Speech development in children: How they talk and how to help
Let’s understand how children begin to speak, how to identify if they are ready to speak, how to help them speak, and much more
It is just another day and your child is sitting at the table and is narrating a story or asks a lot of ‘why’ questions.
Suddenly, a little thought pops up in your head: “When did my child start talking so much. It seems like only yesterday they were cooing!”
That can definitely lead down a trip!
Every milestone that your child touches upon is so magically brilliant.
I’m often amazed at how children can communicate so much with their ever-developing vocabulary.
So, if you are a parent who has a child on the brink of talking or is wondering when will my child begin to speak, then let’s take a quick dive.
We will be exploring when a child begins to speak, how to identify if they are ready to speak, how to help them speak, what are activities to develop their speech, speech delay, and much more.
Understanding speech development in kids
Communication happens in different ways and one of them is speaking. This is an ability to express through words and sounds through your voice.
Generally, speaking works with listening and comprehension. They play a vital part in an exchange.
As you speak, the other person(s) can discern multiple things such as the tone, emotion attached, context, instruction, and much more.
So, where does all this begin?
How speech develops
When a child is about 3 months or so, they begin to coo and they identify the voice of the parent(s). They can smile or remain silent when someone speaks.
By the time they are 6 months or so, they babble and giggle. They can express themselves through squeals and laughter. They also discern different sounds/music, change in tone of voice, and move their head towards the sound.
As a child turns 9 months, they continue to babble and then, imitate speech sounds — “ba-ba”, “da-da” and so. They also mimic actions and gestures. They are likely to look at the object you talk about.
When they turn 12 months, they begin with their first words. They call out “mama”, “dada”, etc. They also understand simple phrases and the names of everyday objects. At around 18 months, their vocabulary is about 20 words. They can point at pictures in books and follow questions.
At 2 years, their vocabulary increases to about 50 words or more. They tend to repeat conversations, put two words together to form a sentence. They can understand instructions and use gestures during pretend play.
As they turn 3, their vocabulary is 200 or more words and can communicate using 3–4 word sentences/phrases. They can understand plurals, pronouns, time concepts. Their speech has more clarity.
By the time they turn 5, their vocabulary has increased at least by about 2500 words. They become comfortable narrating stories in 4–5 sentences. Ask a lot of ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions. They can identify objects in groups and colors. Their communication becomes clearer.
We will explore how we parents can help develop our kids’ speech, but before that let’s take an aside for a moment and look into an aspect that many of us, parents, can be worried about.
Speech delay
“Why has my child not started talking yet? Is there an issue?”
Let’s understand this — each child is different. So, language and speech differ from one child to another and depend on environmental factors besides neurological development.
A diagnosis of speech delay is best done by a pediatrician who will assess a cluster of milestones to ascertain if a child is showing symptoms of delayed language development.
They will need to assess both receptive and expressive language development along with other vital parameters to ascertain if there is speech delay.
Therefore, when you are worried about your child’s speech, do consult your doctor.
5 Simple ways to help your child speak
Children are communicating through non-verbal gestures from the time they are born.
However, their communication becomes more vocal:
- by 3 months when they begin to coo
- by 6 months they speak distinct sounds and make meaning of syllables
- from 10 -12 months, they make efforts to repeat familiar words and point/reference to familiar objects by labeling them with sounds/syllables.
As children generally begin with their first words by 12 months, this becomes a good indicator to know that your child is ready to talk
1) Communicate using words
When you talk to your newborn, it is a wonderful way to bond. This also enables familiarity with your voice. You can communicate about your activities every day and use the words right from the beginning. You can make faces and sounds too.
As your child begins to coo, babble, and call out words, continue to talk. Ask them questions. For children from 2 years, you can give them directions, narrate stories and ask them to repeat a few lines, ask questions, prompt them to narrate stories, etc. Coupled with non-verbal communication, this goes a long way.
As a practice, talk about your everyday activities! This is a great exercise as children imbibe and learn a lot from the environment around them.
2) Read / narrate stories
You can narrate stories to your newborns and around 6–8 months, you can begin to read storybooks, preferably picture books where the pictures are bigger and content is sparse.
You can read different stories depending on your child’s age group as they grow. You can build activities around the stories such as coloring, mimicking.
This helps make reading a wonderful habit for your child. Whenever you read a book to your child, point at the word and picture. Spend time going over each page and describe the picture.
Depending on their age, you can ask them to point at the elements in the picture or explain what the picture is about.
3) Refer to familiar objects and people
Each child’s environment plays an important role in enabling a child to communicate. From the time your child is born, you can use words to introduce familiar objects and people.
