Having received your long-awaited happiness - a baby - in your arms, you are immediately faced with many questions. The most difficult is the first year of a baby’s life, since during this period he develops especially rapidly and gets to know himself and the world around him. Most experiences arise during comparisons with other children. That is why we should not forget that up to a year, the concept of “norm” is extremely flexible and individual in everything. Therefore, many parents are concerned about the question of when a child begins to roar, as well as the issues associated with this.

What is humming

Walking is the second of the three stages of speech preparation. The very first is a cry, and the third is babble. These are various variations of individual and chanting sounds and growls: agu, a-a-a, ge, gee, ve, o, he, agy, e, ah, khe, u-u-u, awu, etc. What is very curious is that this set is almost the same for children of different nationalities. Over time, the baby's repertoire is replenished with new intonations and sounds. Addressing the question: “When does a child start to walk?” - you need to remember that this is a kind of communication that needs to be maintained. Probably every mother remembers how the baby looks into her eyes and “purrs” in response. This skill will become the basis for a variety of social contacts in the future. Therefore, talk to your baby, and you will see with what pleasure he will answer you. At this stage, your intonation and rhythm are mainly important to him, and only then the meaning.

When a child starts to walk

On average, a child begins to buzz around a month or two. However, as mentioned above, each baby has its own norm. And someone can do this from 3 or 4 months. This stage of preparation for speech continues in the child until about six months, and then gives way to babbling.

The child doesn't talk

The reasons for the lack of partying are different. One of the most serious is developmental delay. However, whether this is true or not is very easy to determine on your own, without going to the doctor. Any deviation cannot exist on its own, but only in combination. Therefore, if the baby is fine with hearing, attention, reaction to adults and everything steely, then this is simply the norm for the baby. The second, most common reason is our desire to rush things. Therefore, before sounding the alarm, you should give the baby time and also communicate with him more, and soon he will begin to respond to you. Also, some kids simply don’t want to do this, but prefer to listen and watch you more.

The child stopped walking

The cessation of humming is a normal, often occurring phenomenon before the next stage, babbling, begins. So, some children smoothly move into this stage, while others fall silent for a while. This usually happens at 4-5 or 6 months. Again, each individual is different. Therefore, the recommendations remain the same: talk to your child more, sing, smile at him, and very soon he will answer you with new sounds and tunes.

When a child starts to walk: summing up

The main signal of a serious problem is not the belated humming, in your opinion, but the lack of reaction to sounds and communication with the baby. And if a child turns his head towards you when you call him, smiles at you, screams when he feels bad, uncomfortable or bored, then he will begin to do this when the time or simply desire comes.

There is no more solemn hymn on earth,
than the babble of children's lips.
(Victor Hugo)

Speech begins to develop almost from the first days of life and goes through several stages of development.
The very first speech manifestation is a cry. The cry is reflexive in nature and is a reaction to various uncomfortable conditions (hunger, pain, wet diapers, etc.). In a healthy newborn, the cry is loud, clear, with a short inhalation and a long exhalation. And in children with organic damage to the central nervous system, who subsequently develop speech disorders, the cry is either shrill, or very quiet in the form of sobs, or may be absent altogether. Typically, the period of infant crying lasts from birth to 2 months. At 2-3 month, the cry begins to change qualitatively and the child begins to hum and laugh. The cry varies depending on the condition of the child. The baby tells the mother about his needs in different ways (feelings of hunger, discomfort, pain, etc.) and the mother easily recognizes what her child needs by the intonation of the cry.
It is during this period that the intonation language begins to form, which the child will use throughout his life. In most healthy children, at this time an initial humming sound appears - “hooking”. Sounds arise in response to a smile and conversation between an adult and a child; a transition occurs from reflex sounds to sounds of communication. The child gurgles more actively in the presence of adults, he begins to smile and laugh for the first time - squealing in response to emotional communication with surrounding adults; the child develops a revival complex (an emotional-motor reaction to the appearance of an adult). An element of the revitalization complex is humming, which differs from short hooting in its melodiousness.
Booming- is a melodious pronunciation of chains of vowel sounds close to [a, y, y], often in combination with consonants [g, m]. During this period, parents should be alerted to the absence or insufficiency of intonation expressiveness of screaming and humming, monotonous quiet humming; lack of laughter. Walking is an important stage of preverbal (preverbal) speech development. At this time, along with preparing the speech apparatus for pronouncing sounds, the process of developing speech understanding is carried out when the baby learns to control intonation.
A healthy child early begins to pick up on an adult’s intonation and respond specifically to it. The baby smiles, makes sounds of satisfaction if the adult speaks in a friendly, affectionate tone, and, on the contrary, screams if the adult is angry and there is an angry, irritated, dissatisfied intonation in his voice. The child does not yet understand the meaning of speech addressed to him, but is sensitive to intonation. Communication between a child and an adult is built on an emotional basis. These are the first lessons of the native language.

