Reasons for unclear speech

The growth and development of a newborn baby is a slow and gradual process, and it is also the issue that parents are most concerned about. From learning to toddle to walking upright, and from babbling to having fluent conversations, babies cannot do without the constant guidance of their parents. Normal children have the ability to speak at the age of one, but a few children have the problem of unclear speech. So what are the reasons that may cause the baby to speak unclearly?

What are the reasons for the baby's unclear speech?

1. If you can’t hear correctly, you can’t speak correctly

The initial stage of language development is imitation. The baby must first be able to hear the pronunciation of his parents before he can develop to imitate the pronunciation. Babies with hearing impairments cannot hear clearly, which leads to inaccurate pronunciation, especially heavy vowel sounds. Parents may also find that their baby likes to watch TV at a close distance; when they call their baby from behind, they need to speak very loudly for him to hear. Some babies can even spontaneously learn to "lip read", that is, stare closely at the speaker's mouth shape. This method can help babies understand the other person's language and make up for deficiencies in hearing.

It is necessary to take your baby for a hearing check. If there is indeed a hearing problem, he or she must wear hearing aids. Babies who have completely lost their hearing need to have a cochlear implant. Only when hearing improves can the baby's pronunciation improve.

2. Tongue is restricted

There is a thin strip of tissue between the tongue and the floor of the mouth called the lingual frenulum. Under normal circumstances, the frenulum allows the tongue to move freely, and the tip of the tongue can naturally extend out of the mouth or lick up to the upper gums. However, for a few babies, the frenulum is too short, which restricts the movement of the tongue and prevents it from extending forward normally. The tongue cannot extend out of the mouth or can only extend a little bit and cannot exceed the lower edge of the lower lip. Therefore, the retroflex sounds are often not pronounced clearly. Retroflex sounds are also called rolled tongue sounds, including zh, ch, sh, and r. No matter how the parents correct them, and the baby tries hard to pronounce the words, he just can't do it.

Whether tongue-tie surgery is necessary is a question that many parents struggle with. In fact, 95% of the time, it is unnecessary to perform this type of surgery on babies before the age of two. Even without the surgery, most babies will gradually return to normal. If the baby is under 4 years old and the tongue-tie only causes unclear pronunciation but does not affect his life and health, there is no need for surgical treatment and you can just wait and see.

3. Brain development disorders

There are many chromosomal diseases (such as Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21 syndrome) and inborn errors of metabolism (such as phenylketonuria) that can lead to brain development disorders and affect the development of language functions. At the same time, cerebral palsy is also an important cause. 70% to 80% of children with cerebral palsy will experience language development disorders.

There are many causes of brain development disorders, and we must understand the causes in order to carry out targeted treatment or rehabilitation exercises to improve the condition of the child. The brain tissue of children under 3 years old is not fully developed and is still in a period of rapid development. The brain is highly plastic and has a fast recovery ability. If early rehabilitation and early intervention methods can be applied in time during this period, the potential of high-risk newborns who may develop sequelae of brain injury can be promoted.

4. Development is still immature

A baby's pronunciation gradually changes from unclear to clear. This process is synchronized with the gradual improvement of the baby's body systems. Therefore, as the baby grows older, the problem of unclear and inaccurate pronunciation will gradually decrease. However, a survey shows that 19.82% of children aged 3 to 4 still have inaccurate pronunciation. Young children's pronunciation errors are relatively scattered, and most of the errors are concentrated on consonants due to incorrect pronunciation positions and methods. Why are there fewer inaccurate pronunciations of vowels, but more errors in consonants? Because consonants rely on subtle differentiation of movements of the lips, teeth, tongue, etc. Babies aged three or four often produce unclear sounds because their lips and tongue tips are not strong enough and their lower palate is not flexible enough.

When parents find that their baby does not pronounce some sounds clearly, they should correct them in time, teach their baby to recite songs, tongue twisters, and sing more often, and encourage their baby to express his or her wishes with words rather than body language, which can help the baby's language development. Never make fun of your baby's inaccurate pronunciation, otherwise it will cause psychological harm to the baby, causing the baby to be afraid to speak and affecting the normal development of language function.

5. The impact of the language environment cannot be underestimated

Babies have a strong ability to imitate. If the pronunciation of people around them is clear and standard, babies can learn it easily. If the people at home do not pronounce clearly or speak in dialect, babies can also learn it quickly. The most common phenomenon is not distinguishing between n and l, such as saying "grandma" as "nao nao" or "nannan" as "lanlan". Therefore, it is best to provide a language environment with standard pronunciation from the moment the baby starts learning to speak.