How to help speech development

Language, like a sense of humor, can not be taught - it can only be grasped. You do not teach the child to speak directly. You fill his ears with right sounds, and the child becomes permeated with the consciousness that it is interesting to talk. Then the mastery of speech occurs more naturally. Here are some ways to encourage speech development.

Play verbal games. Word games teach the child what to say is fun, and stimulate the development of a child's memory. Here is one of our favorites:

All circles and circles are teddy bear under the oaks,

( draw the circles on the baby's tummy with the finger)

I took a step and made two,

( go with your fingers from the navel of the child to the neck)

It tickles you!

( tickle the child under the chin).

Give a signal word. A signal, or key, reference word is words or phrases that trigger a child's reaction because they contain a set of sounds that they have heard before. One of our favorite games is Goat Horned Goat. When Matthew was at this age, I said, "There's a goat horny!" - and Matthew and I tapped our foreheads cautiously. After we repeated this game many times, Matthew understood without words and started to push his head towards mine as soon as I said, "Goat. .." even before I started approaching him. What was going on in Matthew's mind? I think he saved this game in his memory in the form of a series of "records."Hearing the signal word "goat", he put the needle on the desired path and lost the entire record. If you play verbal games and watch your child's reaction to certain keywords, it will help you understand how your child's memory develops.

Associate words with objects.

At this stage, observe how the child establishes associations between words and the most important surrounding objects. Reading your child, connect people and objects in the book with those that are next to him, for example, say: "Look, cat," pointing at the cat in the book.

Table Talk. Plant the kid at the table, behind which there are many children and adults, and watch how he will join the conversation. Notice how the child follows the discussion, turning his head from one speaker to the next and mastering the art important for speech development - the art of listening.