Typical speech development

One to Two Years

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How Does Your Child Hear and Talk? | Birth to One Year | Two to Three Years
Three to Four Years | Four to Five Years | Learning Two Languages
What should I do if I think my child has a problem?

Children develop at their own rate. Your child might not have all skills until the end of the age range.

What should my child be able to do?

What can I do to help?

• Talk to your child as you do things and go places. For example, when taking a walk, point to and name what you see. Say things like, “I see a dog. The dog says ‘woof.’ This is a big dog. This dog is brown.”
• Use short words and sentences that your child can imitate. Use correct grammar.
• Talk about sounds around your house. Listen to the clock tick, and say “t-t-t.” Make car or plane sounds, like “v-v-v-v.”
• Play with sounds at bath time. You are eye-level with your child. Blow bubbles, and make the sound “b-b-b-b.” Pop bubbles, and make a “p-p-p-p” sound. Engines on toys can make the “rrr-rrr-rrr” sound.
• Add to words your child says. For example, if she says “car,” you can say, “You're right! That is a big red car.”
• Read to your child every day. Try to find books with large pictures and a few words on each page. Talk about the pictures on each page.
• Have your child point to pictures that you name.
• Ask your child to name pictures. He may not answer at first. Just name the pictures for him. One day, he will surprise you by telling you the name.
• Talk to your child in the language you are most comfortable using.

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© 1997- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Birth to One Year

COVID-19 UPDATES: Find news and resources for audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and the public.
Latest Updates | Telepractice Resources | Email Us

[en Español]

How Does Your Child Hear and Talk? | One to Two Years | Two to Three Years |
Three to Four Years | Four to Five Years | Learning Two Languages |
What should I do if I think my child has a problem?

Children develop at their own rate. Your child might not have all skills until the end of the age range.

What should my child be able to do?

What can I do to help?

• Check if your child can hear. See if she turns to noises or looks at you when you talk. Pay attention to ear problems and infections, and see your doctor.
• Respond to your child. Look at him when he makes noises. Talk to him. Imitate the sounds he makes.
• Laugh when she does. Imitate the faces she makes.
• Teach your baby to imitate actions, like peek-a-boo, clapping, blowing kisses, and waving bye-bye. This teaches him how to take turns. We take turns when we talk.
• Talk about what you do during the day. Say things like “Mommy is washing your hair”; “You are eating peas”; and “Oh, these peas are good!”
• Talk about where you go, what you do there, and who and what you see. Say things like, “We are going to Grandma’s house. Grandma has a dog. You can pet the dog.”
• Teach animal sounds, like “A cow says ‘moo.’”
• Read to your child every day.
• Talk to your child in the language you are most comfortable using.

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Site Help | A–Z Topic Index | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use
© 1997- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Speech development in preschool age: stages, typical problems, exercises

Figurative speech rich in synonyms, additions and descriptions in preschool children is a very rare phenomenon. Meanwhile, mastering speech at the age of 3 to 7 years is of key importance, because this period is the most sensitive to its assimilation.

Children learn their native language by imitating the spoken language of others. Unfortunately, the ever-busy parents in our time often forget about this and let the process of developing the speech of the crumbs take its course. The child spends little time in the company of adults (more and more at the computer, at the TV or with his toys), rarely listens to stories and fairy tales from the lips of mom and dad, and systematic developmental classes for mastering speech are generally rare. So it turns out that a lot of problems arise with the speech of the child by the time they enter school. As they say, in order to cope with the enemy, you need to "know him by sight", therefore, setting the task of developing the speech of your preschooler, we will consider what problems parents and teachers most often face in this area.

Typical speech development problems in preschoolers:

1. Monosyllabic speech consisting only of simple sentences (the so-called "situational" speech). Inability to construct a common sentence grammatically correctly.

2. Poverty of speech. Insufficient vocabulary.

3. Littering speech with slang words (the result of watching television programs), the use of non-literary words and expressions.

4. Poor dialogical speech: inability to formulate a question competently and in an accessible way, to build a short or detailed answer, if necessary and appropriate.

5. Inability to build a monologue: for example, a plot or descriptive story on the proposed topic, retelling the text in your own words. (But it is simply necessary to acquire this skill before school!)

6. Lack of logical substantiation of their statements and conclusions.

7. Lack of speech culture skills: inability to use intonation, regulate voice volume and speech tempo, etc.

8. Poor diction.

How to develop?

