Speech development in children 5-6 years old: problems, correction and tasks

Speech development in preschoolers

Normally, by the age of 5-6 years of life, a child’s speech is similar to an adult’s. The main task of developing the ability to correctly express one’s thoughts in a conversation is to prepare a preschooler for learning to read and write. If your baby has difficulty differentiating sounds, he will inevitably have problems writing letters.

A limited vocabulary and inability to consistently express thoughts will not allow the student to retell what he has read or explain the solution to an example.

And you should start preparing for school early and gradually. The tutor will be able to quickly prepare the child. However, the effectiveness of such intensive classes will lose its relevance after 1-2 quarters if the preschooler has speech disorders. Therefore, it is worth starting to prepare for admission to 1st grade 1.5-2 years in advance.

Vocabulary

At 5 years old, a child should actively use about 3-3.5 thousand words. He knows how to generalize concepts (plants, animals, dishes, clothes). In the speech of a preschooler, there are not only the names of everyday objects, but also abstract concepts - love, resentment, planet, universe, etc.

Children 5-6 years old love vocabulary games with rearranging words or making mistakes in the text. Eg:

The bathhouse ran past the man, and the gate growled at our cat.
I chopped the ax with my notebook, and the fence jumped over the cat Egorka.

Grammar

Short answers become longer and more detailed. Children already know how to correctly decline complex forms of nouns. However, they may make mistakes by saying kittens instead of kittens or calves instead of calves. The following speech games help develop grammar:

“Say it the other way around” is a game to find antonyms.
"Broken phone."
"Guess what I'm talking about."
“Finish the sentence.”

The model of literacy is the adults who surround the baby. If family members have problems with the correct placement of stress, speech disorders, or abuse of slang and obscene words, the child will copy them.

Articulation

The vocal apparatus of a preschooler corresponds to that of an adult. If there are no anatomical disorders - a shortened frenulum, malocclusion - children pronounce most phonemes correctly. Most often, children 5-6 years old have difficulty pronouncing the sound “r”. They either replace it with a simpler “l” or “y” - balsuk, not badger, yak, - not cancer, or skip it altogether - baaban instead of drum, vaenik instead of dumpling.

If a child has not learned to pronounce the sound “r” by the age of 5, he will no longer be able to cope with it on his own. You should not expect the child to outgrow the problem. A consultation with a speech pathologist and attendance at speech therapy classes are required.

Another important aspect is long pauses in conversation, or stuttering. This is a complex speech disorder that may take years to resolve. The reason may be:

increased nervous excitability;
strict parents;
too much load on the speech apparatus at an early age;
imitating a relative or friend who stutters.

Logic and consistency

Coherent speech in a preschooler is the result of many years of efforts by parents involved in its development. Such children speak expressively, use epithets and comparisons, and create their own stories. While the baby, whose speech skills have not been developed by anyone, speaks monotonously and inarticulately.

At 5-6 years old, a child composes a coherent story based on a picture, retells the text he heard, expressing his opinion on what he heard or saw.

Children who spend 90% of their free time on a computer or smartphone have difficulties with the coherence and logic of the narrative. It is difficult for him to answer the question in detail. However, he is ready to talk about his favorite characters in the game for hours. If you do not limit the time you use gadgets, this will negatively affect speech development.

How to develop speech at 5 years old?

The main role of parents at this stage is to develop coherent and logical speech. This requires:

expand your vocabulary (get to know concepts, synonyms, antonyms);
practice the skill of accurate retelling;
form literate speech (correct declension in numbers, genders and cases).

Don't forget that at this age your child is still a baby (no matter how strange it may sound). Therefore, in every lesson it is worth remembering the elements of the game. Below I would like to give examples of exercises and games that you can use when working with your children.

