Today, no one doubts that reading, singing lullabies during pregnancy perfectly develops the hearing of the fetus, and also establishes an emotional connection with the mother. Emotions and innate musical ear are important components of speech. Long before the child utters the first words, he carefully studies the phenomenon of adult communication – facial expressions during a conversation and gestures. When is the baby ready to pronounce words? Why does it depend?
The development of speech begins immediately after birth – a newborn cries trying to communicate to the world about his needs. Typically, the first words appear at about 18 months, and sentences at the end of the second year of life. Deviations from the norm are possible up to six months, for example, some children begin to speak their first words at two years.
The child begins to speak … if he grows up in an atmosphere of communication
It is impossible to learn to speak when there is no appropriate stimulus nearby. The experience of communication begins from the moment of birth and continues to be formed if there are loving parents nearby.
Emotional closeness, calm conversation, light massage, breastfeeding – all this gives a great start so that the child begins to speak faster. Tell him everything that is going on around him using short, simple sentences.
Talk about yourself in the first person – “I’m putting on a hat” instead of “mother is putting on a hat”, and also, in the singular “you’re going to bed” instead of “we’re going to bed.”
Thus, the grown-up baby will not have confusion in understanding what adults and peers are talking about. In addition, do not skip regular visits to the pediatrician and other specialists, they will identify problems in time, which in the future may cause problems with pronunciation.
Baby year? It’s time for speech therapy games, thanks to which the child begins to speak more clearly:
- make funny faces in front of the mirror
- touch your nose and chin with your tongue
- check which of you puffs out your cheeks more tightly
- who will pull out the tongue more
- blow soap bubbles, blow on feathers or cotton wool.
When learning words, do not force the child to repeat them correctly or correct mistakes each time. It will be enough that you repeat the spoken word or syllable addressed to the subject correctly. Do not forget to praise the baby for the efforts made.
An interesting game for the development of general motor skills that affects speech will be acquaintance with the numbers depicted on the coins. After washing the trifle, show the baby by what signs they can be laid out – denomination, pattern, size. Your presence during the game is mandatory, as a child may accidentally or deliberately swallow a coin.
When does the child start talking? Norms
Much depends on individual characteristics, both genetic and health. Experts say that girls start talking earlier than boys, however, for all children, the process is as follows:
- from birth to three months – crying, moaning, grimacing
- 4 – 6 months – babbling, a combination of vowels with consonants, the first “mother, woman, father” appear, makes experiments with the voice – screams, makes various sounds
- 7 – 12 months – syllables can refer to individual objects, vocalization resembles the rapid speech of an adult, but most of what the baby is trying to say is difficult to understand
- from a year to a year and a half – short words appear with emotional stress
- one and a half – two years – the child begins to speak about 50 words, many of them are similar to the speech of an adult. Tries to repeat sounds correctly, learns to form simple sentences
- three years – understands everything, builds complete sentences, uses more and more words.
The period from two to three is the most dynamic. At this age, a personal example is the most significant, if you laugh at the words of the child, ignore the requests or emotions of the crumbs, the desire to talk decreases, which means that specialists can make erroneous diagnoses. However, a visit to a speech therapist would be the best solution in this case.
What time do children start talking – if the first words are delayed
The difference with peers up to six months is considered a variant of the norm, since this can be due to many factors. It became known that in 30% of children speech delay is of a genetic nature – one or both parents progressed at the same rate.
It is also the result of difficult or premature birth, but provided that motor development is not impaired. If you see that a baby understands the speech of adults and fulfills simple requests, there is nothing to worry about.
When to see a doctor? If hearing problems are observed, a poor response to treatment or its absence. Lag in the development of physical and motor skills, passive behavior.
All questions and problems that have arisen should be resolved as quickly as possible, as they often develop into more serious violations, which subsequently interfere with normal functioning in society.