Cute babbling and mangling of words at a year and a half turns into a big problem at an older age. By the age of 4-5, a child should be able to speak his native language correctly - When should a child start speaking? Norms in speech development. Uninformed parents may rely on the widespread belief that before the age of 5 it is too early to contact a speech pathologist. Like, each child develops individually, and yours is about to speak in detailed sentences.
Is it worth waiting for weather by the sea?
The opinion of experts is definitely no! Undoubtedly, the individual pace of development cannot be denied, but what one could “turn a blind eye to” at 2 years old already requires correction at 4 years old.
The thing is that a problem that is not solved at an earlier age grows like a snowball, creating new ones. Without communication, a child cannot develop properly either intellectually or emotionally. The development of speech goes hand in hand with the mental development of the child. This means that correctional classes will require a lot of effort and time from both the specialist and the student himself.
At the age of 3 years, children’s speech is still in the process of formation, which means that there is not much catching up to do. The main thing is to find the cause in time and try to eliminate it.
What parents should be concerned about:
- By the age of 4-5 years, the child completely lacks coherent speech. By this age, the child should have completely outgrown baby babble and syllables instead of words. 13 ways to teach a child to speak.
- The child speaks, but his vocabulary is very poor. Some words are replaced by one or two syllables.
- The words do not agree with each other in the sentence.
- The child understands everything that is said to him and can fulfill the request, but cannot express his thoughts.
- There are many errors in speech, both lexico-grammatical and phonetic.
The easiest way to check if everything is okay with a child is to understand his statements from a stranger. Often in a family, only the mother understands what the child is saying. By the age of five, this is already a reason to contact a specialist.
Conclusions: everything needs to be done on time
It is important to maintain a balance between mental and physical development according to age standards by all means.
He must follow the object with his eyes - we show him rattles, he must crawl in the classical way - we all crawl together, we rearrange the legs ourselves, help, teach (this is the most important skill, one of the stages in the formation of those very interhemispheric connections), must distinguish between colors and shapes - we trace the figures with our fingers , cut out, sculpt, draw, remember them using any available method. Don’t listen to anyone about the normal variant, it will be much more difficult to correct later!
And of course, it is important to spend time on yourself and your development. Like on an airplane: first a mask for yourself, then for your child.
The recovery process is very labor-intensive and requires a lot of effort. A harried and tired mother will give her child objectively less than radiating joy and calm.
Unfortunately, there is no single pill for all ills. You have to figure it out for yourself and try it. The brain cannot be damaged in the same way, everything is individual.
The reasons for the lack of speech may be more serious
Another important point is the fact that undeveloped speech at the age of 4-5 years may be a manifestation of certain psychological or neurological disorders. This is a reason not only to read books with your child more often, but also to use the help of qualified specialists. Among the causes of speech delay, in addition to physiological lag, mental disorders can also be identified:
- Stress. A strong shock experienced by a child can completely stop the development of speech. Only a specialist can talk to him, and the risk of stuttering due to fear is very high.
- A difficult psychological atmosphere at home can also lead to speech delays.
- Delayed psychomotor and mental development, accordingly, inhibits the formation of speech skills. Therefore, it is extremely important to monitor the child, especially those who speak poorly.
- A separate important point should be highlighted neurological causes as a result of a difficult pregnancy or difficult childbirth, head injuries, or even simply too frequent falls of the child. Experts, based on observations, have concluded that in more than 50% of cases, delayed speech formation is a consequence of MMD (minimal cerebral dysfunction).
Developed within normal limits
The baby was calm, smiled, looked after objects, did not cry for no reason, and slept well according to his own schedule.
The pressure through the fontanel was kept under control. By the year the pressure reached the upper limit of normal. At six months he began to hold his head up normally and roll over, at 8 months he sat unsteadily, sat confidently, crawled like a hare and on his belly, stood by the age of one year, began walking at 1 year and 3 months, and began to say “give me.”
It would seem that life has improved, the boy will straighten out, we were told during routine visits to the neurologist.
When silence is not golden
Problems with sound pronunciation, clarity and coherence of speech directly affect such mental processes as memory, thinking, attention, etc. This means that prolonged non-speaking leads to deeper disorders. At 4-5 years old, a non-speaking child is diagnosed with OSD - general underdevelopment of speech against the background of normal intelligence and hearing. OHP can be of 4 levels, but any of them is a reason for correction. Considering the age of the children, by this time the gap from their peers is already quite significant, so you will have to study a lot and persistently.
Regular school, integrated class
At the moment, Stas is studying in the 1st grade of integrated education at a regular school. This choice was made consciously; it will be difficult for him to master reading at the right pace, repeat poetry and write, like other children.
At the same time, the son communicates normally with children and adults, everyone understands him. Small differences in the pronunciation of sounds and the clarity of speech, of course, remain, but we hope to eliminate them over several years of close work with a speech therapist.
Additionally, at home we study with the child using textbooks from mathematics schools, we have selected colorful and exciting publications. Logic is his strong point at the moment.
Unfortunately, reading and writing suffer. It takes about 2-3 hours of constant supervision and assistance to learn how to write a letter of the correct size, slant, and with the correct connection. Phonemic hearing is still impaired, he repeats poems poorly, but we are working on this, over time everything is slowly working out: there are copybooks, and we ask him to let him learn the poems in advance.
What to do if a child does not speak at 4-5 years old?