By 3–4 months, they turn their head towards the person who speaks and becomes comfortable with the people immediately around them. When you go on a walk, do introduce them to the familiar objects. They will use one word, sound, or non-verbal gestures as a response. Keep this up as your child begins to show readiness to speak.
4) Repetition is the key
Children love repetition. They would love to hear the same story or play with the same toys, for example. How many times has your child listened to “Wheels on the bus go!”?
So, repeat the names of familiar objects and people every time. This way, as your child begins to speak, you can continue to repeat them and ask them to answer while you point out. Eg: Where is the tree?; Where is our home?; This is your bed; etc. This reinforces the words they learn.
5) Use Simple sentences
It is important to speak in sentences rather than words. This would enable your child to develop language by understanding the language syntax. Using only the words would prevent them from comprehending the language. You can repeat the words for reinforcement. Ask them questions, describe your day in sentences, give instructions.
The key to developing your child’s language and speech is through how you communicate with them. Remember to use the correct words for objects as this is something that they would relate to.
Now, when your child is almost ready to speak or has already started speaking, you can try out different activities that can bolster their verbal communication. This would enable them to communicate effectively.
9 Fun activities to help your child’s speech
1) Pretend play
Wouldn’t a dash of imagination be wonderful for your child to communicate? You can play games — such as ‘Telephone’, ‘Doctor, doctor’, ‘I spy’, etc. This enables your child to speak in a constant manner.
By 2 years or so, they will communicate using words, 2-word phrases, understand instructions. So, depending on your child’s age you can mold the games suitably.
2. Flash cards & picture books
You may start with flash cards and picture books as early as 6 months. This, in the long run, helps expand their vocabulary. Choose picture books and flash cards that have only one picture per page/side.
For smaller children, this helps them focus on what they see. Depending on your child’s age, you can ask them to point at /pick the correct pictures or call out the name(s) of the pictures.
3. Storytelling
Stories, as you know, are a marvelous way to introduce vocabulary. Storytelling enables children to communicate the stories in their own words. This makes them comfortable with their tone, words, and even expressing themselves. You can create props and help them narrate stories.
Depending on your child’s age, you can hold their hand and narrate stories and ask them to call out words/ character names or repeat the sounds funny words after you. This is in addition to reading stories together.
4. Name the thing
When your child is ready to speak, they often call out familiar words. Point at different things in your surrounding and ask them to name them. Eg: When you point at a tree and ask, ‘What is that?”; etc.
This enables them to maybe form two-word phrases and as they progress this would become a simple sentence around 3–4 years. What a child sees around them has a huge impact in their speech.
5. Ask questions
Yes, by the time your child turns 5, they ask a lot of ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, which indicate curiosity. However, when you ask them questions from the time they indicate readiness to speak, this enables two-way communication. Asking questions can be coupled with storytime, pretend play, bedtime, etc. Questions trigger them to think.
6. Sing along
Rhymes and songs are a great way to inspire children to speak. There are gestures, words, funny sounds. What more! There are tunes to this. So, yes, sing rhymes and songs on a daily basis. You can keep this a screen-free time too or the family’s screen time. The more, the merrier as this boosts a child’s confidence.
7. Imitate me
Imitation is absolutely the sincere form of flattery when it comes from your child’s end. Remember the last time, they imitated your action and tone! Choose actions and sentences that can be about the routine or a character/person’s action.
Encourage your child to repeat. This enables them to pay attention to how you speak and what is being said. This is a good listening activity as well!
8) Talking time
Set aside time to speak to your child every day. This can be when you are doing chores such as feeding them, bathing them, etc. Bedtime also counts! The more you speak with your child, the more they become comfortable with the idea of verbal communication.
Ensure you consciously communicate with them in sentences and yes, they can repeat after you. You can ask questions too
9) Answer Away
As mentioned before, questions are a great way to get your child to speak. Choose games — such as ‘Guess Who’, ‘When, what, how, where, why’ questions, etc. This enables them to answer in a fun manner.
You can combine this with their storytime or you can use picture flash cards to create your game. Stick to one question at a time. You can also introduce them to ‘Yes / No’ questions.
To conclude: Each child speaks at their pace
When your child begins to show readiness to speak, be patient. Even if they aren’t ready to speak, this is fine.
Each child’s speech and language development is shaped by their environment and experiences.
So, you can begin communicating from Day 1 and you can experience your child’s speech journey with the same innate wonderful curiosity that they carry about.
If something worries you, always reach out to your pediatrician!