Baby babbling is a stage of pre-speech development. Before the transition to it comes, and after that the first words and even phrases appear. Chronologically, baby babble occurs in the second half of the first year - it appears at approximately 6-7 months and is replaced by the next stage at the beginning of the child's second year of life.

Baby babble: features of the stage of pre-speech development

When we talk about baby babble, we mean syllabic vocalizations. Using open syllables, the child expresses his demands and desires, and often simply “plays.” Pediatricians note that a child’s babbling goes hand in hand with the baby’s object-manipulative activity. Over time, syllable chains become increasingly diverse: they contain not only the same ones (ba-ba; ma-ma; pa-pa, etc.), but also syllables of different types (ta-tu, bu-ba, etc.). d.)

• At the beginning, the composition of a child’s babble is varied, although quite chaotic: the nature of sounds and their sequence are quite difficult to determine. Over time, the baby develops “favorite” sounds - the composition of the babble becomes poorer, but the “phrases” acquire a stable character and even begin to mean something specific.
• At the age of 8.5-9 months, a child’s babbling changes its character; pediatricians call later babbling “modulated” or “melodic.” Please note that the child is already able to imitate - he carefully repeats the intonation of an adult and reproduces a sequence of sounds.

Regardless of the child’s linguistic environment, the sounds most often found in babbling speech are P, B, T, M, D, N, K, G, S and H.] Most often these are open syllables that are easy to recite.

was successful, parents should provide him with assistance at each stage of its development. In the case of babbling, the child also needs help.

• In order for the baby to hear the sounds spoken by adults, it is very important to create the right atmosphere - the room should be quiet, the child should feel comfortable and calm.
• The active development of baby babble is facilitated by the gradual enrichment of the sound environment - introduce the child to new sources of sounds: audio recordings, etc.
• Use the mutual connection between different forms of activity: encourage physical activity, socialize the child, allowing him to “talk” with his peers.
• Maintain contact with the child - “speak” to him in his language, maintaining eye contact to concentrate attention and stimulate the baby’s imitative reflex.
• Try to ensure that the child constantly hears speech and understands its connection with different objects - talk to the baby, encouraging him to enter into an interesting dialogue with you.

A special place in the development of a child’s babble is given to training the muscles of the lips and cheeks.

Many parents note that the babbling stage of a child is one of the most beloved and fun - these are amazing moments of conscious communication with the baby, laying a solid foundation for a strong psycho-emotional connection between you!

Speech is the highest mental function. It depends entirely on the level of development of the human central nervous system. It is not only a means of communication, but also the basis of thinking. A child with undeveloped speech cannot fully analyze and classify his impressions, make generalizations and conclusions about the world around him. It is not without reason that most parents and specialists: doctors, speech pathologists, speech therapists, teachers, and psychologists attach such importance to the development of speech in preschool children.

The ability to clearly express one’s thoughts determines whether a child will be able to communicate freely and naturally with others. Children with developed speech actively play and communicate with peers, contact adults, and share their impressions. A child who realizes that his speech is different from the speech of his peers may begin to feel embarrassed communicating with children and adults, avoid playing together, and be afraid that they will laugh at him.

To find out whether a one-year-old baby is developing correctly, you need to know what is normal and what is pathological between the ages of birth and one year, and how you can stimulate his speech development on your own.