Many parents rely on kindergarten for solving the problem of speech development. It is believed that systematic classes in a group will help the baby in this difficult matter. Very often these hopes are not justified: in many kindergartens, the development of speech is not given sufficient attention. But even if you are lucky with the kindergarten, and native speech is given a worthy place in the classroom, it still makes sense to trace whether the crumbs develop enough diction, vocabulary, the ability to use intonation, build a dialogue, detailed answers containing justification (proof). If not, you will have to think about how to diversify the speech practice of a preschool child at home.

Let's see what exercises we can do with our child. To do this, of course, we need to know when and what stages of speech development a preschooler goes through. Therefore, each game-exercise was accompanied by a detailed commentary.

Exercises for the development of the speech of a preschooler:

1. Exercise "Conversation by picture"

This exercise is suitable for children aged 3-6 and is aimed at developing coherent speech. To build a conversation, any beautiful, best of all plot, picture is suitable. It is most convenient to do this exercise while reading a book, picking up a puzzle or some other entertaining game, so that the baby does not have the feeling of a "boring lesson". Try to involve your child in a question-and-answer game. Ask DIFFERENT questions using a variety of question words: What? Where? Where? Where? How? When? What for? Why? etc. To “talk” to a child, use introductory phrases (“What do you think (think)?”, “Have you met something like that ...”) or assumptions (“And if ...”, “Maybe there is a mind ... "," And how would you do ... "). If the baby is at a loss with an answer, help him build a sentence, demonstrate how and what you can talk about. Children need a pattern to learn from, and we must keep this in mind in our studies. Pay attention to generalizing words and the construction of subordinate clauses, encourage the child when he uses them. This helps children learn to think abstractly, without relying on a specific material or situation.

The "Picture Conversation" exercise is aimed at developing the so-called "contextual" speech. Initially, the child's speech is directly related to the action and naming of objects. “Daddy, let me,” “Mom, let's go,” “I want a doll (car, etc.)” are the first sentences that we hear from the mouth of a baby. This so-called "situational" speech is quite normal before the age of three. However, after three, the child should begin to master abstract speech that is not directly related to the object or situation.

During this period, with proper education, children begin to realize the grammatical structure of speech and consciously "build" sentences. After three, kids learn the bulk of complex conjunctions, adverbs and question words and actively use them in speech, building complex sentences. “If then”, “because”, “because”, “which”, “because”, “where”, “to whom”, “whom”, “how much”, “why”, “why” appear in speech , "as", "to", "in what", "although", etc.

If this does not happen, then our preschooler begins to suffer from a pronounced tongue-tied tongue and slurred speech. To build a coherent story, a meaningful question, he needs new speech means and forms, and he can learn them only from the speech of others. To help a child, it is necessary not only to talk to him often and a lot, but also to ask him to tell, ask questions and answer them.

2. Exercise "Big - small"

This exercise can be performed with a child 2.5 - 5 years old. You can use a picture book or baby toys to conduct the activity. Look at the pictures together with the baby, ask him to name what he sees. For example:

- Look who's in the picture?

- Girl and boy.

- What kind of girl?

- Small.

- Yes, the girl is JUNIOR than the boy, and the boy is her BIG brother. The boy is HIGH, and the girl is LOWER.

- What kind of braid does the girl have?

- Large.

- Yes, the girl's braid is LONG. There is even a saying such as "A long braid is a girl's beauty." Why do you think a long braid was considered prettier than a short one?

Etc.

There are also special games and books on the market aimed at developing this side of speech. In them, specially selected texts and tasks will teach the child to find words that are close in meaning to frequently used concepts, memorize new meanings of words, deal with subtle definitions and clarifications.

This exercise is aimed at enriching the child's vocabulary. After all, the poverty of the vocabulary is not only ignorance of the names of objects, phenomena and concepts. This problem concerns the entire structure of speech: the presence in it of a rich range of adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, participles. So, for example, if a baby instead of the adjectives "long", "older", "tall", "wide", "fat", "huge", "capacious", "great" uses the ubiquitous "big", you should think about using synonyms .

3. Reading (and singing) lullabies and nursery rhymes

Starting from birth, read traditional nursery rhymes, lullabies, jokes, fairy tales (especially poetic ones) to your baby every day. It is very useful to read at night. When reading, make sure that the pronunciation is clear and clear, correctly emotionally colored.