We select synonyms. You name any word and ask the child to name a similar one. For example, sad - sad.
We select antonyms. Everything is the same as with the first exercise, but the task is to name the opposite meaning of the word. For example, big - small.
Classify objects into one group or another based on certain characteristics. For example, ask your child what type of sofa there is (soft, large, comfortable, corner, etc.). Then think about which object has the same qualities. For example, a chair. Remember together the general word for these items - furniture.
Grammar exercises. Practice correct agreement of numbers, gender and cases. For example, you say: “I have one book, and on the nightstand...”, and the child continues: “... many books.”
We make a sentence from words. You show cards with words. For example, we, love, listen, music. The task is to formulate a sentence that is grammatically correct: we love listening to music.
Reading children's fiction, rhymes, sayings, tongue twisters and nursery rhymes. This is still one of the most effective ways of speech development. So try to read as much as possible.
Game "Guess". You name the signs of objects, and the child guesses it. For example, red, green tail, grows in summer, added to salads - tomato.
Game "Broken Phone". It's great to play with the whole family. Think of a word and say it quietly in each other’s ears. The last person gives away what he ultimately heard. This develops pronunciation and hearing.

Remember the main rule - spend as much time as possible on your child and communicate with him. Your time, attention, love, care, experience and knowledge are the most valuable things you can give to your children.

A child’s speech at 5 years old can still be improved. So everything is in your hands. I look forward to your likes and comments. See you again!

Generally accepted standards

Normally, a preschooler:

Knows and follows the rules of grammar. He may put the emphasis incorrectly on an unfamiliar word or make a mistake when changing it. However, if a parent or teacher corrects him, the children remember and do not make any more mistakes.
Gives a detailed answer to the question.
Pronounces sounds articulately and clearly.
He can compose a logical story based on a picture or a series of photographs, come up with his own beginning or ending to a fairy tale, retell a text he heard, share emotions from watching a cartoon or spending time together, playing a game.
Describes an object and guesses it from the description.
Can change intonation, voice volume, speed of speech.
Participates in theatrical performances (at home or in kindergarten), artistically recites poetry, and makes intonation pauses.
Selects words that are close or opposite in meaning: joyful and cheerful, laughing and crying.
Actively uses prefixed verbs: the white door is open and the green door is closed.
Able to generalize concepts: fork, plate, pan - utensils; cat, mouse, dog, rabbit - pets; eagle, thrush, tit - birds.
Pronounces most phonemes correctly. The exception is the sound “r”.

Article:

Speech of a child at 5-6 years old: norms
Normally, a child 5-6 years old has a rich vocabulary (up to 2500-3000 words), can come up with a story based on a picture or on a given topic, and retell what he heard (not always accurately). Generalizing words are actively used (flowers, trees, animals, and so on), all parts of speech are found in sentences (noun, adjective, verb, numerals, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, particles, interjections, adverbs, as well as participial and adverbial phrases).

The child often pronounces the actions or thoughts of the characters during the game, and also begins to think about his speech and can come up with “his own” words. At this age, children quickly remember and recite poems and stories.

How to develop speech in a 5 year old child

The main task of parents at the age of 5-6 years is to develop coherent, logical speech. To do this, it is necessary to expand your vocabulary (include epithets, comparisons, synonyms, antonyms), develop the ability to accurately and logically retell the plot, and form competent speech (especially the correct declension in numbers, cases, stress, appropriate use of prepositions).

The following exercises will help you with this:

We select synonyms. Name any word (for example, “cheerful”) and ask the child: “What can you call it differently?” (joyful, in a good mood). If your child finds it difficult to answer, please help.

We select antonyms . Name a word and ask them to say the opposite in meaning. In this way, train nouns, adjectives, verbs and other parts of speech (for example, cold - heat, light - heavy, opened - closed).

We classify objects according to certain characteristics. Ask to list what a closet is, for example (large, rectangular, wooden, white, roomy, wide, narrow, mirrored). Ask to name objects that can be sweet (candy, fruit, cotton wool, sleep). Children 5-6 years old often use generalizing words in their speech (for example, flower instead of tulip), train your child to accurately identify the object (for example, spruce, poplar instead of “tree”)

"Guess it . You name the characteristics of the object, and the child’s task is to guess what you wished for. For example, round, large, striped, green, edible, tasty - “watermelon”

Grammar exercises (correct declension of nouns by numbers, cases, comparison, use of prepositions). You say: “I have one apple, but on the table...”, the child continues: “many apples” - we train declination by numbers. Or “here is the sofa, you and I are sitting on... (the sofa), and now the cat has come up to... (the sofa)” - we train declension by cases.

