Speech at a two-year-old

A child whose development is progressing correctly, regardless of the cultural environment in which he or she is brought up, can be expected to master the spoken language even before the age of 4. However, should the parent of a child of a much younger toddler wait to look for an answer to the question, e.g. what should be able and what a child of a certain age can be able to do, what words should a 2-year-old child know or should his 2-year-old child already say his / her name?

In this article, we will try to explain what we call active and passive speech in the course of a child's linguistic development. We will suggest what speech development a XNUMX-year-old should present and what is the delay and disturbance of speech development. We will also answer the question whether for a child to be able to interact with others in terms of play, it is enough only to master the ability to understand and use words?

Milestones in speech and language development

Linguistic development is subject to multidimensional interactions between biological developmental processes and the child's experiences provided by the environment and the parent. A healthy newborn is endowed by nature with the ability to:

•  recognition of speech soundswhich manifests itself in, inter alia, noticing differences between different sounds (e.g. learning the pace, prosody of the parent's speech to distinguish it from the speech of strangers, distinguishing sounds coming from the environment);
• issuing vocalizationswhich forms the basis for the development of communication and language learning.

It is only in the first year of life that a child gets used to speaking in a given language. Interestingly, he thus loses the ability to distinguish between sounds of speech other than from his own language.

What can an infant do in the first months of life?

• Already around 6 months life, infants are able to distinguish their first name, and in turn learn to recognize the names of people in the family.
• Up to approx 8 months old, infants begin to see word boundaries in longer statements.
• At the same time, aged around 8-10 months of age, the infant begins to understand the meaning of single words that appear in the context of their daily life (eg "no", "give", "am").
• From that moment on, the development of passive speech (that is, the amount of words understood) in a child should constantly expand.

Typical speech development: what words should a 2-year-old know?

We already know that in the early stages of a child's linguistic development, parents usually find that their children understand much more than they can yet say. What does the development of active speech look like, i.e. the development of vocal expression in children up to 2 years of age? What words should a 2-year-old know? Is a speechless 2-year-old something that should worry us? What can a 2-year-old do in terms of passive and active speech?

The development of active speech takes place in several stages: from the ability to produce vowel sounds for a few months old child, to cooing around 6 months of age (vocalizing with consonants and vowels), to combining longer syllables between 6 and 10 months of age, to uttering the first words around 9 to 15 months of age.

Around 9 months of age, in addition to observing babbling, non-verbal communication should also appear in the child. It serves to communicate with the environment by combining sound, gesture (e.g. pointing, showing and giving) and a directed gaze. The final stage of active speech development falls on the period from 18 to 24 months of age. The child should then, in a deliberate way, combine words to create a message that is understandable to the environment.

Delayed or impaired speech development?

What to do when any of the described stages in the development of speech does not follow a specific order, predicted for a given age in the child's development? What should a toddler be able to do and what can he do? What words should a 2-year-old know, and which - a younger child? What range of skills or the lack of a given skill in a child should worry the parents and require diagnostics and therapy?

Despite the prevalence of problems in the development of speech in children in Poland, there are no methods for assessing language development in young children. It is worth mentioning, however, that professor Magdalena Smoczyńska from the Jagiellonian University has created standardized tools for assessing the level of speech development in children from 16 to 36 months of age. There are two versions available on the internet Of the Short Inventory of Speech Development (KIRM) with standards. These inventories can help parents in assessing their child's vocabulary resources and in determining whether the child's language skills differ from that adopted for the child's peers.

Speech development in a child: when to go to a specialist?

Returning, however, to the question of whether it is worth going to a specialist when we are concerned about the development of speech in our child? The answer is yes.

Research among a representative group of children from 1,5 to 3 years of age indicates that in about 13-18% of them there is a delay in active speech.

Children with speech developmental delay need not, however, become speech impaired. It will depend on the size of the delay and the impact on the child's deterioration in life. The term "language development disorder" can refer to both a deficiency in comprehension and language formation, which causes significant disturbances in the functioning of a child. This means difficulties in:

• communicating himself with the environment;
• organizing independent fun;
• cooperation in interaction with the environment.

Supporting speech development: how to help?

Recognition of speech abnormalities in a child as soon as possible and taking appropriate recommendations or therapy may be of great importance in avoiding the consequences of disorders in the development of speech. However, significant parental anxiety when observing a child's decreased level of language skills may also have a negative impact on the adequate support of the child's speech development.

Dialogue in dealing with the child

"Dialogical" becomes very important for supporting linguistic as well as cognitive development. For example, simple book reading play can become an interactive activity in which the parent encourages the child to play an active part in play and supports his involvement. The essence is the pleasure that the child and caregiver derive from the experience of shared moments full of reciprocity and warmth.

Let's tell the child and show interesting pictures in the books. Then, let's wait for the child's response - a simple expression, sound or gesture accompanying the events happening in the book. When playing with the child, let us be attentive to any response from the child and name his actions to emphasize that we are partners in dialogue and in play.

Difficulties of a child with less language proficiency

A child with a lower linguistic ability experiences difficulties in establishing contacts with caregivers, siblings, but also with peers. Let us remember that it may experience frustration when it is not understood and show signs of rebellion, reluctance to be in a larger group of children because they do not feel independent while playing. He knows that what he can do is not enough to ask for a toy or communicate with another child about something.

In order to prevent a child from avoiding social contact, it is worth ensuring contact with children of all ages from the earliest months of life - both with the speakers and with those who do not yet speak. Keep in mind that in supporting a child's speech development, you need to focus on supporting your child's overall communication. Therefore, verbal speech must be accompanied by:

• eye contact;
• gesticulation;
• i behavior.

It becomes important supporting and encouraging the expression of all manifestations of the child's willingness to communicate, also non-verbal (his facial expressions, gestures, body movements, looks, vocalizations).

Źródła:

McQuiston, S., Kloczko, N. (2011) Speech and language development - course and disorder monitoring; Postgraduate Pediatrics;
Murray, L. (2019). Psychology of a small child; Paradygmat Publishing House.