Lullabies and nursery rhymes are an invaluable material that allows a child to "feel" the language, to feel its melody and rhythm, to feel the tradition, to cleanse his language of endless slang words. Lullabies and nursery rhymes enrich the vocabulary of children due to the fact that they contain a lot of information about objects and the world around them, they teach children to form words with the same root (for example, "cat", "kitten", "cat"), allow memorizing words and forms of words and phrases , and a positive emotional coloring makes mastering more successful. Repeating sound combinations, phrases, onomatopoeia develop phonemic hearing, help memorize words and expressions.

4. Interview

This exercise is for children aged 4 and over. Invite your child to do an interview like a real journalist. You will be a famous scientist or doctor, and the kid needs to prepare an article about you. A list of questions can be prepared together. Don't forget to prepare detailed answers! You will not only have a great time in the company of a child, but also instill in him social skills, as well as develop the baby’s dialogical speech.

The interview uses a very important technique: the child must ask the right question in order to get the answer he wants. He will have to use all his language skills to competently build a dialogue with the interviewee - that is, with you. On the other hand, the child will have to remember your answer so that they do not repeat themselves in questions. The game can be diversified: interviews on a variety of topics. This will enrich the child's vocabulary, teach him to build questions. You can also switch roles - then the child will be able to master (according to your model) the behavior of the other side and learn how to competently build detailed answers.

5. "Guess the riddle"

The game is suitable for children from 3 to 7 years old. Guessing riddles diversifies the speech of children. In riddles, in a compressed form, the most striking signs of objects or phenomena are given. Therefore, guessing riddles forms in children the ability to analyze, generalize, the ability to highlight the characteristic features of an object and draw conclusions. Some riddles enrich the vocabulary of children due to the ambiguity of words, help to see the secondary, figurative meanings of words. And, of course, they teach children to think imaginatively.

To arouse the child's interest in evidence, draw the child's attention to the fact that without evidence, another answer can be offered. For example, the well-known riddle "The Red Maiden sits in a dungeon, a braid on the street." We ask what it is. If the child guessed the answer and shouts "carrot", we ask why. "Because it's red." Well, strawberries are also red - so this is also the correct answer?

You need to try to draw the child's attention to the other signs indicated in the riddle. If the kid realized and claims that "sits in a dungeon" means - "grows in the ground", then one can wonder if this is a radish - after all, red also grows in the ground? Now pay attention to the baby and the fact that it is “she” who is sitting in the dungeon, so that masculine objects (onions, garlic, radishes) immediately disappear.

The child must learn that even little things sometimes play a very significant role in the proof. Then remember what else is growing in the garden. Why couldn't the author of the riddle mean beets, because they also look red when you cut them? Let the kid express his guesses. Suggest your version: the beetroot is actually not red, but dark brown. Try to come up with your own riddles about vegetables of a different color: for example, "The yellow maiden is sitting in a dungeon" (turnip). Explain that the beauty of the riddle about carrots is also that the phrase "red maiden" has a double meaning, i.e. the author may have in mind not the color at all, but the beauty of the subject.

The same leading questions can be used if the child does not guess the answer. Thus, the baby will learn to think and express his thoughts, build reasoning.

6. “What would that mean?” Exercise for children from 5 to 7 years old

The intonation and emotional coloring of speech are as important as the words we speak, because it is by tone that we often determine the mood of the speaker and the meaning of what he is trying to convey to us. To show children the importance of this side of speech, it is best to use proverbs, sayings, phraseological units of the Russian language. In the phraseological units of the folk language, not only the ideas and thoughts themselves are concisely and accurately expressed, but also their emotional coloring (condemnation, encouragement, joy, sadness, affection, anger, etc.). Tell your child a series of phraseological units or proverbs. Think with him what they might mean.

For example, what does it mean to "beat the buckets", "hang your nose", "set a brainwasher", "easier than a steamed turnip". Acquaintance with phraseological units improves oral speech skills, develops thinking, imagination.

7. Sayings and tongue twisters

Pronunciation of sayings and tongue twisters is useful for all children, even if the baby's diction at first glance is all right. In preschoolers, the speech apparatus is not yet sufficiently coordinated and clearly works. Some children pronounce words indistinctly, rush, swallow endings, others, on the contrary, speak slowly and stretch words unnecessarily. It must be remembered that diction is developed with the help of special classes, no one by nature has a perfect pronunciation. Therefore, use the good old tongue twisters, and your crumbs will have less problems with speech.

