Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Learning to Speak, 1933 - Ursula Wise reassures parents not to worry re slower speech and give some tips on how to help.


March 15, 1933 in The Nursery World

Learning to Speak

Boys are generally later than girls in the whole of their speech development

Worried” writes: “I have been watching with great interest the letters to you and from you which appear in The Nursery World. I have four children under my care. It is about the two and a quarter year old little boy that I wish to ask your advice. He is very backward, and we cannot get him to say one word, not even yes or no! He just screams if he wants or does not want a thing, but will never say a definite word. He understands all that is said to him and will do things he is told to do, such as put his foot or hand into a garment, etc. Can you give me any help in this matter?”

It does sometimes happen that an intelligent boy does not begin to speak until this age, or even a little later. Boys are, in general, later than girls in beginning to speak, and in the whole area of their speech development. Even as late as two and a quarter one does not need to feel afraid that there is anything abnormal; especially since your boy shows that he understands everything that is said. He may begin ay any time quite suddenly, but there certainly are ways of helping him over the first steps. One way is undoubtedly to avoid scolding him or reproaching him for not speaking, since that only gives him a sense of power from his refusal to speak, and what you want is for him to find that he has more power by learning to speak. There is probably some emotional reason for his refusal.

Sometimes it is a feeling of rivalry with the next older child, especially if this older brother or sister happens to be gifted in speech. I have known a number of cases of this type. The younger child is so intensely aware of his own inferior gifts that he cannot bear to use them at all and so does not learn. I don’t know whether this is true in the case of your little charge. A good plan is to avoid anticipating his wants and thus saving him the trouble of speaking. This mistake is often made by older children or mother and nurse, so that the younger child really had no need to speak, since everybody knows what he means and by gestures or grunts. In the case of your little charge it sounds to me as if he were really afraid of opening his mouth actually to speak, since he screams when he wants a thing or wants to refuse it. Now I am sure that this attitude can be changed to some extent by encouraging him to enter into little games or songs or nursery rhymes, etc. Do you ever play with him by way of finger games or getting him to join in the ordinary nursery rhymes – “Five Little Pigs,” “Pat – a – Cake,” and so on? It would be in such pleasant, humorous, playful situations that he would be most likely to forget his fear and lose his inhibition, especially if you refrain from demanding that he should speak. I think you will find that it won’t be very long before he begins to speak if you go on these lines. 







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