Can someone explain the process of speech development in children?

Question

Can someone explain the process of speech development in children?

Answer 1

You need to be a bit more specific in what you are looking for since it varies among children. All newborns begin to smile, which turns into a giggle, which turns into babble. Then some words like "dada" come. After that, some children develop words and a fast pace while others don't start talking with words until 3 or so. Those children tend to start speaking with phrases and sentences rather than isolated words.

Answer 2

Babies start to coo at about 2 months (vowels).

Babbling begins between 4 and 6 months (consonant-vowel combinations).

The first true words emerge after the baby develops "object permanence" (knowing mom still exists after she leaves the room, for example. Peek-a-boo teaches this construct). True words emerge between 9 months to about 15 months.

Babies can use two-word utterances beginning at 16 months in some cases. Average is about 24 months; they must have a 50- word expressive vocabulary in order to begin 2 word utterances.They should be speaking in sentences by 3 years, and completely understandable by age 4.

Speech sounds develop as follows:

p/b/m are the first consonants (no, "mama" and "dada" are not true words until about 9 months. Until then, it's due to babbling).

Next come g/k, t/d, and w. Almost all kids will have these by age 2.

Harder sounds are the ones that require a continuous airstream, like s/f/v/ch/sh.

Glides and liquids, like j, l, and r are more difficult, still.

Development of all the speech sounds should be complete between 7 and 8. Many kids develop all sounds sooner, particularly girls, who are generally more neurologically developed than boys.

Grammar is a whole different issue........

Answer 3

please thry this link it has very specific details ..since you havn't mentioned how old the child is ..

all the best...

Answer 4

google it....speech development in children

Answer 5

I know that one of the main reasons children have speech problems are because they speak very fast and get everything out of their minds quickly. They want to say what they are going to talk about quickly so they wont forget or they feel its so important to tell you, they don't want to miss the opportunity cause they think they wont be able to tell you again.

have them speak slowly. Even if it means repeating eveything they said to you back and saying it slow, then they will mimick you.  :-)

Answer 6

If you have any concerns voice then to your peditrician now and don't wait! They now provide Free preschool for children that have problems with speech, ect! The ages begin at 3 for them to begin school to prepare them for Kindergarden so there on the same page as all the other children!

Answer 7

That is such a complex question.  Speech development, like every other form of development happens differently for each child.  I have four children, all learned at different paces.  My oldest was making complete sentences at one, while my youngest couldn't put more than two words together until about 18 months.  The more you communicate with your child the better he/she will development.  Just keep in mind he/she will develop at his/her pace.  Reading to your child often helps tremendously.

Answer 8

Language Acquisition

Language acquisition

is partly innate and partly learned, as children interact with other people and the environment.

How is language learned?

Whether they speak early or late, are learning one language or more, are learning to talk along typical lines or are experiencing difficulties, the language acquisition of all children occurs gradually through interaction with people and the environment.

    

Language

Language has been

called the symbolisation

of thought.

It is a learned code, or system of rules that enables us to

communicate ideas

and express wants and needs.

Reading, writing,

gesturing and speaking

are all forms of language.

Language falls into two

main divisions:

receptive language:

understanding what is

said, written or signed;

and, expressive language: speaking, writing or signing.  



Your role in language learning

Maybe you are a couple raising your baby, or you might be a sole parent or caregiver. Whatever your family structure, you are the most "significant other" your baby interacts with communicatively. The way you engage with him or her will determine the path that language development takes in the vital first five years.

Be natural

Enjoy this exciting period in your child's development. Talk in a natural way about what he or she is doing, seeing and hearing. Listen to the sounds, and later the words he or she says, and respond, so that your child knows you are listening. Read stories together from an early age, and make communicating fun.



    

Pragmatics skills

Pragmatic skills begin to develop in the early weeks of life, with tiny babies "turn taking", and initiating communicative interchanges, and "talking" (non-verbally,

of course) to their caregivers.



Pragmatics

Pragmatic skills include:

1.knowing that you have

to answer when a question has been asked;

2. being able to participate in a conversation by taking

it in turns with the other

speaker;

3. the ability to notice and respond to the non-verbal aspects of language;

4. awareness that you

have to introduce a topic

of conversation in order

for the listener to fully

understand;

5. knowing which words

or what sort of sentence-type

to use when initiating

a conversation or

responding to something

another person has said;

6. the ability to maintain a topic;

7. the ability to maintain

appropriate eye contact,

with not too much staring, and not too much looking away during a conversation;

and,

8. the ability to distinguish how to talk and behave towards different communicative partners.



