How to improve your child’s speaking ability

When a baby learns to speak, it is a milestone moment in his growth process; it is a very gratifying and proud moment for parents. There are no words to express the joy that his first pronunciation brought us. However, most babies' speech is not standard. Why is this? What methods can be used to correct the problem of babies' non-standard pronunciation? What methods can parents use to improve their children's language ability? What mistakes should we pay attention to? Let's take a look. Take a look. 1. 3 Physiological Reasons for Babies’ Non-standard Speech

Children who cannot speak clearly are often called “big tongues”. It is very common for babies to have inaccurate pronunciation after they can speak. Parents, don't worry. This is because the baby's vocal organs are not fully developed. The auditory discrimination ability and the adjustment ability of the vocal organs are weak, and the pronunciation method of certain sounds cannot be correctly mastered, and certain parts of the vocal organs cannot be used. For example, when pronouncing the sounds "eat" and "lion", the tongue rolls up, forming a spoon shape, giving it a suspended feeling. However, babies cannot do this kind of action, so they keep their tongues flat.

However, if the baby's mispronunciation is serious and lasts for a long time, it should be taken seriously.

Babies must have three physiological conditions for learning to speak, namely normal development of vocal organs, hearing organs and brain. If your baby can't speak clearly clearly compared to other babies, you can start by checking these three aspects of your baby to find out early whether it is an organic disease or a functional problem.

1. Check the vocal organs. Ask your doctor to take a look at the bronchi, air ducts, larynx, vocal cords, oral cavity, nasal cavity, and pharyngeal cavity. Babies with defects in their vocal organs (such as short tongues, etc.) will not be able to pronounce words accurately, and they will not be able to pronounce certain sounds without good teeth.

2. Check the hearing organs. To master speech, you must rely on hearing. When checking hearing, we can open the music box (or other things that make sounds) behind the baby's back or side (do not let the baby see it) and see if the baby turns his head to look or look for it. In this way, children's hearing status can be tested conveniently and early at home.

3. Check brain development. If a baby's brain development is damaged, it will cause varying degrees of damage to their language development. According to research statistics, about 70% of children with brain damage have language defects, which are more often manifested in inaccurate pronunciation and unclear enunciation.

If your baby’s inaccurate pronunciation is due to the above three reasons, you can go to relevant medical and functional training institutions for diagnosis and treatment.

2. Two major methods to treat babies with non-standard speech

After ruling out problems with the baby’s physiological organs, the baby’s inaccurate pronunciation is mainly due to the living environment and artificial mispronunciation (such as local pronunciation). So adults might as well try some ways to improve it.

(1) Speech therapy

Parents are the baby’s first language teachers. When communicating with babies in language, parents should pay special attention to speaking clearly and with cadence.

1. Don’t repeat your baby’s wrong speech sounds. When the baby cannot pronounce words clearly, parents should not learn the baby's pronunciation, but should use the correct language to talk to the baby. Over time, under the guidance of correct pronunciation, the pronunciation will gradually become correct.

2. Be calm when talking to your baby, listen patiently to your child's words, and wait until he has finished speaking before you ask questions or express your opinions.

3. Always encourage your baby. When he speaks clearly, even if it is just one word, you should praise him in time.

4. Try to guide the baby to slow down his speaking speed and not to speak too fast.

5. Teach your baby to relax as much as possible when talking.

(2) Accumulating language method

Did you know that one of the great significance of talking to your baby is to let your baby accumulate a lot of language. The more you listen, the easier it will be for your baby to master the correct language. pronunciation. At different stages of the baby's growth, he mainly accumulates language through three language methods:

1. Child-directed speech: At the age of 0 to 1 years old, you generally speak more. Children talk less. At this time, you should talk to your child as much as possible and give him as rich an input and accumulation process as possible.

2. Target language: In situations where adults and children are in close proximity, communication between adults is often more convenient and pleasant. But at this time, you must not ignore your children. You should let them participate in the adults' conversations.

3. Children’s speech: When you and your child have finished speaking, you should give your child a space to think and be alone. At this time, children can avoid many irrelevant stimuli and interferences and can think and recollect alone. This is why educationists advocate letting children listen to stories before going to bed, so that they can avoid subsequent interference and directly enhance their memory after listening.

3. 6 training methods to improve children’s language ability

1. Listen more. Let the child listen to a certain word or sentence spoken repeatedly by adults to enhance his hearing sensitivity and understanding of language. Such as mother talking, father reciting children's songs, birds chirping, phone ringing, car ringing, etc. While listening to these sounds, adults ask children to pay attention and observe while saying these simple words: "Mom", "Dad", " "Bird", "telephone", "car", etc., let children understand and learn.

