The pediatrician named the reasons for the child's speech delay

Speech is one of the most important indicators of a child's health, but it develops very individually and often causes concern among parents. Ulyana Markova, an expert at the Hemotest laboratory, pediatrician, told Izvestia on March 5 about the main myths about speech delay and the signs that should make you alert and seek specialist help.

A child's speech development is an individual process: someone begins to speak in sentences by the age of two, and someone utters only individual short words at three. To understand that the child fits within the norm, and development proceeds without violations, experts use reference points.

"By the age of six months, children begin to babble, pronouncing sounds like "ma-ma" and "ba-ba" and react to their name. By the age of one, the first conscious words appear, and the child begins to follow simple instructions. By the age of one and a half years, the vocabulary is about 10-20 words, and by two children combine words into simple phrases, and their vocabulary increases to 50-200 words. By the age of three, children are usually able to build sentences of three or four words and actively communicate with others," the expert said.

She clarified that a slight lag from these standards is acceptable, but it does not always indicate a developmental disorder. But if a child has not started speaking by the age of one and does not respond to his name, by two he does not understand simple requests, and by three he has not developed phrasal speech, you should contact a speech therapist.

According to her, the reasons for speech delay can be different. For some, this is a result of oxygen starvation or injury during childbirth, for others - hearing loss or autistic disorder. Sometimes speech delay is caused by external factors: stress, unfavorable environment at home. The sooner doctors can find out the cause, the easier it will be to correct the disorder and avoid irreversible consequences for the child's speech and psycho-emotional development.

There are many myths surrounding speech development. For example, that boys start talking later than girls. As the pediatrician explained, indeed, the speech center may develop more slowly in boys, but the difference usually does not exceed one to two months. If by the age of two the child does not speak, it is not worth writing off everything to a sexual peculiarity, it is better to undergo an examination.

Another misconception is that the child is silent because the family doesn't talk much. Communication affects the development of speech, but its lack is rarely the only reason for the delay, the doctor emphasized. It is important to exclude other factors — neurological, genetic, psychological.

"If no violations are detected during the examination, speech can be stimulated by creating a developing environment around the child. You should talk more with your child — comment on your actions, ask simple questions. Reading has a good effect on speech development: books with vivid illustrations and a clear plot emotionally engage a child, encourage him to analyze information, and also help expand vocabulary and develop speech comprehension skills," said Markova.

She drew attention to the fact that simple speech therapy exercises (for example, articulatory gymnastics), tactile games, massage, and exercises for fine motor skills (modeling, drawing) are also useful.

The day before, the president of the Association of Pediatric Allergologists and Immunologists of Russia, Yuri Smolkin, told the Izvestia News Center that recently there have been cases when href="https://iz.ru/1848530/2025-03-04/vrach-rasskazal-o-sluchaiakh-diagnostiki-allergii-u-godovalykh-detei " target="_blank">allergies have been diagnosed in one-year-olds. Previously, doctors believed that pollen hypersensitivity was found in children between the ages of three and five.