Stages of speech development

The development of a child’s speech from birth to one year is conventionally divided into four stages of unequal duration. The pace of development of children may not coincide in time, but this approximate periodization allows us to separate normality from pathology:

1. Screaming stage. Lasts from birth to 6–8 weeks. Both the cry and the sounds made by the baby are reflex sounds. Most often these are vowel sounds with a nasal connotation. A short inhalation and an extended exhalation are accompanied by a loud cry.
2. The buzzing stage. Lasts from two to five months. A child’s cry takes on an intonation coloring; it changes depending on the baby’s condition. Humming sounds and their combinations with vowels can occur both spontaneously and when communicating with an adult (agu, gee, khy, aga, ga, ege, aa). And this already becomes the beginning of the most important period - communication, communication with others. It is accompanied by the appearance of a “social” smile for everyone who communicates with the child, and a little later - the first laugh, similar to a squeal. Gushing occurs as you exhale, this is how speech breathing is trained.
3. Babbling stage. The longest stage takes about 6–7 months and lasts almost until the end of the first year of life, or more precisely, until the age of 11 months. It is characterized by babbling, consisting initially of individual syllables (pa, ba, la), later turning into syllable chains (pa-pa-pa, ba-ba-ba, la-la-la), and then into the next stage - the first words that often consist of two identical syllables (pa-pa - dad, ba-ba - grandmother, la-la - doll). The oral cavity becomes more perfect, the tongue has the ability to perform a variety of movements. This makes it possible for the child to pronounce various sound complexes that sound similar to syllables with a vowel at the end: ma-ma-ma, pa-pa-pa, yes-da-da, nya-nya-nya.
4. First words stage. Lasts until the end of the first year of life. These words (about 20–25) often consist of two identical syllables. This is the stage when the child begins to correlate babbling complexes with specific words. He does not just pronounce a chain of syllables ma-ma-ma, but correlates the word ma-ma with a real object, reacts to the appearance of dad with the word - pa-pa. The child at this stage actively maintains contact with the adult through object-based means, manipulation with toys and objects. At the same stage, the understanding of addressed speech intensively develops, the baby actively begins to accumulate a passive vocabulary. He can't say donkey yet, but if you ask for a donkey toy, he will give it.

Age norms by month

Average indicators of speech development are important for determining normality or pathology. They can shift depending on the individual characteristics of the baby and the conditions of his growth. It is known, for example, that every serious illness suffered by a young child “throws him back” a little in terms of the development of skills and abilities.

1. The first month and a half of life. Sounds appear with which the child reacts to the speech of the mother and other close people addressed to him. These are mainly vowel sounds and their combinations (o, a, u, ya, ay, ua). The child is able to focus his gaze on the faces of his relatives, on the toys shown to him, and listen to the sounds of human speech. During this period, children with prerequisites for a future speech disorder can be identified by assessing the nature of their cry - shrill or very quiet; sobbing or screaming is possible while inhaling, and not exhaling, as is expected during normal development.
2. At 2–3 months, the “revival complex,” consisting of characteristic movements of the arms and legs at the sight of the mother, is accompanied by guttural sounds and their combinations with vowels (a-a-a, a-a-gi, a-a-gu, a- ha). Such hooting occurs not only when in contact with familiar close people. It can occur spontaneously when the baby is full and happy, or when looking at a toy. Another achievement of this stage is auditory and visual concentration on the source of sound or movement.
3. At 3–5 months, the child seeks contact with adults with his gaze, smile, and utters drawn-out sounds - humming. They most often consist of sound combinations such as gee, khy, agu, aga, ga, ege, aa. Sometimes these combinations are so bizarre that they are difficult to reproduce. The pathology at this stage is considered to be monotonous humming sounds accompanied by chaotic movements of the arms and legs, and a lack of intonation expressiveness.
4. At the 6th month of life, babbling appears in the child’s speech, consisting of such combinations of sounds as “ga, ka, pa, ma.” Constantly repeating themselves, they already become quite similar to models of words, as if pronounced syllable by syllable: “ma-ma-ma-ma, ba-ba-ba.” Such improvisations appear only in a good mood, and for now they cannot be a means of communication. During this period, congenital deafness can be diagnosed, because a deaf child has no babbling, and the sounds of humming gradually fade away.
5. At the 7th month of life, a connection appears between an object and the word denoting it. If parents specifically pay attention to this skill, show objects and toys, naming them several times, then the child will quickly learn to look for them at the request of an adult. Words must be clearly distinguishable by sound. In a child with delayed speech development, babbling is absent or manifests itself in separate elements, the baby does not imitate the movements of an adult, and does not follow the simplest verbal commands.
6. By the end of the first year of life, on average, a child’s active vocabulary contains from 10 to 25 words. Along with correctly pronounced words (dad, baba, uncle, lalya), these can also be babbling words (am, bobo, bang), and partially pronounced forms of words (“kach” - swing, “zya” - impossible), as well as onomatopoeia with animal voices and surrounding sounds (meow, ha-ha, beep). By this time, the connection between the word and the object it denotes should be established. By the end of the first year of life, speech is ideally a means of communication between a child and adults.

