Speech is one of the main forms of mental activity, social in its formation and systemic in its structure. The main structural components of speech are sound composition, vocabulary, and grammatical structure. Many authors, including such famous people as E. A. Arkin, A.V. Zakharova, and A. N. Gvozdev, studied the stages of development of the structural components of speech. The stages of development of the sound composition are presented in the following table:
| Child’s age | Sounds that appeared in speech |
| 1 year — 1.5 years | b, t, c, h |
| 1.5 years -2 years | f, v, t, d, n, l, c, x |
| 2 years — 2 years 6 months | s, z, n, b, m, t, d, n |
| 2 years 7 months — 3 years 5 months | f, v, s, z, h, l |
| 3.5 years — 3 years 8 months. | h, s |
| 4 years — 4 years 6 months. | w, j |
| 4 years 6 months — 5 years | r |
The development of a child’s vocabulary is closely connected, on the one hand, with the development of thinking and other mental processes, and, on the other hand, with the development of all components of speech: the phonetic-phonemic and grammatical structure of speech. In the child’s vocabulary, words of a specific meaning appear early, and later-words of a generalizing nature. The development of vocabulary in ontogenesis is due to the development of the child’s ideas about the surrounding reality.
E. A. Arkin gives the following data on the growth of the dictionary:
1 year — 9 words, a year and a half-39 words, 2 years-300 words, 3 years 6 months-1110 words, 4 years-1926 words.
This indicates that communication with a child at this age is fundamental to the development of his vocabulary. [1, c. 225]
The vocabulary of an older preschooler can be considered as a national language model, since by this age the child learns all the basic models of the native language. During this period, the core of the dictionary is formed, which does not change significantly in the future. The basic “framework” of the dictionary does not change, despite its qualitative replenishment and increase in volume. [6, p. 129]
A. N. Gvozdev identifies the following periods of the formation of the grammatical structure of speech:
1 period — the period of sentences consisting of amorphous words of roots, which includes two stages:
1 stage of a one-word sentence (from 1 year 3 months to 1 year 8 months.);
Stage 2 of sentences consisting of several root words (1
g. 8 months. 1 g 10мес.).
2 period — the period of development of grammatical struc-
tours of the proposal, consisting of three stages:
Stage 1 the formation of the first forms of words (1 10мес. — 2 years 1 month.);
Step 2 use flexinol language system for the expression of syntactic relations of words ( 2 years 1 month. — 2 years 6months.);
3 stage of learning the keywords for the expression of syntactic expressions (2 years 6 months.
3 period — the period of further assimilation of the morphological system (3-7 years). [2, c. 153]
Kuraev G. A. and Pozharskaya E. N. from the point of view of psychology distinguish three main mechanisms of language acquisition:
1. Imitation;
2. Formation of conditioned reflex associations;
3. Formulation and experimental verification of empirical hypotheses.
Imitation affects the formation of all aspects of speech, but especially the phonetics of grammar. This mechanism is implemented when the child has the first signs of the corresponding ability. But imitation is only the initial stage of speech development. The function of conditioned reflex conditioning in the generation of speech is that the use of various incentives by adults accelerates the development of children’s speech.
The formulation and testing of hypotheses as a mechanism of speech assimilation is confirmed by the facts of active children’s word-making. However, isolated by itself, this mechanism too intellectualizes the process of speech development in young children.
Thus, speech development at an early age is explained by a combination of all three considered learning mechanisms. [4, c. 59–60]
The development of speech in general, as the leading method of human communication, occurs due to the saturation of the environment around the child with the audible speech of adults and voice contacts with them. Voice contacts are born in a situation of emotional communication and carry mainly an expressive function. But, being immersed in the speech environment and under its influence, the child begins to distinguish the audible matter of the language and the sound form of human contacts. This leads to the fact that voice contacts are becoming an increasingly important (and subsequently leading) form of appeal to an adult. The speech flow has a positive effect on the emergence of active speech of the child only when the speech of adults is included in communication with the child and has a reversed character against the background of emotional contacts that arise between the child and the adult. The child chooses from the huge variety of audible speech of the surrounding people, learns and appropriates what is necessary and sufficient for him to solve the communicative tasks that face him in connection with the peculiarities of his life activity at this stage of development. [5, c. 196]
Communication is a significant cause of lagging children in the development of speech, but not the only one. In the first years of life, the biological factor plays an important role in the development of a child’s speech, but it can also be noticed that as he grows up, he fades into the background and the social factor becomes more and more important. Which is not surprising, because speech is social in its formation. Uruntaeva, G. A. , Gribova A. O. , Smirnova J. T. based on the data presented in his works by, I compiled the following table:
| No | The form of speech and the approximate age of its appearance | Signs of deviation of the line of ontogenesis | Possible cause, its sensitivity |
| 1 | Intonates screams (You can distinguish between screams of pleasure and displeasure) 1-2 months. | The child reacts poorly to sounds and practically does not make any sounds. | Taking antibiotics in the first months of life. Unstable, stressful situation in the family, mother’s stress during pregnancy. The child has frequent otitis media and other ENT diseases.Disorders associated with prenatal, natal and postnatal organic pathology of the central nervous system or peripheral parts of the articulatory apparatus. Traumatic disorders of the vocal cords themselves or the entire laryngeal department, associated with resuscitation measures in pathological childbirth Some genetic syndromes associated with impaired vocal and articulatory function. |