Vera Berezova
http://www.rebenok.com

Social commentary Cackle

Recommendations for the Development of Babies' Speech -Early Age -Information for Parents

Preparation for active speech begins long before it appears. In order for a child to move from a passive understanding of words to his own speech, at least three conditions are necessary: ​​the development of communication with an adult, the saturation of audible speech and the emergence of interest in the word, the formation of his own objective activity.

Speech arises and develops as a means of communication between a child and an adult. And, if the baby does not have a need to communicate with others, if he does not strive for close people and does not reach for various contacts with them, active speech cannot arise. More than once, both in science and in the practice of education, it has been shown that the quantity and quality of emotional, situational-personal communication with an adult significantly affect the timing of the appearance of the first words and speech development in general. Therefore, it should be remembered that by making emotional contact with an infant, we not only entertain him and satisfy existing needs, but also prepare him for future development, including speech development. We have already talked about the organization of emotional communication before; let us dwell in more detail on the second, no less important condition for the development of speech, which is the saturation of the child's experience with audible speech.

The child hears human speech all the time. Adults not only address her to the baby, but also talk in his presence; in addition, the sound environment surrounding the modern child is literally saturated with speech sounds - this is a radio, and a TV, and a player, and a tape recorder. But not always the baby hears and distinguishes speech sounds. Hearing speech has a positive effect on the development of one's own speech only if it is included in communication with a person. It is not enough just to turn on the radio so that the audible sounds compensate the child for loneliness and silence. Unable to analyze loud and unnecessary sounds, he simply ceases to perceive them and may even go deaf for a while, protecting himself from noise he does not understand. Speech perception up to a year and a half must be organized in a certain way.

To do this, adults do not have to constantly talk to their baby. Try listening to the record together. For 5-7 min. turn on a funny children's story and listen to it with your child, sometimes looking at him. Your concentration and interest will definitely be transferred to him - he will carefully monitor how you listen, and very soon he will learn to listen himself. The baby will have a desire to share his impressions, he will be drawn to a joint perception, trying to turn to an adult with a speech. And don't be put off by listening to the same record over and over again. The longer the child perceives the same sounding speech, the more joy he will experience from recognizing familiar sounds, the more he will highlight and recognize them, wait for their appearance. Pay special attention to the small movements of the hand made by the baby while listening. The formation of speech is closely connected with the development of small manual operations, because speech and movements have a similar physiological basis. Sometimes, in order to determine whether a child speaks, it is enough to ask him to show a finger, another one, etc. If he fulfills this simple request, the first active word in his voice repertoire is probably there.

It is also very important that the audible speech arouses in the baby the desire to

"talk" himself, to utter babbling sounds reminiscent of real speech. Usually, with the right organization of listening, an explosion of voice activity is observed. The child, as it were, begins to understand that it is best to communicate with an adult and tell him about his impressions with the help of voice.

Thus, audible speech is inseparable for a child from a specific person. Moreover, this person does not have to constantly talk. Sometimes his silent presence is enough. But benevolent attention, eye contact, and concentration on the audible speech are necessary. Outside the presence of a specific living person and without his participation, speech is not perceived by the baby and does not lead to his speech development.

Perceiving speech, the child begins to isolate individual words and distinguish between phonemes of the language - to distinguish words that sound similar. For the development of phonemic hearing, special games can be played with the baby.

An adult sits down at the table opposite the child, he has two toys in his hands - a Shura doll and a Mura cat. The toys are hidden behind the table. After the adult says the word "Shura", a doll appears on the left side of the table and talks to the baby, and then hides. After the word “Mura”, a cat appears on the right side, which also addresses the child, meows and disappears. After several such appearances, the baby already knows that Mura appears on the right, and Shura on the left, and after the appropriate words, if he, of course, distinguishes them, he immediately turns his head in the right direction and waits for the toy to appear. Children really like such games, and soon they begin to call the heroes by name themselves.

The third condition for the normal development of speech is the formation of objective activity of the child and his business cooperation with adults. In order for the child to start talking on his own initiative, he must have a need for this. It consists of the need to communicate with an adult and the need for some object. Neither one nor the other in itself leads to the word. The kid can successfully communicate with an adult without any words, exchanging smiles and vocalizations, he can also play with toys for a long time without feeling any need to name them if the adult does not create such a need. It is he who puts the task of saying something before the child. And the need for substantive cooperation and communication encourages the baby to accept this task and say the right word.