Make a sentence out of words. Ask your child to make a sentence using certain words. For example, pear, lie, table - “the pear lies on the table.”

We enrich speech with the help of children's literature, proverbs and sayings. Perhaps one of the most effective means for developing speech is reading literature, including riddles, nursery rhymes, poems, proverbs and sayings.

It is very important that when reading together, the child is involved in the process and understands what you are reading to him. Therefore, be sure to explain the meaning of new words and proverbs.

And in order for new words and phrases to become firmly established in the child’s active vocabulary, at first you will have to include them in your speech yourself in the appropriate situation.

It is also worth noting that the child copies the speech of adults. Therefore, if parents incorrectly decline nouns and place stress incorrectly, most likely the child will repeat the same mistakes. Make sure your speech is correct and rich.

The best way to develop the speech of a child of any age is full communication with parents: joint observations of nature and what is happening around, discussion of situations and reading, inventing your own stories and other interesting activities together.

Exercises for the development of speech of a 5-year-old child: 1) continue the series: pear, apple... turnip, potato... chair, sofa... rose, poppy... chair, wardrobe... sparrow, tit... goat, ram... cup, saucer... shorts, T-shirt... slippers , boots... blueberries, raspberries... 2) name it in one word: shirt, T-shirt, sweater, trousers are... sandals, shoes, boots are... potatoes, cabbage, beets are... pike, crucian carp, ruff are... chamomile, peony , lily is... a bed, bedside table, table is... an apple, pear, banana is... a glass, plate, dish is... Give your baby the opportunity to correct you, notice mistakes, say correctly. For example, by showing a picture of a fly agaric, announce that it is a healthy mushroom. Give your words a hint of doubt: “This is a healthy mushroom, right? I think it’s called a fly agaric?” And you will be pleased to hear the reaction: “Yes, this is a fly agaric. But it’s harmful, you can’t eat it!” After all, you introduced your child to this information, and in the forest, during a walk, you demonstrated the fly agaric more than once. The child tries to identify the extra object. Of course, it is better to start working with pictures, because it is much more difficult to complete the task by ear... Let the child point to an extra, inappropriate object and name it: crucian carp, catfish, duck; apple, lemon, turnip; table, clock, sofa; ring, beads, Panama hat; cucumber, orange, tomato; crow, cat, eagle; bus, train, horse; carnation, oak, birch; cow, beetle, goat. Your baby will be happy to correct you when you say: “The butterfly swims, but the fish flies.” "The duck croaks and the frog quacks." "The wolf moos and the cow howls." “The shovel cuts, and the saw digs.” “The mouse growls, and the bear squeaks.” “The broom chops, and the ax sweeps.” “Fire pours, but water burns.” "The wind falls and the snow blows." “The doctor teaches, and the teacher heals.” “The goose cackles and the chicken cackles.” Or structure the task differently: “The watermelon is wooden, but the box is ripe.” “The knife is sweet, but the pear is sharp.” “The water is long and the road is hot.” “The jam is soft, and the chair is delicious.” “The hand is boiled, but the potatoes are strong.” “The table is delicious, and the juice is like iron.” “The child is made of stone and the floor is small.” “The sea is glass and the window is deep.” “The fur coat is river, and the fish is furry.” When playing with words, invite your child to complete the word in the sentence: Yes, yes, yes - the house ran out of water... (yes). Shi-shi-shi - the little ones came running... (shi). La-la-la - I'm floating on a boat... (la). An-an-an - we bought a bar... (ban). Be-be-be - let's play the tru... (be). Va-va-va - there is a tra... (va) growing in the yard. But-but-but - it became that thing in the room... (but) Ha-ha-ga - it hurts but... (ha). So-so-so - the stake fell off... (so). Ko-ko-ko - we will go further... (ko). Am-am-am - I’ll give you a flower from... (I’ll give it). Oot-ut-ut - we're already home... (woot). Ym-ym - coming out of the chimney... (smoke). Doo-doo-doo - I put the book in the locker... (doo). For-for-for - there is a ko... (for) in the meadow. If only we would collect gri... (if only). Li-li-li - we brought the cat home... (li). Ma-ma-ma is the new do... (ma). Goo-goo-goo - I’m running down the street... (goo). When you play with a child, there is a dialogue between you. In the fifth year of life, the child is already capable of a short monologue, that is, a coherent statement becomes available. Pictures will help make monologue familiar to your child. At first, you need to try to get a story from the picture in at least a few sentences. Prepare pictures depicting some events, it is convenient to compose a story from them. For example, seasons. Moreover, the pictures should depict not only nature, but also people. The child tells what the weather is like, what the main signs of a certain time of year are, and how people behave. The highest level of using pictures would be to compile a voluminous story based on a series of plot pictures. First, you help put them in order, well, and then the baby copes with it on his own. Postcards and even photographs will work as pictures.

