Any recommendations on encouraging speech? My daughter is 16 months old and she is only slowly but surely developing verbal language skills. She does sign many words, but the verbal aspects are very slow coming. I have noticed that crawling may be linked to speech, according to Doman. (I read a few other posts here on these forums regarding this type of topic). We did a lot of tummy time when she was younger and she did an army crawl for about two months and a normal crawl for about a month, but she took her first steps at 7 1/2 months and was walking steadily by 9 months. We thought this was fantastic, but I see now that it may be the reason her speech seems somewhat delayed. It makes sense too because I’ve heard that if you have an early walker then they may be a late talker. I feel like I failed her by letting her walk so soon, but I didn’t know anything about this stuff before, so I just have to move on from here. I read that it is a good idea to encourage crawling even now, so I think I’ll do that. But, is there anything else, any other ideas, suggestions, or methods, that I can use to help her speech? She is a very bright child and communicates well through other means- but does not talk well. She doesn’t say any two syllable words unless they are repetitive, like mama, and the only vowel she’ll use in a word is “a” and variations of it… she will say “o” and maybe “e”, but only by themselves. Definitely no phrases yet, and there are a lot of consonants she has yet to learn. She IS making progress, but it’s on the very late end of the “curve” I think.
Firstly, don’t beat yourself up over it, and don’t worry too much. I think Einstein himself was a very very late talker (or something like that).
As for encouraging her to talk, we found that the best time to encourage it would be when your daughter wants something. Get her to say whatever you know she can say. So if she can say “Please”, then make her say that before you (for example) give her something that she wants (whether it’s a toy, or cookie, a hug, or whatever). Progress this to longer phrases/sentences as her speaking ability grows.
Also, children will often just point to something that they want, or moan about something. You know what they want, and so very often, we just give it to them or do it for them without more. We’ve learnt to take these opportunities to get them to articulate what they want, and so Felicity will never get away with just pointing to something or saying, “I want it!”, for example. We’d always say, “what do you want?”, and then “well, you must ask nicely”, whereupon she would say, “Daddy may I have that cookie please?”, followed by “thank you” etc.
Last time I used to play with her and hug/squeeze her real tight (you know how often they won’t want to be touched or hugged when they are playing), and I would only let her go when she says, “Can you let me go please, Daddy!” (and until she says that I have an excuse to hug for a bit longer… :D)
Oh lastly, never ever speak to them in baby talk. Always speak in full sentences, or at least with proper grammar. The more they hear, the easier it is to learn to speak properly.
ksomom, some psychologists and speech therapist advise to play a lot of “finger games” with your child. Have you heard of that? They think that brain areas responsible for speech development are somehow connected with the fingertips. So the more you massage your baby’s palm and fingers the sooner she will start to talk. Show your daughter how a little man can walk on the table (a forefinger and long finger instead of legs or recite a poem about a rabbit for example and show how he moves his ears. You can invent anything. Plus try to do the activities which stimulate tactile sensing. For example, fill a big pan with buckwheat or beans or coffee corns and dig some small toys into it. Ask your daughter find her toys. Drawing with fingerpaints is also a very good exercise.
I feel your pain. We are having the same problem and Colin is almost 17 months. He has great mobility skills and I think that is part of the problem. The fact that boys are slower to talk and don’t seem to be as talkative as girls also seems to be a reason. Since he has been watching YBCR (your baby can read)videos I have seen a big difference in his responses to speech as well as his attempts to speak. I highly recommend these videos. Colin loves them and does a dance when he knows I am turning it on. Keeping what he wants until he ask for it is what the therapist are doing for him. They are also teaching him sign language.
I just noticed they have the same birthday!
I just thought of something else. The Gymboree microphone helps also. Colin goes to Gymboree classes. Music classes are probably the best for talking. They do BaBas in the microphone. I am taking him to reading classes at the library too. I try to get him a variety of input.
Diana_UA - Thanks - I had not heard of the connection between fingertips & speech before, but upon googling it I got some good information. Do you know of any good sites with info. or games? We try to parrot back what she says a lot & encourage speech through play.
Thanks
DD is 18 months & only says 10 or 11 word approximations. We are playing with animal noises & expanding on the sounds she already knows.
kmum, you are welcome. I know some sites in Ukrainian and Russian, not in English. But I’ll try to find some English sites about it as well. But you can start with simple finger massage, just stroke your baby’s fingers and palm as often as you can. Here in Ukraine we have a lot of traditional children’s rhymes which are used as finger games. But I think you can “animate” any rhyme with your fingers and teach your daughter how to do it. Anyway, if I find any links devoted to this topic, I’ll let you know.
Merry Christmas!!!