Progress should be steady

Children learn at different rates. Some are fast language learners and some are slow, so it is best not to compare one child's language development with another's. The important thing to watch is that language development proceeds steadily, not whether it is fast or slow.

Language "Milestones"

"Ages and Stages" charts for speech and language development can be worrying if they are interpreted too rigidly.  Remember that children vary quite considerably with regard to the rate at which they reach the various speech and language "milestones". So there is no need to put out an SOS for a speech pathologist if your child does not do the things itemised at precisely the ages stated! When you see language ages and stages and read an age like "12 months" say to yourself, "twelve months or so".  

The first three years

By 12 months (or so!) most children have one or two words that they say with meaning and can comply with simple requests (e.g., "Can I have your cup?") or commands (e.g., "Don't touch!") and understand little questions (e.g., "Where's your tummy?").

By 2 to 3 years of age your child should be able to follow two-part instructions ("Get your teddy and put it on the chair") and string two or three words together to talk about and ask for things.

More detailed information

You might be interested to read the section here about "Browns Stages". It provides an account of the development of the first "sentences" children say, and the grammatical rules (morphemes) they apply.  

There is also information about the way SLPs collect and analyse small children's language samples. The Wee Talk web site offers a summary of language development from zero to five years.





    

A rough guide

Expect first words between 12 and 18 months.

There will probably be a "spurt" of language development before 2 years.

Anticipate hearing 4 to 5 word sentences by 4 years.

Grammar should be correct most of the time by 4 years.

"Other people"

will understand

almost everything

your child says

by the time

he or she is 4!.

Isn't that amazing?





If progress seems too slow  

If "first words" have not emerged by 18 months make a concerted effort to spend half an hour a day just playing and interacting one-to-one with your baby. This can be difficult to organise in larger families, but it often does the trick! How to set these times up and maximise their usefulness can be discussed with an SLP, who may suggest and demonstrate various activities.

When to seek help

Even though they are concerned that their child's speech and language development may be unusual or slower than normal, people may hesitate to seek the professional advice of a speech-language pathologist. Sometimes this is because they are advised against it by reassuring friends, family and others. But sometimes it is because they think the child is too young to "be assessed".  

The fact is, babies or toddlers are never too young for a communication skills assessment. SLPs see children from infancy.



    

    

    

Late talkers

A child is considered to

be a "late talker" if they

have a spoken vocabulary of fewer than 50 words at 24 months.

This does not mean that

the 50 words have to be pronounced perfectly

- two year olds are

supposed to talk baby talk!  

It is advisable for late

talkers to be assessed

by a Speech Language

Pathologist.





The very very young clients SLPs include on their caseloads may have cleft palate, hearing impairment, developmental disability (for example, Down Syndrome) or they may have been identified early as being unduly silent, withdrawn or unresponsive to the communicative attempts of others. Or they may simply be late talkers.

The right time to seek help is when you, as a parent, are concerned.

Speech development

Children's speech does not sound like adult speech because they make typical child-like "sound replacements". These sound  replacements are called phonological processes by some researchers.  



    

Child-like speech

This may sound strange, but expect your child's  speech to be child-like.  

Phonological processes

Some of the phonological processes, and the ages by which they normally disappear from a child's speech are outlined in quite a lot of detail here. The following examples of phonological processes provide a general rule of thumb.

    

This is normal...

Children, that is, ALL

children, sometimes

misunderstand what

is said to them, utter

oddly worded sentences, and put speech sounds in

the wrong spots (or omit

them) when they are

learning to talk.  

...and this is not

Stuttering is not a normal part of learning to talk; children's voices should not be hoarse unless they have a cold; and if children are disinterested in communicating with

other people, have poor

eye-contact and are aloof with people outside the family,

or usually respond to what you say by echoing all or part of it back to you word-for-word, their communication

skills should be assessed.





The phonological process called context sensitive voicing e.g., cup = gup has usually disappeared from a child's speech sound system by three years of age (3;0). Similarly, the phonological process called word final devoicing e.g., bed = bet has normally gone by 3;0. A few months later by 3;3 (that's three years 3 months) final consonant deletion, e.g., boat = bow generally vanishes. The phonological process of velar fronting e.g., car = tar persists until about 3;6 in many children. Consonant harmony e.g., kittycat = tittytat, continues until close to 3;9, by which age it has normally vanished.  