If a child likes to work with objects, is drawn to an adult and to joint activities with him, if he listens attentively to adults and repeats individual words, we can assume that he is ready for active speech and will soon speak. However, even in this case, the transition to active speech may be somewhat delayed.

To activate the child's speech ability, you can conduct a kind of training with him. Try to move the desired and attractive toy for the baby so that he himself could not reach it. This, of course, will cause the child's desire to get the desired item. In response to the baby's attempts to reach the toy, clearly pronounce its name "lyalya", or "tic-tac", or "misha". Do not give the child a toy until he himself calls it a word. At first, the baby will struggle to reach for the object and express his impatience. Then his efforts will switch to an adult: he will point his finger at an object and try to beg him with his angry babble: "Give-give-give". And only at the third stage there will be an attitude to the word. This will manifest itself primarily in the fact that the child will begin to look at the lips of an adult and listen to the word that he pronounces. Therefore, it is important to speak the word clearly, with pronounced and even exaggerated articulation, so that the baby immediately notices the movement of the lips. The concentration of the child on the articulatory apparatus is an important sign that the word has stood out in his mind and has become the subject of attention, which means that he himself is about to pronounce it. The child’s own pronunciation of a new word brings so much joy that he begins to repeat it over and over and sometimes even prefers word play to a desired toy.

Only after passing through these three stages, children of one and a half to two years old begin to actively pronounce the word in their independent activity. If the child stops at the first stage and seeks only to master the toy, touch or twist it in his hands, the naming of the object will not occur. So, it is necessary to draw his attention to the sounding word. Games like “Tell Tick-Tock”, “Tell Misha”, etc. are useful here. Although they do not lead to independent speech, direct copying of the sample, they arouse interest in the moving lips of an adult, in his articulation and help to establish a connection between the word and the object thus preparing for naming.

The purpose of such activities is to create the need to name an object with a word. Quite often, a delay in speech development is connected precisely with the fact that parents satisfy absolutely all the desires of the baby, guessing them at first sight or sound. One can recall a well-known anecdote about a boy who was silent until the age of five and whom his parents considered dumb, but one day at breakfast he said that the porridge was not sweet enough. When surprised parents asked why he hadn't said anything before, he replied that everything was fine before.

So, the preparation for active speech is to create in the child the need for the word. Many parents, in order for the child to speak more quickly, try to give him more verbal patterns: “Say the clock, say the spoon ...”, etc. And to the great joy of adults, many babies already at eight to ten months begin to clearly repeat certain words after the adult and even expressions, striking everyone with their "extraordinary abilities." Such games develop the child's imitation of a sound pattern. For a long time, it was considered that imitation is almost the only source of speech development, and such “say” games are the main teaching method. However, despite the impressive simplicity of this method, its effectiveness for correct speech development is highly questionable. A more careful analysis shows that there is no direct connection between imitation and active speech. A child can easily reproduce this or that word, but at the same time never use it independently in a real, live situation. In addition, imitation in children of this age is often delayed: the baby can repeat the word only after some time, when even an adult forgets that he himself taught the child to him. Very often, persistent attempts by adults to achieve repetition from the baby end in nothing. For example, a child utters a completely different phrase in response: he is asked to say “lamp”, and he says “bul-bul” - or says nothing at all. And only a week later, or even more, under completely different circumstances, this word suddenly appears in his speech.

It turns out that the connection between the word and imitation is far from being direct and not simple. The reproduction of a speech sound is not yet the child's own word. At the same time, the first words of the baby, as we have already said, very often are completely different in their sound from the words of adults. Nevertheless, imitation is a necessary condition for mastering speech. After all, children always speak the same language as their parents, using the same words and the same sounds. But these sounds are not just mechanically repeated, but express and reflect the child's own impressions, his actions, his attitudes, thanks to which they become his own words, and not a repetition of the speech sounds of an adult. Therefore, trying to help the baby speak faster, adults should take care not only and not so much about the correct pronunciation of words, but above all, strive to ensure that he perceives the world and expresses his impressions through human speech.

Below we present several speech development techniques that can be used with children from one to three years of age. All of them are based on the inclusion of speech in the activity of the child, in his communication with adults and in the perception of various impressions.

