moral education.

Poetry

As you know, the easiest and most effective way to teach a child is through play. This is also true for situations where you need to practice the correct pronunciation of sounds. An interesting author’s technique for developing pronunciation and preparing a child for reading is described HERE: “Interesting games for 3-year-old children”

Speech therapy rhymes are a great way to practice if your child is unable to pronounce a particular sound. You can start learning these poems as early as 2–3 years old.

Conclusion on chapter 2

The most effective method of developing the speech of a young child is his participation in various types of activities.

Productive activities (appliqué, modeling, drawing) form a child’s idea of the shape, color or properties of a particular object. During the lessons, the child develops imagination, fine motor skills and, most importantly, speech activity. The child discovers a lot of new things and wants to know about everything, this is how the child’s dialogue with an adult or teacher is formed.

Playful activities allow the child to improve not only the coordination of movements while playing with objects, but also the quality and quantity of words in his active vocabulary, as the child gives a name to the object/toy, comes up with a situation in which he is and explains his actions. Thus, we can say that play is a fruitful way to develop speech in children.

All the methods we propose contribute to the development and improvement of the child’s speech, and also help prevent its delay.