Who or what is this? Fluffy, tailed, loves milk, hunts mice. (Cat) Toothy, lives in the lake, a thunderstorm for all fish. (Pike) The owner of the forest, he is fond of honey, and goes to bed for the winter. (Bear) He is afraid of everyone in the forest, and changes his fur coat several times a year. (Hare) Sits on the flowers, helps herself, looks like a flower herself. (Butterfly) You can’t draw without it, you can’t edit it, if it breaks, you need to sharpen it. (Pencil) To drink tea, what should you pour it into? (Cup) Wooden, tall, roomy, you can’t do without it - there will be nowhere to put things. (Cabinet) Sharp, iron, cuts everything you can, be careful with it. (Knife)

A game of searching for a hidden object would also come in handy here. Or you can put several items in a pile in one place (on the table), and one separately (under the chair). Have your child list them, indicating exactly where everything is. Well, if a child, while listening to a poem, finishes a line (using different forms of words, and, therefore, endings) - you conduct grammar training with him. cat is waiting, hiding . The mouse was left without a tail, escaping from the cat . And now, even a mile away, he won’t get close to the cat . An old rat - and that one, Seeing a formidable cat , Runs into a hole under the house, So as not to meet the cat , There he trembles and in the dark Remembers the cat . (A. Grachev)

It's time for us to talk about sound pronunciation , it is also getting better and better. In general, by the age of five, a child can already clearly pronounce almost all sounds, including such complex ones as “sh” and “zh”, “l” and “r”, “ch” and “sch”. However, it is possible that a child does not always pronounce sounds correctly, especially in difficult, polysyllabic words. By the age of five, the baby says goodbye to the habit of softening sounds and skipping syllables. If by the age of five he continues to have persistent incorrect pronunciation of sounds, as well as rearrangements of sounds and syllables, omissions, substitutions, etc., then the child can already be asked to perform special exercises for the lips, tongue, and lower jaw . Only this work needs to be done easily, without tension, in small portions, without tiring the little student. Examples of such exercises: - “tube” - make your lips a tube; - “smile” - stretch your lips in a smile; - “proboscis” - stretch your lips with your proboscis and compress them; - “comb” the lower lip with your upper teeth; - “comb” the upper lip with your lower teeth; - “funnel” - pull your lips into your mouth; - “rinsing” - puff out your cheeks and “rinse” your mouth with air; - “gun” - puff out your cheeks, release air through loosely compressed lips; - “cork” - puff out your cheeks, sharply open your lips; - “injections” - prick the cheeks from the inside with the tip of the tongue; - “spatula” - open your mouth, place your wide tongue on your lower lip; - “needle” - open your mouth, push your narrow tongue forward; - “cup” - open your mouth wide, lift the front part and lateral edges of the tongue upward, without touching the teeth; - “fungus” - open your mouth and suck your tongue to the roof of your mouth; — “column” — open your mouth, place the tip of your tongue in the area behind your upper teeth and hold for a few seconds; - “pendulum” - open your mouth slightly, smile and move the tip of your tongue from one corner of your mouth to the other; - “swing” - open your mouth, stretch your tongue in turn to your nose and chin; - “jam” - open your mouth halfway, lick your lips one by one with the tip of your tongue; - “horse” - open your mouth, suck your tongue to the roof of your mouth, click several times.