Joint examination of objects. An adult and a child are watching something. At the same time, the adult expressively describes everything that the baby sees. For example: “Look, what a kitty, what paws she has, a ponytail, touch what a gray coat she has, a kitty sits calmly, let's call her:“ Kitty-kitty, come here ... ” Or: “Look, what kind of machine ! She has wheels, doors, windows, she can ride on the table. Let's take it for a drive... the car has gone, let's say together: "The car has gone." It is important to combine the examination of objects with the active actions of the child, so that the word is associated with the object and with the action. It is necessary that children have the opportunity to show their activity: perform simple movements, pronounce familiar and unfamiliar words. Any manifestations of activity and interest in the subject must be supported and encouraged.

Reading nursery rhymes. An adult repeatedly repeats a simple rhyme, a nursery rhyme or a fairy tale to a child (“Ladushki”, “Magpie-Crow”, children's poems by A. Barto, “Turnip”, “Rocked Hen”, etc. ). When the text is already well known to children, pauses can be made at the end of each line to encourage the child to pronounce the missing words. For example: “I love my ... horse” or “Once upon a time there was a grandfather ... and a woman”, etc. This turns out to be a kind of dialogue in which the child prompts the adult with the right word. Usually, such an arrangement of words brings great pleasure to the baby.

Acquaintance with a new word. A new word denoting an action is introduced in combination with familiar words denoting the object or subject of the action. This technique enhances interest in the word and reinforces certain phrases. For example, the word “pecks”: “Sasha eats, and the chicken pecks, and the chickens peck, and the sparrows peck ... This is how they peck ... What is the chicken doing? Show how she pecks ... ”, etc. This technique must be accompanied by viewing appropriate pictures or actions with toys so that the new word is not divorced from its meaning.

Looking at pictures. An adult, together with a child, examines a picture that depicts familiar characters and situations. "Who is this? And who is this? the adult asks. – What does he do? Where is the bird? Show the tree, etc. If the baby is silent, you can suggest an answer, but still make sure that after that the child answers himself, looking at the same picture. In the third year of life, questions can be more difficult, such as: “Where did the boy go? Where is the bird sitting? etc.

Orders that require a response-action. An adult asks to find, bring or show something. The complexity of such an instruction depends on the level of development of the child's speech, both passive and active: the instruction must be understandable and accessible, and at the same time require concentration and not be carried out mechanically. The simplest requests are to bring a toy when this toy is in plain sight and nothing distracts the child's attention. More difficult are the orders to find and bring a toy that is among others (two, then three). It is even more difficult to find an item if it is not in the most visible place, but somewhere to the side and the assignment requires a targeted search. Subsequent tasks may include the search for not one, but two objects: “First bring the bear, and then the ball.” So, gradually complicating the instructions, you can teach the child to regulate his actions with a word. Such an action according to instructions is more conscious and arbitrary than spontaneous movements, because in order to fulfill the instruction, the child must hold the word of an adult for some time. The repetition of this word can help him in this. It is desirable that the baby himself repeats what he needs to bring, and when he completes the assignment, he says that he brought it.

Of course, this kind of instructions can only be given if the child is able and willing to carry them out and if the execution brings him pleasure. If the baby refuses and does not respond to the requests of an adult, you cannot demand and force him to fulfill them.

Sound indication of actions. This technique is very important for building a sound image of your actions. It lies in the fact that the child's favorite actions are indicated and accompanied by certain sounds. For example, when a baby draws raindrops with strokes, he can say: “Drip-drip-drip”, when he runs or dances: “Top-top”, when he knocks with a toy hammer: “Knock-knock”, etc. At first, such a sound designation comes from an adult, then the child repeats the appropriate sounds after him, and together they accompany the sounds of the action, and then the baby himself simultaneously acts and makes sounds.

Voice accompaniment of actions. This technique is a more complex version of the previous one. It lies in the fact that the child accompanies his actions no longer with a complex of sounds, but with a detailed speech. Of course, up to three years, speech samples are given by an adult. It is good to use folk games here, in which a simple and constantly repeating poetic text suggests what needs to be done and in what sequence. An example of such a game is "Bunny". An adult, together with the children, becomes in a circle, sings a song and shows the appropriate movements:

Zainka, stomp your foot,
Grey, stomp your foot,
Like this, like that, stamp your foot,
Like this, like that, stamp your foot!

Children, standing in a circle, stomp their feet.

Zainka, clap your hands,
Gray, clap your hands,
Like this, that way, clap your hands,
Like this, that way, clap your hands!

Children clap their hands together with an adult.