That’s interesting! I’ve never heard of the connection between speech and finger games before. I tried searching but could only find brief mentions of it, like here:
The librarian told us it is very important to work on finger games and a children who can recite 8 nursery rhymes by the age of two will do well in school. She says nursery rhymes and finger plays are very important. Our library has a reading 30 minutes a week for babies, and this is what they work on besides reading about 5 books. Each week they have a theme and we get a handout with new rhymes and finger plays for the theme. Colin enjoys going to reading class and interacting with his classmates. He is also very eager for bubble time! They also have a three year old who is reading adult books. I assume he was taught Your baby can read. I am not sure how he was taught. I remember why she said finger plays were so important, because they use both their right and left brain when they do them. Here are some other reasons to do finger plays:
* they help improve and advance memory and language skills
* they help improve eye-hand coordination
* they help enhance gross and fine motor skills
Finger plays are very important and the children love them.
If it makes you feel any better Colin who has the same birthday (17 months) as your child is doing same thing. He tries to say dog but if you didn’t know what he was saying you wouldn’t know. Same with ball, more, cat, bubbles, and head. That is about all he says but this month he has learned several signs and shows he is understanding language. His favorite is songs like twinkle twinkle ,eency weency spider, row row your boat, and head shoulders knees and toes. He learns through songs and watching YBCR and Signing Time. He also loves to do Little Reader for things he already knows to reinforce them if they have sound effects. If it is new to him it is difficult to get him interested. I have not tested him but I think he is learning to read the words. I think music is key to Colin’s learning. What I have done this month is try several different ways to teach him (video, books, puzzles, me, Little reader, classes (gymboree, library, early intervention)) and finally this month we have made a lot of progress. The first thing he learned this month besides the sign more was to twinkle to twinkle twinkle little star while watching YBCR videos. They don’t do this in the video but he has learned it in his other classes but never had done it. When I got so excited that he did it, he seemed so much more eager do other things. He has learned to shake his head yes, and no without perfection. He learned the sign for read, eat, all done, and more. He tries to say dog, more, cat and bubbles. He learned where his nose, ears, head, and toes are located. He usually put his arm up when requested. So we made a lot of progress this month from basically nothing. YBCR video reinforced with Little Reader is largely responsible along with signing time videos. I also use the microphone from gymboree which is fun for kids because it vibrates and is only $4. He also learned to make baba noise this month and ruff like a dog. He knew how to roar.
He still is not talking clearly and the early intervention people want him drinking from a cup or straw, no bottle or pacifier and sucking thumb is problem too. Colin is a big thumb sucker! They say this slows down the muscle development with the mouth. That is about all the help I can be. I am having same problem so would be interested in knowing anything that works for you.
Here is the article from the Ukrainian site (http://www.logopedia.com.ua/). the translation is mine. Sorry for mistakes, I had no time to edit it in a proper way.
The influence of fine motor skills on speech forming
Forming of pronunciation is a difficult process. The child must learn to control his organs of speech, to apprehend the speech addressed to him, to control the speech of other and his own. Working with children (especially children with speech disturbance) it is necessary to pay special attention to the development of the functioning of fine muscles of hands. Hands motions are closely connected with speech, they are one of the factors of its forming. The connection of hands motions and speech development was noted as far back as 1928. Later on after special research there appeared the theory stating that motions of fingers stimulate the development of central nervous system and speed up the child’s speech development.
The training of finger motions not only improves the child’s motor skills but also the development of mental and speech skills. In its turn forming of hand motions is closely connected with development of motor analyzer and visual perception, different senses, spatial orientation, coordination of movements and others. The level of fine motor skills is one of the indicators of intellectual readiness of a child for school. A child with high level of fine motor skills is able to think logically, possesses developed memory, attention, connected speech. The underdevelopment of visual perception, attention and particularly fine motor skills lead to negative attitude to the process of learning. That’s why the development of fine motor skills should start long before school. Parents, who pay proper attention to exercises, games on development of fine motor skills and coordination of movements, are solving several problems at a time: firstly, they influence the child’s general intellectual development; secondly, they improve his speech development; thirdly, they prepare him for acquisition of writing skills.
The development of fine motor skills should be started at an early age. Parents can start with massage of fingers which affects the active spots connected with brain cortex. It is better to start with simple exercises accompanied with rhymes, to teach your child the elementary habits of self-service (to button/unbutton his clothes, to tie shoelace etc.) Remember, the exercises should be adapted to the child’s age. The tasks for younger kids should be simple, for older children - more complicated.
In order to development your kid’s fine motor skills you should teach him:
to knead clay;
to roll beads or little balls with all fingers in turns;
to string beads on a thin ribbon;
to clench/unclench fists;
to “walk†on the table moving index and middle finger at different speed: first slowly, then fast. To do this exercise for both hands.
To show fingers one by one;
to thrum on the table;
to clap hands gently and loud, at different speed;
to make knots;
to button up, to hook, to fasten snaps, zippers…;
to wind up mechanical toys;
to tighten screws;
to play with mosaic, construction set, blocks;
to draw, color, shade;
to scissor;
games with sand, water;
etc.
