Is the child smart, seems to understand everything, but does not speak or speaks too little compared to peers? What is it – a delay in speech development in a child or a variant of the norm? When should you worry if your child won’t or can’t talk?

The problem of delayed speech development is very serious, but often parents do not pay attention to it or notice something is wrong too late.

The kid can be physically developed by age, but he has problems with communication.

Speech formation is a complex multi-stage process. Here, not only the speech apparatus is involved, but also hearing, the state of the nervous system that innervates important centers and muscles. A newborn baby cannot speak.

Understanding and formation of speech occurs gradually.

At first, a newborn baby only cries, then the first “ahoo” appears.
By 5-6 months, the stock of sounds becomes richer and the baby can pronounce “mother”, “woman”.
From 6-8 months, hearing is actively connected, the child begins to repeat the sounds uttered by animals.
At 8-9 months, the child begins to gradually understand the meaning of spoken words. A very important element is the intonation with which the word is pronounced, for its correct perception by the child.
Short phases in the child’s speech appear by 1.5 – 2 years. These are simple phrases like “give the ball”, “let’s go eat.”
By the age of 3, the baby’s speech becomes richer, 300 – 320 words accumulate in the vocabulary. He can, upon request, tell about any events.
At 4 years old, the baby actively uses the questions “where?”, “Who?”, “When?”, Why?”. Vocabulary 1200-1500 words.
The development of speech in a child depends on his type of higher nervous activity.
A sanguine child is balanced, with normal excitability, speech function is formed in accordance with age norms. He speaks loudly, clearly, correctly highlights words with intonation, facial expressions, gestures.

A phlegmatic child differs from a sanguine person in a slow reaction. These kids are fast learners. They are calm, balanced, but unemotional.

A choleric child is strong, emotional, with increased excitability, with unstable emotions, and can be affective.

The child is melancholic with reduced excitability, with inexpressive slurred speech without emotions. Such children start talking late and their speech is slow. develops.

The main causes of delayed speech development in children
The main causes of delayed speech development in children кроются еще с перинатального периода.

If during pregnancy the mother suffered infections, there were complications in childbirth, then there is a possibility that the baby will start talking later. Why is this happening? Infection of the fetus, anemia, hypoxia, asphyxia during childbirth and other factors provoke damage to the central nervous system of the child.

In addition, there are other causes of brain damage that occur after the birth of a baby.

Hearing damage. The baby is hard of hearing and therefore cannot reproduce normal speech.

Damage to the articular apparatus. Congenital malformations such as cleft lip, cleft palate can cause slurred, nasal speech in a child.

If others understand the baby perfectly or he has no one to talk to, then he does not speak at all. Lack of communication is very often the cause of RDD. Most often this happens in incomplete families, or in families where parents are constantly busy, there are no grandparents and the baby is left to himself.

Diagnosis and treatment of speech development delay
If you begin to notice that your child’s speech does not meet age standards, then you should contact a specialist.

It is necessary to visit a neuropathologist, speech therapist and psychotherapist.

Do not be afraid that the treatment will immediately be medical.

If the reason lies in the psycho-emotional factor and the lack of communication, then this is easily eliminated. Create a favorable atmosphere in the family, pay more attention to the baby, attract more people to communicate with the child.

If the child does not want to speak, due to guessing all the desires of the baby, in order to correct the delay in speech development, it is necessary, first of all, to change their behavior. There are good reviews from parents whose silent children were engaged in the Doman system.

If the cause of speech disorders was neurological disorders, then the appropriate treatment will be prescribed by a neuropathologist. Courses of taking nootropic drugs improve the blood supply to the brain and increase the activity of speech zones.