Hare, turn around,
Gray, turn around,
Turn around like this, that way,
Turn around like that, that way!

Children turn 1-2 times.

Zainka, dance,
Grey, dance,
Like this, like that, dance,
Like this, like that, dance!

Children jump and dance as best they can.

Hare, take a bow,
Grey, take a bow,
Bow like this, that way,
Bow like that, that way!

Children bow with their arms out to the sides.

When playing the game, especially for the first time, the number of verses can be reduced. At first, you can take only the first, second and last verses, then you can add the rest. When the children know the content of the song well, you can choose one of the most courageous and active children and entrust him with the role of a hare, who stands in the center of the circle and performs all the movements in the text of the song.
In addition to such games, it is useful to name all the independent actions of the child and ask him questions about them: “Sasha is running, Sasha is dressing, walking, washing ... What is Sasha doing? What does Sasha want? etc.
Performance toys. A child or several children are immediately shown simple and short scenes with toys. The content of these skits should be very simple and easy to recognize. For example, the dolls run after each other, or the bear fell and cried, or the doll lost the ball and is looking for it. The show must be accompanied by words familiar to the kids, evoke children's attitude towards toys and a desire to help them: take pity on the bear (as mom pities them), help the doll find the ball, etc. Immediately after the scene, you can ask the kids what they saw. With the help of questions and tips from an adult, in very simple words, a child can convey his impressions of what he saw, for example: “Misha fell, it hurts, cries” or: “Ball bye-bye, where is the ball?” etc. This game is better to use after two years, when there are already enough words in the arsenal of children. Gradually, you can complicate and diversify actions with toys, while the toys themselves are best left the same - soon the child will become attached to them, they will become his favorite, and he himself will be able to play well with them.

We have given only a few play techniques that activate the speech of young children. Of course, there can be much more of them, it all depends on your imagination and on the desire to communicate with the child. But all classes that are held with the baby must meet the following requirements:
- they must be interesting for the baby and bring him joy. Forcing a child to do what he does not want and cannot is unacceptable;
- all techniques for the development of speech should be included in the baby's own activities. Words should not be an empty phrase, but must necessarily be based on specific impressions. Passive repetition of words will not lead to the development of active speech; |
- All receptions must be individually addressed. Even if the lesson is held with several children at once, you must be sure that each of them is looking at you and is focused on what you are saying and showing;
- classes should be very short - no more than 3-5 minutes. Longer than this time, a child from one to three years old cannot keep his attention on one thing. It is better to repeat the same techniques at different times and in different situations so that children immediately recognize them and understand what is required of them.

The timing and pace of mastering speech is individual for each child. More than once, psychologists have tried to establish how many words children of each age should speak. However, so far these attempts have not ended in anything: there are too large differences between children from one to two years old, which are then smoothed out. By itself, the number of spoken words still says little about the development of speech. It is important that the development of speech goes on the right path. But, if a child under two and a half years old does not utter a single word, you should carefully look at the baby and try to help him speak. And to help, you need to understand why he is silent for so long. After all, the reasons for delaying words can be completely different. We will try to consider the most typical variants of speech difficulties in children of two or three years old and give appropriate recommendations for overcoming them.

Delay in the naming stage. A child who easily names surrounding objects with words can stop for a long time only at this level. Naming objects, he does not use speech in his activities and in communicating with people, he replaces speech with movements, gestures, demanding exclamations. Such children prefer silent games that do not require contact with people. This usually happens when a word is pronounced only under the influence of an adult's model. Instead of objective actions and communication with others, the child with pleasure repeats the names of various objects after the adult, and only at these moments does the desire for communication appear. The lack of active speech neuroticizes the baby, he becomes capricious, expresses his dissatisfaction with crying and screaming.

In this case, adults are required to develop several aspects of the child's activity at once. First, it is necessary to include the active use of speech in objective actions. To do this, you can accompany the display of objective actions with a story. Secondly, you need to organize cooperation with the baby according to the “come on together” type - roll a ball or car to each other, load a toy truck with cubes, etc. And, thirdly, you need to talk with the child as much as possible, but not teach him to speak: read picture books, talk about him and his actions, observe others together.

Delay at the stage of emotional communication with an adult. We have already mentioned the difficulties of this kind, when communication up to two years is reduced to the expression of mutual love, the exchange of caresses, smiles, and the word is literally superfluous, because everything is clear anyway. To correct the situation that has arisen and for the emergence of active speech, it is necessary to organize substantive interaction with the baby, the features and organization of which we have already discussed above.