The important part of fine motor skills development is finger exercises. Those games are very emotional, they can be played on the way home from the kindergarten, waiting for your turn at the doctor’s, in transport and at home, of course. Those games are absorbing; they facilitate the development of speech and creativeness. Finger games kind of represent the reality of the visual environment – objects, animals, people, their activities, natural phenomena. While playing finger games children copy movements of the grown-ups activating fine motor skills and speech. Fingers and hands acquire mobility and flexibility and the constraint of motions disappears. Hand is a very complicated instrument the motions of which are controlled by a large region of brain cortex. Thus massaging, rubbing, bending, training hands and arms, we develop brain and train the whole body.
I’m looking for research papers about the connection between fine motor skills and speech, or how finger exercises can help with speech problems. I wasn’t able to find anything - the research into this is probably quite limited.
Is Logopedia like Wikipedia in that it would have to cite references when making claims? Are they any references (such as the 1928 study mentioned) cited for this article?
wow! its amazing how developing our bodies in a physical way has an effect on our speech!
i run a mum and baby class and i have a 20 month old who isnt speaking clearly as yet. his mom is starting to worry as her first born was reading at 3. i was wondering if somersaulting and foward flips would help expand the lungs and hence have an effect on speech? does swimming have the same effect?
i noticed that the reading programme is helping this boy as he is able to say single syllable words that he has learnt more clearly. he has also started to hum along to songs that we sing. he follows instructions amazingly well. in fact ive never seen a child actually do what his mother tells him all of the time. i hope that recommending more physical activities will help his speech as he is getting frustrated when he cant find the words or get his message accross.
i will definiitely research the effect that fine motor skills has on speech.
Maddy, unfortunately logopedia is not like wikipedia. there are no links or references there I’ve tried to find any cites with any references but failed. the information is really limited, you are right. Maybe we should have a look at sites of Montessori organization, because as far as I know Montessori researched the connection between sensor perception and speech development. I’ll keep on search. (Great blog entry, by the way lol )
This is really interesting. My daughter is still not pronouncing things very clearly - I understand her, but she has only one or two words that anyone who doesn’t live with her might understand (surprisingly one of those words is “yes”)
Thanks Diana for the post on fine motor skills. I have been looking this up for a while now as wanted to encourage my daughter. One thing I would advise is that parents try to find a normal development milestone curve for these activities too so that you do not pressure your child to do something that they cannot do - I know a woman who really tried to force her 18 month old to jump (something that is usually only accomplished at 2 years of age) and it frustrated the child - what she could have done is put her child on a trampoline and let him bounce where it wouldn’t matter if his feet never left the ground, but he was still exercising the same muscles.
That being said I did read some interesting things on the internet which may help parents trying to teach young children to write:
On average a child can:
scribble with the whole arm (back and forth motions) at 14-16 months
scribble more circular movements at about 18 months
copy a straight line and later a circle around 2 years
copy an X (around 3 years)
copy a square (sometime between 3 and 4 years)
copy a triangle (around 5 years)
This is actually quite important if we are going to teach our 3 year olds to write
as letters do contain variations on these shapes and expecting perfection may not work.
We did try to get my sisters child who is 2 years 9 months to copy a 4 which we drew and she did succeed after a few tries, but knowing the above helped as we could understand why she struggled so much to make the line which crossed the other lines (an X can be done at just over 3 years of age)
My own daughter started scribbling at a year of age and I introduced chalk to her today which she found easier to use. She has recently started making more circular scribbles. The other thing I read is that some children will feel happier using thinner crayons and markers to draw with and I wonder if having to use more fine motor control gives them a better feeling than using jumbo crayons (there is a study about this on the internet)
My kids always enjoyed drawing with thinner pencils (finer motor skills?) but coloring in with fat markers (as it goes faster) My almost 4y.old has a game with the older ones: they draw an object of her choice (it all started with a butterfly, then flowers of different kinds, now princesses) and she copies on the same page, step by step. I should say she is getting good at it.
About speech development. I am surprised to hear your concerns of 17mnth old toddlers. My first girl spoke very little (one-two syll max and no phrases) till she was two and only after we gave up one of the 3 languages she was hearing she made visible progress. Since then I read that bilingual kids often learn to speak later, so maybe that was the case. She read by 3.5-4 though.
My 4 y.o. doesn’t speak very clearly yet, so thanks and karma for your post, Diana, I will do more of those games with her too. BTW I am from Kiev
I’ve tried to find any cites with any references but failed. the information is really limited, you are right. Maybe we should have a look at sites of Montessori organization, because as far as I know Montessori researched the connection between sensor perception and speech development. I’ll keep on search. (Great blog entry, by the way lol )