You should be wary if the baby prefers to express his desires with gestures, facial expressions and mooing instead of words. By the end of the first year of life, such manifestations are not considered a deviation from the norm if, in addition to them, words are also used in communication.

How to promote a child’s speech development

Since the development of speech in children in the first year of life is directly related to the development of the brain in the prenatal period, a lot depends on the normal course of pregnancy and childbirth. The development of brain structures can be influenced by a large number of factors:

• genetic predisposition to hereditary pathologies of fetal development;
• stress overload during pregnancy;
• the effects of nicotine and alcohol on the mother’s body;
• insufficient nutrition of the mother;
• lack of oxygen (hypoxia) in the child during pregnancy and childbirth;
• negative Rh factor;
• negative effects of infections and chronic pathologies.

The process of intrauterine development of the brain has a very important feature - its neural connections and structures develop not only under the influence of hereditary genes, but also under the influence of information flows arriving through the still immature, but still functioning sense organs.

An unborn baby is able to hear the sounds of the surrounding world and the beating of the mother’s heart, and feel her movements. That is why women do the right thing when, even before the birth of a child, they read fairy tales to him, talk to him, and listen to good music together. This will help him achieve excellent speech in a few years.

The speech of a one-year-old child includes:

• active vocabulary - from 8 to 12 words that he can pronounce;
• passive dictionary - words whose meaning the baby understands.

A strong leap in the development of passive vocabulary occurs after the first six months of a baby’s life, provided that parents actively introduce him to the meanings of words. Parents can convey information to him through gestures, voice intonation, and facial expressions, but the leading role here belongs to the word.

When talking to the baby during feeding, dressing, and hygiene procedures, adults convey to him the meaning of words denoting objects and actions. Even without initially understanding the meaning of the parents’ words, the child grasps the emotional coloring of the speech, he realizes that they are addressing him, and he has a desire to respond. Therefore, those mothers and fathers who talk to the baby from the first months of his life are right.

Even in the first year of life, a normally developing child has the ability to understand that different objects are called the same word. “Kisa” is a live cat, a soft toy, and a porcelain figurine behind a glass cabinet. “B-B” is both a real car, a plastic car on a string, and a picture in a children’s book. The ability to understand general words can be developed by the end of the first year by attentive parents who tirelessly introduce the baby to various objects and phenomena in his environment.

A very important skill in the first year of life is understanding the meanings of a large number of words denoting action. The child understands not only the designations of large movements (stand, run, eat), but also words meaning small actions performed by the hand (unclench your fist, give your hand, show what is in your hand, let go).

Speech development is a process closely related to the development of the baby’s sensory abilities. Sensory education is the development of a child’s perception, distinguishing the shape and color of surrounding objects. Sensory abilities can be developed from the first days of a baby’s life by surrounding him with interior items and toys that are expressive in color. To develop hearing, you can more often offer him harmonious-sounding toys, musical instruments, and emotionally communicate with the child.

The sounds he pronounces should be duplicated, repeated several times. All manipulations related to eating, washing and other procedures need to be spoken out, and you need to communicate with the child more often, not out of necessity, but to establish contact. By repeating after the baby the combinations of sounds he pronounces, adults seem to stimulate him to new imitation. It is important to remember that such activities will not bring results if the child is hungry, cold, tired, etc.

In the second half of the year, you need to look at objects and toys more often, naming them, and accompanying the child’s movements with words. To stimulate children's speech, it is very important to evoke the baby's need to speak. For these purposes, you can not immediately give the toy that he asks for, but wait for a verbal reaction (“Lala, bi-bi”).

You can ask your child questions, the answer to which is the words “yes” or “no,” and offer onomatopoeia if the child has difficulty naming an object: “What should I give you? A dog? Av-av?", "Where is the car? Where is B.B.?” This strategy of parental behavior will bring significant results in the form of active speech activity.

The motor skills of a baby in the first year of life are divided into two types:

1. gross or gross motor skills - the ability to sit, bend, approach, stand;
2. fine motor skills - feeling objects, grasping small toys with tweezers (with two fingers), rolling a car, drawing “doodles”.