Don't forget about auditory attention . After all, a child can already notice how the words spoken by others can be similar, and how the words can differ. Listen to the baby’s speech, can you hear any attempts to rhyme words? If there are such attempts, let's use it and include rhyming in our classes. Don't laugh at your child's poetic experiences. The baby is trying to compose, he hears, feels consonant words, and, therefore, distinguishes sounds and listens to them. We offer options for rhymes, simpler and more complex: count - (floor) gave - (small) was - (soap) volume - (house) Dasha - (Masha) file - (fork) bunch - (cloud) spoons - (legs).

By the age of five, the child recognizes the sound in a word by ear and can match the word to the sound you specify. Let’s say the sound “sh” is not pronounced clearly enough. We prepared pictures depicting, for example, a hat, a ball, a gun, a pencil. And let the baby name the objects he sees in the pictures and try to slightly highlight the “sh” with intonation: “Shhatka...”.

Results: So, by the age of five, your baby: - Has a vocabulary of about 3000 words. - Knows his address. - Uses sentences of 5-6 words. — Uses all types of sentences, including complex ones. - He knows how to retell. - Pronounces almost all sounds correctly. — Defines right and left in oneself, but not in others. - Knows simple antonyms (big - small; hard - soft). - Uses past, present and future tenses. - Counts to ten. - Knows the purpose of objects and can tell what they are made of.

Signs of speech underdevelopment

The main sign of speech disorders is a violation of diction and articulation. A child with speech delay pronounces words unclearly, it is difficult to understand him, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to track his speech literacy. Articulation is impaired, most phonemes cause difficulties in pronunciation.

These children have a limited vocabulary. It is noticeable to any adult that he is inferior to his peers in the ability to logically and consistently express his thoughts. Preschoolers with speech impairments are limited to short phrases containing only a noun and a verb. It is difficult for them to describe the subject, formulate and argue their thoughts.

If at least one of the listed signs is present, the help of a speech therapist-defectologist is required.

Diagnostics of speech development of children 5 years old

Check:

Can a child describe an object in detail or identify an object based on the listed characteristics and select synonyms? For example, round, red, rubber - “ball”.
Can he control the volume of his voice and slow down or speed up his speech?
How does the child answer your open(!) questions: briefly and dryly or extensively, logically and emotionally? For example, the question “What did you especially like and remember about the zoo?” – “Everything” (short answer), “How the hippopotamus swam, the deer ate grass and ran with the fawns...” (extended answer)
Does the picture make up a story?
What mistakes does a child usually make in speech? Pay special attention to the agreement of nouns (in gender, number, case), stress. For example, a child may say: “many windows” (instead of “many windows”)
Does the child pronounce all sounds correctly? Our flash mob game will help you examine sound pronunciation.

You may have noticed that when answering our questions, the child makes mistakes. Don’t be upset, you still have time (before school) to fix everything, and we will tell you which exercises will best help improve your speech level. These exercises will not be superfluous for a preschooler, who fully corresponds to the age norm.

