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Small Talk
Find out how your child learns to talk
By Kaylene Tan and Julia Goh
“Girls tend to reach certain speech and language milestones earlier than boys, and that’s attributed to the way their brains develop, and in the differences in development between girls and boys.”
Speech acquisition is a continuous, gradual process, which is part innate, part learnt, as the child interacts with the environment and people.
As parents, you play a crucial role in creating a stimulating environment at home to boost your child’s language development. |
“Mitchell is 2½ and just started saying ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’. When his sister was that age, she was already speaking in sentences. Is that true that boys pick up speech later than girls?” asks Maureen Koh, mum to Mitchell and Lily, 5.
Michelle Tham, a speech language pathologist at Leapfrogs, which offers speech therapy services, notes, “Statements like these not helpful for parents. It is common for boys to be less developed and less able speech-wise, but not delayed. I have seen boys who pick up speech as quickly as girls.”
However, Deirdre Tay, a Singapore General Hospital speech language therapist, points out, “Girls tend to reach certain speech and language milestones earlier than boys, and it is attributed to the way their brains develop, and in the differences in development between girls and boys.”
GENDER DIVIDES
Research shows that male and female brains function differently. In the male brain, the two hemispheres operate independently during mental tasks, like speaking or navigating around his environment. For the same kinds of tasks, females tend to use both their cerebral hemispheres more equally.
These brain differences are reflected in the sequence of development of the various brain regions in girls and boys. Baby girls have better sensory and cognitive skills, such as having better vision, hearing and memory skills. They also tend to be more emotionally- and socially-attuned, for example, they respond more readily to human voices or faces, or cry more vigorously in response to another infant’s cry.
Girls generally lead boys in the emergence of fine motor and language skills. Still, boys do catch up in these areas by the age of 3. But do note that these findings only describe the average differences between boys and girls.
SPEAK VOLUMES
Speech acquisition is a continuous, gradual process, which is part innate, part learnt, as the child interacts with the environment and people, Tay explains.
Children learn to talk in their first two years of life. Babies begin by using their tongue, lips, palate, and teeth to make sounds. Soon, those sounds become real words, and from then on they keep absorbing the words and sounds from their environment.
Occasionally, speech acquisition comes in a really dramatic way when a child, who has remained mostly silent until nearly 3, is suddenly able to form whole sentences. Isabel Seery, principal of Littlewoods Montessori, likens this to an “explosion into language”.
She says, “Some children absorb the language totally before forming whole sentences, while others will demonstrate their absorption in stages ? first by practising single words, followed by phrases, and then short sentences. In an ordinary pattern of development, speech acquisition comes in sudden spurts, especially during the third year.”
WORDS DON'T COME EASY
What if their words don’t emerge easily or come out funny? Though some parents may decide to wait till their little one is “ready to talk”, experts suggest that the best time to get professional help is when your child is 2½, the age when late bloomers usually catch up. Tay lists several warning signs for parents who suspect that their children might have a speech delay:
Children between 1 and 2 years
• Are not using gestures and pointing, or waving bye bye at 12 months.
• Prefers gestures to vocalisation at 18 months.
• Has trouble imitating sounds at 18 months.
Children over 2 years
• Can only imitate speech or actions, does not produce words or phrases spontaneously.
• Says only certain sounds and words repeatedly, cannot use oral language to communicate needs.
• Can’t follow simple directions.
• Is not understood more than 50 per cent of the time.
STUMBLING BLOCKS
Parents should recognise the difference between a speech delay and a disorder. A speech delay is when your child acquires speech sounds in the correct order, although at a slower rate. Delays can be part of general developmental delay, which means that all other aspects, like motor and cognitive skills, are also delayed. Very early preemies may also be at risk of having delays, though not all of them will experience it.
A speech disorder - a disruption in normal patterns of speech acquisition ? affects the child’s ability to produce normal speech. Speech disorders may affect articulation (phonetic or phonological disorders), fluency (stuttering), and/or voice (tone, pitch, volume, or speed).
Most speech disorders are caused by mouth muscles or mouth movement differences, although several are due to language processing problems. Speech disorders can form part of other disorders such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, as well as auditory processing difficulties. While some causes are genetic, the rest are unknown.
• Stuttering Normal speech is broken up by repetitions, blocks (inappropriate silent pauses where the intended sounds are unable to be produced) and involuntary prolongations of sounds.
• Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) The child is unable to put sequences of sounds together to form words.
• Articulation disorder Difficulty in forming particular speech sounds properly, so the “s” sound can be produced as a lisp. Problems acquiring certain sounds present in the child’s language, hence those sounds are absent or replaced by another sound altogether.
• Phonological disorder A child produces a sound correctly but uses it in the wrong place in a word. For example, he uses the “t” sound instead of the “k” sound, saying “tea” when he actually means “key”.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
As speech is linked to hearing, whenever experts suspect that a child has a speech delay, they will firstly question his ability to hear, Seery notes. If you believe that your child has a delay or disorder, see a GP as he will check your child’s hearing. Children with chronic ear infections are prone to speech delays.
Your GP may then refer your child to a speech-language pathologist, who is trained to evaluate and treat people who have speech, language, voice or swallowing disorders.
Tham explains, “After doing some tests, the speech-language pathologist may suggest activities for home to enhance speech and language development. It’s important for the therapist to work closely with the parents.”
TALK TO ME
As parents, you play a crucial role in creating a stimulating environment at home to boost your child’s language development. Here are some ways to encourage speech and communication:
• Keep talking to your child Don’t just interrogate – “What’s this?” or “What’s that?” Instead, share what you are doing and what you see with your child, such as “Mummy’s going to cook dinner”, “We’re going to have pasta tonight”, “Pasta is yummy!”
• Allow your child to respond.
• Maintain eye contact when communicating.
• Read to your child Especially picture books, where you and the child point to and name objects.
• Sing to your child Do action songs and rhymes with them, like Incy Wincy Spider and Wheels On The Bus.
• Make the most of play and daily routines Use mealtime, bedtime and bathtime as opportunities to stimulate your children’s language.
• Repeat and expand on what he says Turn his single words or simple phrases into longer sentences or phrases. For example, if he says, “Cat”, you can say, “Cat? There is a cat under the car” or “The cat says ‘meow’!”.
• Don’t rush him Give him time to say what he wants to say.
• Don’t force him to talk When he points to an object that he wants, such as a cup of juice, say “Do you want some juice?” before giving it to him. Don’t withhold what he wants until he asks for it. If you force him to talk, or constantly remind him to “use your words” can lead to increased stress and frustration.
• Teach your baby to imitate actions Such as peek-a-boo, clapping, blowing kisses and waving bye-bye.
If you have any comments or practical suggestions, write to us at editor@family.sg
- Mother & Baby
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