The development of fine motor skills leads to a leap in speech development. If the parents taught the child to wave his hand when saying goodbye, to extend it when saying hello, then the one-year-old child will perform these movements, as soon as an adult asks him about it.

An attentive mother and father stimulate the baby’s movements with the words: “Get up, lie down, sit down, take it, put it down, pick it up.” A little later, as soon as the child starts walking, they add: “Go, come, stop.” You can teach your child to refrain from an incorrect action or impulse with the word “no” pronounced with a strict intonation. It is important to remember that this word should not be abused, otherwise the ban simply will not apply. Endless “don’ts” will become just background noise and will “fly past your ears.”

If a child does something wrong, you need to offer a replacement for his wrong actions, for example: “You can’t hit the kitty on the back, you can pet him.” And then show how to “iron”. It may not work out the first time, but with regular repetition everything will be learned very firmly. With an active exploration of the surrounding world, the prohibited word will become a kind of boundary of personal space. The big world frightens the baby, and such boundaries are vital for him to feel more confident.

Deviations from the norm

At risk for speech development disorders are premature babies with very low birth weight, children with hearing and vision impairments, with muscle hypertonicity, insufficient functioning of the cranial nerves, and the presence of structural changes in the brain.

A common cause of delayed speech development is shortcomings in upbringing, when the child is not cared for, he lacks attention. In case of pedagogical neglect, parents should immediately take action to eliminate educational errors.

Alarming symptoms will include the following deviations from the norm:

• the child does not gurgle or hum in the first year of life, he does not fix his gaze on a moving object;
• there is no “revival complex”, no reaction to emotional speech;
• the babbling period is delayed by 6 months, there is no interest in the outside world;
• “humming” and babbling are monotonous, very quiet, unemotional, without intonation;
• the tongue is incorrectly positioned in the oral cavity, spasms of the muscles of the mouth and tongue are noticeable;
• by 9–12 months, primitive, monotonous babbling remains;
• the child gets lost, searching with his eyes for the source of the sound;
• Children with speech development problems associated with damage to the central nervous system have difficulty chewing and swallowing, they cannot drink from a cup, and they often choke on food;
• the child does not care that he is not understood, he speaks in a language that only he understands;
• By 12 months, children with pathology of speech development do not develop not only ordinary words, but also babbling words; instead, they prefer to express their desires with gestures, facial expressions and mooing.

If the speech manifestations of a one-year-old child do not meet the age norm, you need to contact a specialist: a pediatric neurologist, otolaryngologist, defectologist, speech therapist. The baby’s body is flexible, and with early correction it is easier to overcome speech development disorders. Untimely correction of speech delay detected at an early age can lead to an intellectual lag in such children from their peers.

Delayed speech development makes the child withdrawn, irritable, and at times aggressive. His mental development slows down, and subsequently the process of mastering reading and writing becomes difficult. You need to start monitoring the acquisition of elements of your native language at an early age. It is during this period that, through playing with sounds, the child’s articulatory apparatus and hearing are actively exercised, and the ground is prepared for the correct assimilation of the native language.

The main tasks facing parents of children with speech pathologies can be formulated as follows:

• expansion of vocabulary;
• correcting inaccuracies in spoken words and phrases;
• training in the ability to correctly construct statements;
• attentive attitude to children's issues.

In this article, we examined the development of speech up to one year, determined the monthly norms of speech development and possible pathologies characteristic of this period. The given examples of deviations give parents the opportunity to understand how well their child’s speech development is going, and whether there are any problems that require urgent intervention from specialists.

If you still have questions about the formation of your child’s speech from birth to 1 year, you can safely ask us.

When talking about their child’s speech, parents most often give a description of what the child can say, that is, how developed his active speech is. But let’s not forget that the speech of each of us is not limited only to “speaking”; there is another important aspect - understanding the speech of others. And in order to learn to understand the speech of others, the baby needs attentive and sensitive interlocutors. And you, dear mothers and fathers, grandparents, all close people who make up the baby’s first environment, can and should become such interlocutors. You are the most wonderful performers of songs, no reader can compare with you in reading poetry, and no “talking box” will teach your baby to speak, because you can only learn speech through communication. Parents' attention to the initial stages of speech development will help not to correct, but to prevent speech disorders.

First half of the year: hooting and hooting

Newborn stage. Immediately after birth, mother and baby develop a bonding behavior called “bonding.” The interaction process is initiated by the baby, causing a response from the mother with his appearance and behavior. He cries, grunts and gurgles, and this helps his mother understand what he needs. This emotional state of mind helps mother and baby get to know and understand each other better and becomes the basis for the development of interaction and communication. The funny word “hooking” just means the first sounds that a baby makes as soon as it is born.