Diagnosis of speech disorders

To identify speech disorders in children 5-6 years old, ask:

Describe the action of the person or object in the picture. For example: what is the eagle doing? (flies). What is the girl doing? (combs his hair).
Indicate the action opposite to that named by the speech therapist: “lay down - stood up”, “ran - stood”, as well as the antonym of the proposed sign: “cheerful - sad, slow - fast”.
Say what the baby of this or that animal is called. For example: a cat has a kitten, a fox has a little fox, a dog has a puppy, an elephant has a baby elephant.
Name the shape and color of the drawn figure (triangle, circle, oval, square).
Describe the item. “What kind of chair?” - “Soft, cozy, warm, with wooden armrests, gray, large.”
Take a toy that lies ON the table, UNDER the stool, IN the drawer, IN FRONT of the bag, BEHIND the book, BETWEEN the chairs. This allows you to determine whether the baby understands prepositions correctly.
Convert singular to plural. One nightingale - two nightingales, one drop - three drops, one village - five villages.
Change the noun by case. What? Bed. Shall I lie on what? Beds. Made what? Bed. Pushed towards what? To the bed. I'll tell you what? About the bed.
Agree verb and noun according to gender. The cat came into the kitchen. How about a cat? The cat came into the kitchen.
Name what is shown in the pictures. For this task, pictures are selected in the same color scheme. Red fish, red cherry, red jacket, red flower.
Repeat difficult words after the speech therapist: excavator, electricity, perestroika, shipwreck, propeller. The baby repeats each word 2-3 times. And the specialist monitors whether the child rearranges syllables, replaces or skips sounds, and whether the stress is placed correctly.

How to deal with violation

The level of speech development of a preschooler depends on the diction of the adults around him, the specifics of upbringing in the family, and the efforts made by parents. By completing simple tasks for speech development, the child learns skills in a playful way that will be useful to him at school.

Spending time together with parents is of no small importance: active recreation, visiting museums and theaters, drawing, modeling, folding a puzzle, discussing pictures in a book, while simultaneously commenting on one’s feelings and emotions. All this is a powerful stimulus for the child’s speech development.

Doing exercises to train diction, memorizing counting rhymes, tongue twisters, riddles and poems allows you to correct pronunciation and enrich your vocabulary. It is important to clarify unclear words and phraseological units so that the preschooler can use them correctly in the future.

Speech therapists recommend reading aloud to your child as much as possible. After reading, you should discuss the fairy tale or story, explain the meaning of new words, and evaluate the actions of the characters.

Speech development tasks for children 5-6 years old allow you to develop skills in logical presentation and argumentation of thoughts:

compiling a story based on a picture;
detailed answer to questions based on the text;
retelling what was heard.

You should stop the baby, correcting incorrectly pronounced words and ask him to repeat the word without error. Home theater will allow the child to show his acting abilities, learn to use his voice, making it quieter or louder, use intonation, and pause.

The development of oral speech is the basis for mastering reading and writing, as well as the key to successful learning at school. Therefore, it is worth starting classes as early as possible. And if violations are detected, consult a speech therapist and correct the pronunciation.

When you need help

Reacting with a smile to words

Experts assure that you can understand what problems may arise in speech almost from birth:

if by the end of 1 month the baby does not try to let him know by screaming that it is time for him to eat, or when he experiences discomfort;
if at the end of 4 months he does not respond with a smile;
if by the end of the fifth month he does not make individual sounds, pointing with his gaze at the object he means. For example, mom asks: “Where is the rattle?”;
by the end of the 7th month does not try to attract attention with the help of spoken sounds;
at the end of the 9th month, words consisting of repeated syllables, such as “ma-ma”, “pa-pa”, did not appear in the baby’s vocabulary;
at 12 months does not respond to simple requests: “Give me a toy.”

Types of speech defects

Before you start classes, you need to know the types of speech disorders:

stuttering;
dyslalia;
nasality;
neurological diseases.

For your information! To identify them, you just need to regularly communicate with your child.

Practical advice and teaching materials for correcting pronunciation

Basic characteristics of speech at 5-6 years old

By this time, speech develops and becomes more complex. The baby is already able to make hissing and whistling sounds. The expressiveness of speech increases, you can notice this when reading poetry and in role-playing games. It becomes coherent and sentences become more common. Children are already able to retell a fairy tale or describe a picture.