How to teach a child to speak?

When parents think about how to teach a child to speak, they do not understand that even the youngest children are already learning the language. Long before they learn to speak, the children are still communicating with you. The more you listen to the child and react to his most incomprehensible sounds, the better he will become oriented in communicating with you and with other people.

How to learn to understand a small child?

Already now you have learned to interpret the different sounds your child is giving - from ecstasy to extreme distress. When you learn to listen carefully, you will become better and better understand his verbal and non-verbal communication.

Children react more slowly than adults. This should be taken into account when you teach the child to speak. Listening to the child, consider that it may take time to give you feedback. If you can not understand what your child is saying, do not worry. No parent can understand every cry and babbling of his child. Nevertheless, when you carefully listen to the child and try to understand him, two things are happening. First, the child understands that someone is interested in his thoughts and feelings. Secondly, over time, by trial and error, you will eventually begin to understand most of your child's words.

At the age of five to six months, your child will make strange sounds, often meaningless, but how happy it is to hear their dad and mom. This babbling is a good practice for the development of speech. By six months your child will want to practice his new "language" with anyone who is ready to listen to it. Six months is a very social age. Your child will be happy with the company of other people and will start talking to them in their own way. Almost every person the child sees will be the object of his new speech skills.

The most pleasant interlocutor is a child

As soon as your baby begins to pronounce vowels, he begins to consider himself a real companion. It does not matter that you can not understand him, but he can not understand you. In the end, the same is true for many conversations between adults. Your child wants to talk to you just like you talk to others.

You may be surprised the first time you realize that your child seems to expect from you that you will respond to his incomprehensible sounds. It seems incredible that in just six months he begins to understand the individual words and phrases of adults. When he starts to pause in his babble (perhaps to make sure that you are listening), you must treat him like an adult. According to your behavior, the child will begin to understand when it's his turn to listen and it's your turn to talk. Listen and look at the baby: he stops to listen to what you are saying, and really can be a better conversationalist than adults.

Simulation of speech by the child

Imitating and repeating your child's words within the next few months can be very frequent. Even if you do not understand it, you can still enjoy the "conversation", and your child will also enjoy talking with you.

When your child tries to "talk" with you, be polite. React to the words of your child as well as the words of any adult. Participate in a conversation with the child face to face, keep eye contact with him. You can respond to baby babble using real words or repeating sounds and syllables for your child. Once you stop talking, your child can start "talking" with you again, trying to keep the conversation going.

In conversation with your child, please note: the variety of communication speeds up the learning process. In general, the more you talk, the more your child will try to talk with you. So he gets the first social practical skills. In the coming months, your conversations will be for the child a way to learn more complex sounds. Discuss anything with the child, but do not monopolize the conversation. Do not forget to let your child understand that you are listening to it.

Watch your speech

Let a good habit for you will tell your child something even before he can understand something of your words. Describe to him what you are doing. For example: "Now I'm going to change my diaper." First we need to remove the sliders ... "

Also describe what the child is doing. "Look how you got dirty." Let's go to the bathroom and wash. " Your conversation will support the child's interest, help him polish his social skills and lay the groundwork for learning words.

What is the best way for parents to talk to their child? Let's start with the basic landmarks. Try not to feel too stupid when talking to the child. Even if your child has too little vocabulary, he begins to understand the conversation process itself. The more you talk to him, the more he will know.

Do not hesitate to talk to your child with that high, melodious voice that parents used with babies for centuries. Children respond better to higher sounds, so using a high-pitched voice will keep your child's attention longer.

Remember that discussing something with a baby is natural. You do not need to simplify your words and grammar for the sake of the child. Remember, no matter how much you simplified your language, your child does not understand everything you say (at least until he turns six months old, but he likes your stories.) Your child just loves to talk with you. You are talking about weather, work at home or the thermodynamics of nuclear fusion.

Do not waste a lot of time and energy trying to understand what your child is saying. He probably does not say anything at all, just utters sounds. The meaning in the child's phrases usually appears up to a year. And while the child simply tries to make sounds and learn to be sociable, just as he sees it in adults.

By the end of the sixth month, before the child utters his first words, he begins to understand a few simple phrases that you are saying. So now is the best time to start teaching him. The more you talk with your child about what is happening here and now, and describe how it happens, the easier it will be for a child to establish connections between what he sees and his own speech.

How to teach a child the right speech?

If you like music, you can choose it from a huge range of melodies. Most of the rhythmic songs will be a good investment in the development of your child's speech. Let the texts and melodies be simple, but from this your child will enjoy no less, listening to them again and again.

With a child from six months (or even earlier) to a year, you need to speak slowly and clearly to give your child more opportunities to understand and distinguish individual words. Emphasize in your speech the most important words, especially nouns (person, place or thing), through musical accents and frequent repetitions.

If you often repeat the same nouns in verse, your child will soon understand what these words stand for: the names of things, names, events, phenomena. Even if the child does not yet understand what these objects are for, he will associate the names with real objects.

Development of speech and dance

Although speaking with you will provide the child with the main part of the verbal teaching of the language, there are other ways to teach the child to speak. Like all language teaching tools, the best for children are those that encourage them to speak. This means, fun and funny, can be dancing. During the dance, you can tell the child how and what to do, sing songs, and he will very quickly remember the words.

Teaching a child to read and speak is still too early. He can read something with you or play by himself, but at this age it is worth avoiding books with paper pages. Your child will not only "read" books, but will begin to tear the pages, chew them, throw them and spoil everything.

For children there are special books from thick cardboard or plastic. They are difficult to tear or spoil. These books can be given to a child to learn words and simple phrases.

What else can you do to teach the child to speak?

Respond to the call and cries of the child

Babies can not tell you anything intelligible, but through crying they can transmit a signal about their emotions and needs. In the first year crying is the basis of their communication system. When we respond to the cry, the children understand that they are in a world that hears them, that they are now in a safe place, where their needs will satisfy.

Talk with your child, even if it seems to you that he does not understand you and can not answer you. Tell him about your feelings, emotions, describe the simplest actions. The child will get used to the flow of speech and gradually begin to distinguish words. And then he himself will talk with you.

Communicate with the child regularly

If you regularly talk with a small child and listen to him, it will be easy for him to learn the language. Simulation of speech is the best textbook. Children, while listening to the right speech, learn to speak correctly themselves. When modeling correct speech, they will gradually learn to build sentences and phrases.

Sing the baby songs

These songs can be anything: a song while bathing, washing dishes, walking in the park, changing diapers, and a traditional lullaby at bedtime. Rhythms and melodies of music, according to psychologists, contribute to the study of language. After a year of regular listening to the songs, the child learns a lot of new words and can repeat them.

And remember: when you buy music CDs for children, it's only half the battle. Your child will remember many more words through your live singing than listening to electronic music.

Reading, songs, poems, talking with the child - all this contributes to the development of your child's language and the skills of his communication. But the main stimulus for the child is the sound of your voice and all the love that you can give to it. To teach the child to speak, enjoy communication with him.