Weak syllable deletion e.g., elephant = effant  is common up to the age of 4;0, as is cluster reduction e.g., spoon = boon. Gliding of liquids e.g., leg = weg normally disappears by 5;0. Stopping of 'f' e.g., fish = tish, and Stopping of 's' e.g., say = tay go by 3;0. Stopping of 'z' e.g., peas = pead often persists until 3.6. Stopping of 'sh' (shop = dop), Stopping of 'j' (Jack = dack) and Stopping of 'ch' (chin = tin) are eliminated by 4;6. Stopping of 'th' (this = dis, that = dat) can go on until 5;0.



    

  Resources

The Hanen Centre is a Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization with an international outreach. It is committed to helping young children with - or at risk of developing - language delay to learn to communicate and interact effectively.  

    

  Book for families

Developmental Phonological Disorders (Bowen, 1998) is intended for families and teachers to use as an adjunct to professional speech intervention by a Speech-Language Pathologist.

ISBN: 0 86431 256 3 592BK  

Developmental Phonological Disorders  

  Book for families

Listen to Your Child

This is a A favourite book for families by Linguistics Professor (and parent!) David Crystal  

ISBN 0-7615-2647-1

Listen to Your Child  

  Book for families

Language development

from birth to 5 years. Beyond Baby Talk

by Kenn Apel and Julie Masterson

Written by two CCC-SLPs (who are also parents themselves, as well as being eminent academics), Beyond Baby Talk is highly recommended as a well written, entertaining and authoritative information source for parents and professionals.  

Beyond Baby Talk  

  DVD for families

Speech, Language, and Hearing Milestones DVD

Covering children from birth to age five, this well produced DVD is full of examples of normal speech, language, and hearing development and tips on when to seek treatment from speech-language pathologists and audiologists.

Speech, Language, and Hearing Milestones DVD  

  Professional help

See a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) without delay if you are concerned about your child's:

babbling

see vocaldevelopment.com

receptive language

understanding of what is said

expressive language

ability to talk in words, phrases and sentences)

speech sounds

the clarity of their speech

pragmatics

the ability and desire to communicate in an appropriate [for their age and culture]  friendly, sociable, playful and interested way)

fluency

persistent stuttering is not normal

voice quality

persistent hoarseness is not normal



    

Language experts

If you are concerned about your child's language progress, seek an assessment from a qualified

Speech-Language Pathology professional.  

SLPs

SLPs are the only professionals uniquely qualified to assess, diagnose and treat communication disorders. SLPs are called by different names in different parts of the world. For example:

Australia Speech Pathologist

Canada Speech-Language Pathologist

France Orthophoniste

French Canada Orthophoniste

New Zealand Speech-Language Therapist

South Africa Speech Language Therapist

United Kingdom  Speech and Language Therapist

United States Speech-Language Pathologist

Not all SLPs see children, and not all SLPs who do see children assess and manage every childhood communication disorder. Some SLPs specialise in particular areas, and some are generalists.



    

Trust YOUR judgement

You might be advised by a kindly friend, relative or "non-SLP" professional that your child is too young

for an assessment or to

"Leave it for six months"

(before seeking an

assessment). This may

not be appropriate advice. Most parents know instinctively if all is not well with their own child's development.

Follow your instincts!



Qualifications

If you are in Australia, consult a certified practising member (CPSP) of Speech Pathology Australia. United States and Cananda residents should look at the ASHA site where there is an Online Directory of SLPs and Audiologists. The Canadian site has a 'find a practioner' page. In the United Kingdom ASLTIP has a searchable database of Speech and Language Therapists in private (independent) practice.

If you are somewhere else in the world, and you are uncertain about a practitioner's qualifications, check with the professional association for Speech-Language Pathologists in your country, or the country where the practitioner says they gained their qualifications. Most of these sites contain a description of the criteria for membership of their associations. The sites listed here are among the bona fide professional associations.



    

  You are the expert

Rely on your own judgement. If you think your child has a problem in the area of communication skills don't hesitate to seek proper professional help. Don't be diverted by well-meaning people who are overly reassuring. Remember, you are the best expert on your own child's development and progress. Early identification of communication difficulties in children can prevent other problems developing, such as difficult behaviour, learning difficulties (especially with reading and spelling) and problems relating to and getting along with other people