Fetishization of objects can cause new, opposite difficulties in mastering speech. Children are happy to perform endless object manipulations, make vocalizations, show concentration and motor activity, etc. Outwardly, the picture of their behavior looks quite safe, but careful observation shows that they seem to fall out of the situation of communication with others. Such children practically do not pay attention to adults: they do not look them in the eyes, do not fulfill their requests, do not turn themselves with requests or for support. Even the kid expresses his protest somehow especially: he looks into the void or at the toy, but not into the eyes of a person. The lack of necessary connections with people is also manifested in the desire to do everything oneself: an adult as a partner in joint activities, as a person demonstrating patterns of action, is completely unnecessary. Therefore, the object manipulations of such children, as a rule, are very poor and monotonous, although they are numerous.

In this case, one should first of all return to activities based on emotional contact. Gentle stroking on the head, calling the baby by name, positive assessment of all his actions, kind and attentive interaction based on smiles and eye contact can attract a child to an adult. You can also play "baby games" without items; for example, an adult may hide himself or hide the face of a child, and then be delighted when he meets his eyes. You can play Crow Magpie, Ladushki, and other simple games.

How an adult introduces various objects and toys into a child's life is also of great importance. The countless number of toys and items should be reduced to just a few. The remaining objects and actions with them should, if possible, be given a “human” character: pity the doll, feed it, call it by name, put the driver in the car, treat the monkey or put it to sleep, etc.

Very useful games that cannot be played alone. If the child does not show any interest in cooperation, try in his presence to organize a joint game with another partner. Two adults can roll the same ball to each other, rejoicing and rejoicing like a child. Most likely, the baby will immediately want to take the place of one of the adults. Imitation games are also useful in this case. An adult speaks in the presence of a baby for different animals, and the child, becoming infected with the general situation, repeats the words after him.

If all efforts turn out to be useless and the child continues to monotonously deal with objects without paying attention to adults, this is a serious symptom of autism, a mental illness that has recently become increasingly common in our children. In these cases, you need to try to show the baby to specialists.

Children's words can interfere with the development of normal, normalized speech. The reason for the use of specific children's words like “boo-boo”, “hatch”, “nyaka” is that the correct pronunciation is still difficult due to imperfect articulation. In addition, the child's speech hearing picks out only pieces and most often the endings of the spoken word. Therefore, adults must strictly observe one rule: do not replace the conversation with the baby with the language of "moms and nannies", i.e. do not speak with the help of various “boo-boo” and “yum-yum”, trying to constantly draw his attention to the sound-pronunciation side of speech. When addressing a child, one should pronounce individual words clearly and clearly, looking into his eyes and trying to achieve an intelligible pronunciation from him. The baby's attempts to say the word correctly can be very funny. The results of his efforts are not always visible to adults. According to accepted age norms, directives in the pronunciation side of speech are considered possible up to five years. The main thing here is to be patient. Over time, with proper education, inaccurate pronunciation is eliminated by itself. If, even after five years, the child lisps, burrs or distorts other sounds, you need to contact a speech therapist. These cuts are easily removed.

Swiftness of speech development. This variant of the violation of normal speech development is opposite to all the previous ones. It differs in that the first words of the child not only do not linger, but are ahead of all age norms. Already at the age of one, the baby suddenly begins to speak in almost detailed correct sentences, with good diction, using complex, not at all childish words. How much pride their talking child causes in parents! How nice to demonstrate to friends his extraordinary abilities! They teach him, tell and show him, put on records and read books, and he understands everything and listens with interest. But sometimes such a little child prodigy for some reason does not sleep well, often cries in his sleep, he is tormented by unreasonable fears, he becomes lethargic and capricious. This happens because the baby's weak, still fragile nervous system cannot cope with the flow of information that falls on his head. It is difficult for him to rebuild so quickly and turn from a baby into an adult in a few months. Increased excitability, night fears, whims indicate that the nervous system is tired: it cannot cope with excessive stress. This means that the child needs rest, freedom from unnecessary impressions, primarily speech ones. In order to prevent the development of neurosis, you need to walk more, play simple children's games, accustom peers to society, and in no case overload with new information.

We see that the cases of impaired speech development are very diverse. To use this or that advice, you need to carefully observe the baby, try to understand his interests, know his character and constantly be ready for contacts with him.

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