2. Recognize more. Understand things through different graphics and symbols such as books, labels, photos, advertising paintings, etc. Children are often taught to see graphics and speak with symbols. For example, people and objects in storybooks, traffic lights on the road, male and female symbols on public toilet doors, family portraits in photos, and various bright advertising paintings can all be combined with real objects for repeated identification and study.

3. Sing more. Children are naturally fond of music, and they will pay great attention to listening to adults singing simple songs, especially song and dance performances that involve singing and performing movements, such as playing a record with a bright rhythm, "clap hands and tap feet," and dance while singing: Use your little hands to clap, use your little feet to tap. Repeatedly sung and done, these lyrics help children master vocabulary and learn the language.

4. Polydactyly. For certain words and words that are difficult for the child to master at the moment, you can let him use his fingers when touching things. For example, when going for a walk in the park, you can ask: "Where are the red flowers?" "Where is the blue sky?" "Big Where is the tree?" When putting clothes and socks on your child, you can ask him to point out "where are the clothes." When washing your child's face, you can ask him where his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth are. If the child can point it out, it means he understands. He can also imitate the pronunciation of names when he hears them spoken by adults.

5. Practice more. When a child becomes interested in speaking, although he does not yet know how to pronounce words correctly in standard language, he will chatter to himself endlessly, regardless of whether there is an audience. At this time, adults must not interrupt him or laugh at him, but should try to provide the child with opportunities to learn to speak and a good atmosphere that allows him to dare to speak. For example, when giving him cookies or apples, separate two or three words. Talk about dry cakes, apples, treasures, and thanks, attracting him to imitate with the greatest interest and practice more.

6. Help more. Observe your child's actions carefully, and guess his intentions through his facial expressions and body language. If he cannot express his wishes and requirements, you can help him and express what he wants to say appropriately. For example, when he is facing the door and picking up his hat, you can ask him: "Do you want to play outside?" When his eyes are closed and yawning, you can ask: "Are you tired? Do you want to play outside?" Want to take a nap?" When he points to the refrigerator, you can ask: "Do you want to eat watermelon?" If you guess right, the child will be happy. Sometimes if you guess wrong, he will be disappointed, cry, or even If you lose your temper, you can ask again, or you can encourage him to express his request again. In any case, your child will respond immediately. These can encourage him to work hard to learn to speak. Although sometimes what he said may not be understood, or even unclear, but after all, he learned to speak.

4. 4 mistakes parents make when their babies talk

1. Use a reprimanding attitude to blame their children for getting stuck

Many parents do not let their babies learn to speak. In the process of learning to speak, the child is not patient enough. At the beginning, he can help the child carefully and patiently to correct the repetition and stuck situation in the process of learning to speak. If the child still does not correct it after many times, he will be educated in a scolding tone. This is not only unhelpful for children to learn to speak, but is also detrimental to their physical and mental development. It is a very undesirable method.

2. Being too anxious and often reminding children of repetitions and stuck speech

Some parents are very anxious about the process of their children learning to speak, and they always remind their children frequently that they have made mistakes. Tell him repeatedly what to say. Doing so will cause fear in the child's heart, because he is afraid of saying something wrong, and then does not want to or dare not speak loudly. On the contrary, it is not conducive to his language practice and does not achieve the purpose of promoting the child's learning to speak. In fact, when children are 2-3 years old, repetitive speech and stuck speech will mostly improve on their own as they grow older. This is a normal and common phenomenon for children at this stage. Do not put too much correction on them, which will be detrimental to their healthy language development.

3. Do not use normal language to teach children, but use repeated words

When parents communicate with their babies, many mothers consider the young age of their children. The superimposed words will make the baby feel friendly. Therefore, many mothers are accustomed to such a way of communication, and such a language environment is very unfavorable to the baby's language learning and delays the time for the baby to learn to speak complete sentences. Therefore, parents should avoid the use of repeated words and baby sounds in their daily lives, and communicate with their children in normal language, which is beneficial to their children's ability to master the integrity of the language.

4. Failure to promptly correct the pronunciation differences in the baby’s language

Many babies’ pronunciation is not standard enough when they first learn to speak. Some parents just smile knowingly when they hear this pronunciation at first, thinking that their children are cute and they are still young and there is no need to rush to correct them. Over time, the child's concept of syllables becomes blurred, and it will be very difficult to correct it in the future. Therefore, parents should correct their children's pronunciation from the very beginning and guide them to learn to speak in a benign language environment. This is a healthy way of development.