At what age and why do you need to show your child to a speech therapist

A speech therapist is considered a specialist for children of preschool and primary school age. Therefore, until the child is 3-4 years old, many parents do not even think about the fact that it can (or even more necessary) be shown to a speech therapist. Meanwhile, even the smallest children sometimes need support for speech development. And the sooner you start it, the more chances that the child will not have speech problems in the future. About when and for what reasons the baby should be shown to a speech therapist, we talked with a speech therapist, the founder of the LogoClub children's speech therapy school Alena King.

Even if the baby's mother is worried about some alarm bells, there are sure to be witnesses of mythical leaps in speech development in her environment. “I was silent until three years, then I started talking in sentences,” “we didn't gag at all, the words came right away,” or “mine, too, fell silent for a month, and then got into a conversation”. All these myths often confuse parents, and they miss the moment when the child really needs a specialist. At our request, Alena Korol highlighted the basic norms

speech development in babies, so that mothers, observing the children, rely on clear criteria.

The norms of speech development of a child from 0 to 3 years old

2 to 4 months. Articulation training or humming period. The child, lying on his back, makes different sounds (agu, aku), turns his head in the direction of extraneous sounds.

4 to 6-7 months. Articulation apparatus training or babbling period (repeated repetition of syllables). “The child, observing the adult, repeats the closing of his lips and pronounces his first labial sounds“ M ”,“ P ”,“ B ”. That's where mom, dad and baba come from. These are not yet conscious words, as parents would like to believe. But this is a very important stage in speech development ", - emphasizes Alena Korol.

Up to 12 months. The first conscious words (mom, dad, baba, give), onomatopoeia (tick-tock, mu, bang) and sounds that express emotions appear in the child's dictionary.

1 to 1.8 years old. The child begins to "gain" vocabulary, can pronounce up to 10 words, combine them into a simple sentence. At the same time, the baby's vocabulary must constantly increase.

From 1.8 to 2 years old. The child's vocabulary is about 50 words. The first phrases appear: “give me a drink”, “let's go for a walk”, “turn on the cartoon”, “I don't want to eat bubu”. “Phrases can even consist of two words, but they must appear. If they are not there, this is a reason to watch the child, - advises Alena King. - The longest time a mother can wait for the first phrases to appear is up to 2.5 years. After that it is necessary to show the kid to the speech therapist "

From 2 to 3 years old. The child names the objects that he sees around. Can maintain a simple conversation, say 2-3 short sentences in a row. The child's speech is understandable to those around him. Also, up to three years old, the child's general softening of speech (the so-called lisping) should disappear. “At this age, only the sounds of late ontogeny may be absent in a child. These are hissing "Ш", "Ж", "Ч", "Щ", the sound "L" and "R". All other sounds should be formed in a child at the age of 3-3.5 years. For example, the absence of the sound "K" or "Z" is no longer the norm, and a reason for a control visit to a speech therapist ", - says Alena Korol.

“If, apart from the absence of sounds of late ontogenesis, the parents are not worried about anything else, the child has phrases, vocabulary is steadily increasing, parents notice the correct agreement of words in gender, number and case. If the child does not confuse the syllables in places, he can describe the subject, retell the tale and learn the verse, - Alena Korol enumerates. - In this case, you can come to a consultation with a speech therapist for setting sounds after the age of five, about a year before school. This time is quite enough to put all the missing sounds to the child without effort and effort. "

Reasons for visiting a speech therapist at an early age

“All norms are purely individual. If a child does not speak at two years of age, this does not mean that he has any delays in speech development. However, this should not be confirmed by a grandmother or a friend, but by a qualified specialist. In addition, each norm has an upper limit, and just the discrepancy to this limit should already spur parents to early diagnosis ",

- says Alena Korol. For our readers, the expert highlighted 5 reasons or markers, which can indicate the presence of some problems in the child.

Reason 1. Lack of humming and babbling.

These are two very important stages in a child's speech development. If at least one of them was missed for some reason, this may indicate some primary impairment in the development of the child. Or it happens that the child's psychophysical state is normal, but, for example, the articulation apparatus has not been trained. Then in the future the child may not have the linguistic sound "K" - instead of the word "porridge" there will be "asha" or "tasha".

Reason 2. Breaks in the development of speech.

The period of a child's speech development should not be interrupted for a long period, either before or after a year. It shouldn't be that the child babbled and then fell silent for a month or two. These are the most alarming signals that, even in the period of humming or babbling, should force parents to turn to a specialist. For about a year, the child's speech activity may decrease, since during this period there is an understanding and correlation of the word with the image of the object. This is a variant of the norm. But the child should not completely shut up.

Reason 3. Lack of communication skills.

From one year on, parents should pay attention to communication as an important component of speech development. Communication skills include response to name, gaze (eye contact), shared attention (when the child brings mom a toy and wants mom to look at this motivational for the child thing). Sometimes mothers are happy that a child can roll the car back and forth for an hour and a half. In fact, it could be a sign of impaired communication skills. If the child does not respond to a name, does not maintain eye contact, does not require divided attention, if he is characterized by stereotypical actions - running in a circle, rolling objects from box to box, or rolling the car back and forth long time. These are signals that could be indicative of an autism spectrum disorder.

Reason 4. Lack of phonemic hearing

Phonemic hearing is the ability of the brain to hear and distinguish between the sounds of the native language (phonemes). It also means understanding the beginning and end of a word, the child's ability to place pauses between words. Normally, in children of two years of age, phonemic hearing is already formed. That is, a child at two years old is able to hear and recognize all the sounds of his native language. If this is not the case, then in the future the child may have problems with the pronunciation of sounds. It is very simple to test phonemic hearing: play with your child in a "hunt for sounds". Ask him to clap his hands if he hears a certain sound in the words you say. Play such a hunt for a week or two, gradually going through all the sounds of your native language.

Not every speech therapist is suitable for kids

If you see that there really is a need to consult a specialist, be sure to take into account one important nuance.

“When referring to young children for consultation, it is very important to ask the speech therapist if he specializes in working with young children. The quality of the service that you receive directly depends on this. Often, speech therapists choose their specialization (for example, speech therapy massage, or speech therapist-zaicologist). That is, they have basic concepts of working with children of any age, but more knowledge and experience in a particular area. In this case, it is fundamentally important to find another specialist, ”concludes Alena Korol.

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