| 2 | Gook, gulenie (The child repeats after you or independently pronounces individual syllables, as if playing with you) 1.5-3 months. | The child reacts poorly to sounds and practically does not make any sounds. The child does not understand frequently used words and does not imitate the sounds of speech, does not react to the addressed speech, and only resorts to shouting to attract attention to himself. | |
| 3 | Babble (The child repeats after you and says something similar to words, but consisting of the same syllables) 4-5 months. | The child reacts poorly to sounds and practically does not make any sounds. The child does not understand frequently used words and does not imitate the sounds of speech, does not react to the addressed speech, and only resorts to shouting to attract attention to himself. The child has an unusual tone of voice (for example, he speaks through his nose, or in a very raspy voice) | |
| 4 | Babbling words (The child uses the “nanny language” in speech: words consist of two or three open syllables (lala, tata, kuka, etc.), a lot of onomatopoeia (bi-bi, woof-woof, pee-pee, etc.) 8 months — 1 year 2 months. | Lack of interest in speech activity, inability to understand the simplest questions and show the image on the pictures. Does not use common gestures — does not point at objects with his fingers, does not wave goodbye, etc. The child has an unusual tone of voice (for example, he speaks through his nose, or in a very raspy voice). The child is reluctant to repeat after you the words and expressions that he hears. | Parents do not communicate much with the child and his communication with older children is also limited. The child often watches TV, plays tablet, phone. If the “working hand” is left, then delays in the development of speech are natural for him. The child lives in a bilingual family, where they communicate with him simultaneously in two languages. Excessive guardianship of the child by adults and the desire to prevent his every desire can not create motivation for speech communication. The child has poorly developed fine motor skills of the hands. Parents do not read enough books to their child. |
| 5 | Two-word sentences (The child, addressing you, combines two words, for example: give pi (give to drink), dad no (dad is not at home) , etc.) 1 year 6 months — 2 years 2 months. | The child does not imitate sounds yet. He hardly understands the simple requests addressed to him. The child has an unusual tone of voice (for example, he speaks through his nose, or in a very raspy voice). Lack of interest in speech activity, inability to understand the simplest questions and show the image on the pictures.When a child hears a request to “Say it again” or “Say it again”, he is silent, gritting his teeth, or walks away as if he did not hear you. The child is reluctant to repeat after you the words and expressions that he hears. Prefers to solve their problems on their own, without turning to you for help (“independent child») | |
| 6 | Active growth of the dictionary (The child asks what it is called) 1 year 9 months — 2 years 6 months. | It can only imitate speech or gestures, and does not utter any sounds spontaneously, on its own initiative. Utters only a limited number of sounds, and cannot use any speech skills to communicate anything other than immediate needs (for example, he may ask for food, but is unable to explain that he likes some toy) The child has an unusual tone of voice (for example, he speaks through his nose, or in a very raspy voice) Normally, you should understand half of the words that he utters at the age of two, and about three-quarters of the words-when he turns three years old. Lack of interest in speech activity. | Parents do not communicate much with the child and his communication with older children is also limited. The child often watches TV, plays tablet, phone. The child lives in a bilingual family, where they communicate with him simultaneously in two languages. Excessive guardianship of the child by adults and the desire to prevent his every desire can not create motivation for speech communication. Parents do not read enough books to their child. |
| 7 | The appearance of grammatical forms of the word (The child changes words in speech by numbers, genders, cases, etc.) 2 years 4 months — 3 years 6 months. | ||
| 8 | Word-making (The child “composes” his words, but at the same time uses the laws of his language) 2 years 6 months — 3 years 5 months. | ||
| 9 | The child speaks out his actions when he is alone playing with toys or busy with some other business 2 years 6 months — – 3 years 6 months. |
Based on this table, we can draw a conclusion about the importance of social causes, which can be divided into three groups: motive, upbringing and speech environment. And only if all these parts are present, the child’s speech can be formed normally. It can be assumed that this is due to the lack of awareness of the parents in this matter and not fully understanding the importance of these factors. In addition, parents often do not use the opportunity to organize early help for children with speech problems. Many expect that when the child turns 3 years old, he will speak himself. The lack of assistance in early preschool age leads to a number of consequences of speech underdevelopment. These are the disruption of the communication process and the difficulties of adaptation in the children’s team and speech negativism, the peculiarity of the emotional – volitional sphere,infantilism, the secondary delay in cognitive activity, difficulties in mastering the entire school curriculum, especially in the language. [3, c. 21–22]
It should be noted that it is even more effective to manage the process of mastering speech at an early stage, starting from one year, when the child should have the first babbling words. In this case, it is possible to “coincide” with the natural timing of the formation of the rudiments of speech and avoid secondary layers.
The delay in the rate of speech development, as a rule, is due to improper upbringing or frequent illnesses of the child. The elimination of the cause that causes deviations in the development of the child, the change in the conditions of his upbringing determine the success of the further development of the child in preschool and school age.
Literature:
1. Arkin, A. E. Preschool age. – M.: Uchpedgiz, 1948.
2. Gvozdev, A. N. Questions of studying children’s speech. – M.: Publishing House of the APN of the RSFSR, 1961.
3. Gribova, O. E. What to do if your child does not speak: A book for those who are interested in it. – Moscow: Irispress, 2004.
4. Kuraev, G. A., Pozharskaya, E. N. Age psychology: A course of lectures. – Rostov-on-Don: The Union of Valeology
5. Lisina, M. I. Communication and speech: Speech development in children in communication with adults. 1985. Moscow: Pedagogika.
6. Uruntaeva, G. A. Preschool psychology. – M.: Academy, 1996.