By the end of this stage, the baby is already reacting to someone addressing him - he stops crying and looks at you, when you bend over him with a smile, he has his first, still timid smile, which is addressed specifically to you. The appearance of the first social smile is conventionally considered the end of the newborn stage.

Second phase - from 5-6 weeks to 3-4 months. This is the stage of sensory acquaintance with the world. The baby listens, looks, perceives smells, touches, but he will only develop his own purposeful activity towards the end of this stage. The sounds that the child makes become more drawn-out and melodious, and gradually the hooting is replaced by humming. The baby “sings” vowels (a, o, e, u) or makes cooing syllables with guttural consonants: gyy-gyy-gyy, aguuu, guuu, sometimes you can hear the syllable “la”.

The child increasingly looks for his mother with his eyes, makes sounds to attract her attention, and if he meets a return glance, a smile blooms on his face, his arms and legs move rhythmically, he makes sounds, reaches out to her. This behavior is called the “revival complex” and indicates that the baby is happy with life and wants to share his joy with a loved one.

At this age, children like smooth melodious speech: not yet understanding the meaning of the words, they listen carefully to the intonation. Smile at the baby, sing, accompany your speech by stroking the baby’s arms and legs, lightly shake him, blow on his tummy or neck. Your speech and your smile will cause a response from the baby: a smile will bloom on the baby’s face, he will begin to make sounds, the movements of his arms and legs will become rhythmic - he will all rush towards you.

If a child is tired and does not want to communicate, he makes this clear: he looks away, turns his head away, and even, when grouped, can turn on his side. Movements become more erratic and he may rub his eyes and whimper.

Understanding intonation: the baby listens to the adult’s intonations and begins to distinguish them - he behaves differently in response to affectionate or strict intonation, and by the way the baby turns when he is called, it is clear that he also distinguishes calling intonation. The baby likes to listen to songs and nursery rhymes accompanied by rhymes; their rhythmic pattern and numerous repetitions attract his attention.

Understanding the situation: hearing the sound of water flowing in the bathroom, a child may understand that a bath is coming, or, seeing that his mother takes out scissors, he begins to whine, anticipating in advance a procedure that he does not like - cutting his nails.

Understanding intonation and situation is the basis of understanding speech. Make your behavior and daily routine more predictable for your child. For example, whenever you are going to bathe your child, announce this while hanging a bright towel on the side of the child's bed.

The favorite game at this age is hide and seek, which involves the disappearance and reappearance of an adult's face.

What to pay attention to: If you notice that your child's humming has become less melodious and more infrequent, you should inform your pediatrician about this. He may suggest that you test your child's hearing.

Third stage. From three to six to seven months. Starting your own actions. At this age, the child begins to reach and hit the toy, then grab and play with it.

The baby becomes more and more aware of what is happening, he begins to relate differently to the people around him: he not only recognizes familiar adults and enjoys them, but is also afraid of everything unfamiliar. At the same time, he likes horror games, for example, “I’ll catch up, I’ll catch up,” “There’s a horned goat coming,” “Thump into the hole.” This experience of fears associated with unexpected actions of an adult allows the child to learn to accept new things.

The child’s speech also changes. The humming becomes more active and prolonged. Sometimes you can hear labial sounds in speech, which indicates the imminent appearance of babble - a chain of syllables, mainly with labial and frontal consonants, for example ma-ma-ma, boo-ba-boo, yes-da-da. The baby can show himself what he wants: reaching for the toy, he looks back at the adult, calling him for help. If you respond to his call, he will turn to you again and again.

Second half of the year: babbling words

At this age, the child learns to get to the desired goal. The emergence of crawling and the ability to sit down opens up new opportunities for the development of research activities and play. The child increasingly uses long chains of syllables.

You can help babble develop by:

Repeat after your child the sounds he makes. Pause to give him the opportunity to respond to you.

Remember that the normal speech flow of an adult does not help the development of babbling. Children at this age show interest in words that contain labial and front-lingual sounds, as, for example, in the nursery rhyme “the woman sowed peas, jump-jump, jump-jump” and even more willingly he repeats the syllable chains “ma-ma-ma ", "pa-pa-pa", "la-la-la", "va-va-va", etc.