If a child does not speak at the age of 4-5 or speaks in such a way that not everyone can understand him, this is a reason to turn to specialists! In order to correctly establish the cause of speech delay, an examination by several specialists will be required:
- neurologist;
- speech therapist-defectologist;
- otolaryngologist;
- psychologist.
Your local pediatrician can refer you to these specialists. Or you can always contact a specialized center that deals with speech development problems. Don't wait until it may be too difficult to correct violations - the earlier the problem is detected, the easier it is to deal with it!
Date of publication: 06/02/2016. Last modified: 12/03/2021.
Relationships with the outside world
To be honest, you have to deal with rejection, wariness, and comments from others every day. At first I wasn’t upset for long. You want to be proud of your child’s successes or just be happy that you are working with him, playing, telling him something and immediately seeing the results.
And here, thank you for what you have, and thank you ten times for what you don’t have: there are more significant ailments that people have. Quite quickly, I developed a pattern of relationships with others.
If these are people I don’t know well, I simply ignore them; these are their problems of attitude and acceptance.
Children and their parents from a group in a kindergarten or from a class, as a rule, are wary at first, afraid that he might be violent, might bite, or might do harm. Here sometimes you have to make efforts to normalize the psychological climate around. The first thing that is needed is a friendly attitude and a smile, participation in the life of the team, initiative. If you want your child and you to be treated normally, we start with ourselves. Stas adopted this skill from me and is very friendly towards everyone.
Gradually, the team begins to be calm, they see that Stas is a good boy, it’s just difficult for him to speak. This is already a good result.
And the most painful topic is the attitude of close relatives. It’s great if they believe in you, support and help. This gives you the strength to move mountains. But, unfortunately, very often, grandparents are embarrassed in front of others for their grandchildren and are very sorry that this happened in their family. In such a situation, mom or dad needs remarkable energy and faith in success in order to raise a self-confident child who is open to communication.
What is known about COVID-19 in children under one year of age
In children aged 1 month to one year, the disease is more severe than in newborns. The incidence of severe and critical disease is significantly higher than in other age groups. Symptoms are most often associated with gastrointestinal disorders. Associated signs that may signal coronavirus in infants: the appearance of diarrhea, periodic bouts of vomiting, and a slight increase in body temperature. The stool is liquid, marsh-colored, and may be streaked with blood. Dry cough and difficulty breathing (even shortness of breath). One of the visible symptoms in infants, which indicates a lack of air, is swollen wings of the baby’s nose.
Gastrointestinal disorders and with Covid in children under one year of age are often accompanied by abdominal pain. This symptom can be determined independently by certain signs in the child’s behavior:
- presses the legs to the stomach or often jerks them;
- refuses to eat or eats little, and immediately after eating begins severe vomiting;
- frequently wakes up or cannot sleep.
Similar symptoms also occur with functional disorders, for example, infant colic, so a pediatrician .
You can call a pediatrician at the Euromed Kids clinic at home by calling: +7 812 331 00 00
A severe form of the disease is often accompanied by damage to the lower respiratory tract with varying degrees of hypoxia, signs of severe inflammation according to laboratory parameters, and hypercoagulation syndrome - a blood clotting disorder.
Among the complications that can develop against the background of the disorder is intoxication of the body . Vomiting and severe diarrhea can cause dehydration. The child may be thirsty, but intense vomiting makes it difficult for water to enter the body. Dehydration requires immediate medical attention.
Doctors also identify a complication in children such as dry mucous membranes. Lips become dry and the tongue may begin to peel. In this case, you should consult a pediatrician to prescribe recommendations for eliminating the unpleasant symptom.
The main thing to remember is that it is strictly not recommended to independently diagnose your child, self-medicate, or wait for other symptoms to appear!
The consequences of Covid in children can be more serious than the coronavirus infection itself. Therefore, only a doctor should monitor the course of the disease and, if necessary, prescribe medications aimed at eliminating the accompanying signs of the disease.
You should contact your doctor immediately if you experience one or more of the following symptoms:
- the temperature rises sharply (up to 38-39 degrees);
- convulsions begin;
- loose stools occur more often 5-7 times a day, bloody clots are observed in the stool;
- breathing becomes difficult, whistling or wheezing is heard when inhaling or exhaling;
- heart rate increases.
You can call a pediatrician at the Euromed Kids clinic at home by calling +7 812 331 00 00
COVID-19 in children from 6 to 12 years old
Symptoms of Covid in children aged 6 to 12 years are similar to the typical clinical picture of ARVI - sore throat, nasal congestion, cough. A rise in temperature from 37 to 38 degrees occurs more often in them than in younger children. Added to the clinical picture are symptoms in children aged 9 to 12 years, such as aching muscles and joints, conjunctivitis, a purple-red rash, loss of appetite, myalgia (muscle pain) and headache. The course of the disease in children of this age group is more reminiscent of the symptoms of coronavirus in adults. COVID-19 in adolescents
In children over 12 years of age, the classic clinical picture of coronavirus infection is more common. They may develop an intense dry cough, sore throat, runny nose, loss of smell and taste, and distorted perception of odors. Unlike patients in younger age groups, adolescents may experience malaise with headache and muscle pain. COVID-19 is especially dangerous for those teenagers who have previously been diagnosed with heart disease. Under the influence of the virus, the myocardium is damaged, which leads to serious consequences related to the functioning of the heart.
Even if the main symptoms are not observed, it is better to consult a pediatrician , who will prescribe an additional examination and establish the correct diagnosis.
You can call a pediatrician at the Euromed Kids clinic at home by calling +7 812 331 00 00
