What is articulatory gymnastics? How is it different from speech therapy exercises? You can draw an analogy with sports. Articulatory gymnastics is an ordinary exercise for general health, and speech therapy exercises are already a treatment aimed at the special development of the muscles of some organ.
When to take action
If by the age of 5 - 7 years the child does not pronounce any letters - it's time to engage with a speech therapist who will help you choose a special complex of articulation gymnastics and focus on the necessary exercises specifically for the correct pronunciation of a certain sound. And you need to do this as quickly as possible. Bad speech can lead to unpleasant consequences. The child will not be in time at school (after all, spoken language affects the formation of writing), he can be teased (which will injure the child’s tender psyche, adversely affect his character). But this can not be brought up if you pay attention to problems with speech in a child in time.
The first steps
And the first signals may appear even in infancy. For example, a child does not like or chews solid foods for a long time. This means that he has weakened chewing muscles, which are not the last to participate in the speech process. Even if the child has problems with sucking milk - this is a signal to strengthen the speech apparatus. Of course, at this age, the child cannot be explained what articulation gymnastics is, but first, let him gnaw something solid: a carrot, an apple or lick a spoon (this strengthens the muscles of the tongue).
With children 2 - 3 years old, it is already possible to carry out articulation gymnastics in a playful way. Even if the child does not learn to pronounce any sounds correctly, such preliminary training will significantly increase the effectiveness of classes with a speech therapist subsequently. But most likely you will notice significant improvements in pronunciation, because articulatory gymnastics is an excellent prevention of speech disorders. Also pay attention to games that enhance the child’s fine motor skills. The connection between speech and finger work is scientifically proven.
How to do
Start with the simplest exercises (or games). Stand together in front of the mirror and “curl up”: puff out your cheeks, smile with a clown smile in your mouth, build all kinds of faces. Even show each other the tongue - this is also a good articulation gymnastics for the tongue, like any facial exercises.
Play role-playing games. This will increase the child’s vocabulary, as children with speech impairment usually have difficulty expressing thoughts. In addition, this is a wonderful development of the emotional sphere of the baby, his spirituality. Engage in between cases, for 3 minutes several times a day. That the kid was interested. Long lessons for the child will quickly get bored. Come up with new elements if you see that the lessons have become uninteresting for the child.
With older kids, a full-fledged articulation gymnastics is performed, but only in a friendly manner. No need to insist if the baby doesn’t succeed, anyway, praise him and he will try.
Articulation gymnastics complex
Choose your own set of exercises that your child likes best and is good at it. There are exercises in poetic form, where the baby himself will guess the rhyme, pronouncing the necessary sounds once again.
One of the simple and universal exercises, for example, contributes to the prevention of acute respiratory infections and pulmonary diseases and at the same time improves the articulation of the child. Teach your child to slowly exhale with different shapes of lips. To do this, as you exhale, you need to continuously pronounce different syllables with the consonants "b" and "m". At the same time, the exhalation is intermittent, which strengthens the respiratory system and speech apparatus.
In any case, make every effort to ensure that the child pronounces all sounds correctly at school. This will help him a lot.