Do not forbid your child to put toys in his mouth. They create additional bows in the mouth, which also stimulates the appearance of syllables with consonants in the child’s repertoire.

Use a combination of simple repetitive movements with chains of repeated syllables. For example, help your baby jump by holding him under the arms and, at the same time, say “ba-ba-ba” or “ma-ma-ma” with him.

If you have the opportunity, organize meetings between your baby and his peers, perhaps this will initiate his babbling. Before the appearance of words, the syllabic chain becomes shorter, that is, it is reduced to 2-4 syllables, which corresponds to the structure of words in the Russian language.

Those waiting for the “real word” may not notice their arrival. It is important to know that at this age, a word is considered to be any combination of sounds that carries a constant meaning, for example, “a-a-a” (sleep) or “ks” (cat) - this is what a child’s first words may look like.

Gradually, more and more babbling words appear in the child’s speech, which represent a special layer of the Russian language, called the “nanny’s dictionary” or the language of nannies. Some of these words - for example, uncle, mom, dad, baba - have entered our “adult” speech, while others, for example, bang, bye-bye, am-am, aw-aw, we use only when communicating with children.

The first words are ambiguous, and only in a specific situation it becomes clear what is being said. Thus, with the word “kss” a child can mean not only a cat, but also anything fluffy (a fur coat, a carpet, mother’s hair), as well as other animals, for example, a small dog or a squirrel. At this stage, the child's active vocabulary increases slowly and the child masters very few words, especially in comparison with the development of speech understanding.

At this age, very important changes occur in the child’s understanding of the speech of others - he begins to pay attention to the speech of adults. In the previous stages we talked about the child understanding the situation. Now he begins to understand speech in a certain situation, for example, when an adult, extending his hand, says: “Give me a pen!” - the baby extends his hand in response.

The next step in understanding speech: understanding words outside of the situation. For example, hearing the words: “it’s time to turn on the light,” he turns his head and looks at the lamp. Your speech at this stage should be simple, concise and related to what the child’s attention is drawn to. If he looks at a cat, say: what a cat! Kitty Kitty. This will not only help your child become familiar with the “adult” word “cat,” but will also give him a sample word that he can use.

While feeding, name foods, dress, undress, bathe the baby, name parts of his body out loud, as well as items of clothing, be sure to talk about what you are doing. Don’t forget to introduce your child to words and actions: fell-bang, let’s jump-jump-jump, sway-pump-pump.

Let's also give a few simple rules, which should be taken into account when organizing a game aimed at introducing and consolidating a new word for a child:

Emphasize the key word with intonation and try to simultaneously present the child with a specific object, drawing or action.

When talking with your baby, try to be laconic. Your statements should be precise and concise.

Use a game of hide and seek. Hide and show the object again, clearly naming it as it appears and disappears.

Use a pointing gesture to show the item being named.

Along with the word, introduce your child to the babble word.

Another rule common to all stages: the child must hear your speech and everyday sounds. A constantly running TV and an incessant stereo system inhibit a child’s speech development.

The baby will increasingly ask you to name what interests him at the moment. He may bring you a book or a ball, or point to a refrigerator or stroller, accompanying his display with sounds pronounced with a questioning intonation. If you are attentive and pay attention to the child's request, then your answer will allow the dialogue to take place. And this is especially important, because your baby was the initiator. When you initiate the dialogue, use situations that are familiar and interesting to the child. Perhaps at first it will be an “imaginary dialogue”, since you yourself will both ask the question and answer it. But if you take the necessary pauses and positively accept any response from the child, the dialogue will gradually become real.

Dictionary sizes

By the age of one year, a child can usually speak about 5-10 words and understand several dozen words. We remind you once again that when speaking about a child’s words, we mean any sounds and their combinations that carry a constant meaning. For example, “am”, “bibi”, “kisa”, “bah”.

By 18 months, the vocabulary increases to 15 babbling words and onomatopoeias.

By the age of two, the total vocabulary, that is, what the child understands and speaks, is about 200 words. Of these, the child can speak about 50 words. At the same age, two-component statements should appear, for example, “dad drrr” (dad left in a car).

This is the minimum below which action must be taken.

The only problem is - which ones? Most often, children with limited speech go to a neurologist, who prescribes stimulating medications. You need to seek help from a speech therapist, but there are problems here too - there are very few specialists who know how to work with children under three years of age.