POSSIBILITIES OF THE SENSITIVE PERIOD IN THE SPEECH DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract. The article discusses the concept of a child's sensitive period and its influence on the development of speech at a certain stages. It is especially noted that improper use of the possibilities of sensitive periods leads to various speech pathologies. The necessity of the correct use of the possibilities of sensitive periods in the child's education is emphasized.

Keywords: sensitive period, speech development, ontogenesis, the zone of the nearest development, preschool age, hypersensitive phases, speech disorder.

A small child has certain sensitive periods when he is most receptive to certain types of activities, to ways of emotional response, behavior, etc. Knowledge of the patterns of speech ontogenesis in early childhood and preschool age, as well as the characteristics of the course of hypersensitive periods, will help the child in the formation and development of his speech function more effectively.

The definition of a sensitive period was first introduced by H. De Vries. Following him, M. Montessori singled out important periods of child development as sensitive periods, during which the child is especially sensitive to certain types of stimulus or interactions and he can easily acquire certain abilities. According to M. Montessori, sensitive periods are characteristic of all children in any country, and at the same time they are individual for each child in time and duration.

In order to support a child in a sensitive period of speech development, it is first necessary to understand how this special susceptibility to language manifests itself. Based on this understanding, it is possible to anticipate the manifestation of the sensitive period, to observe and to recognize the needs of the child, and to provide an environment in which the child can meet their needs and as much as possible use the potential of the sensitive period.

During preschool age, hypersensitive phases of speech development are also noted. This is the accumulation of the first words (from 1 to 1.5 years), the emergence of phrasal speech (from 2.5 to 3.5 years) and the formation of contextual speech (from 5 to 6 years).

The first year of life is very important for the development of those brain systems and mental activity that are associated with the formation of speech. Oral speech presupposes the presence of a voice, and the cry of a child in the first weeks and months of life already characterizes the state of those innate nervous mechanisms that will be used in the development of speech.

Next, children learn to imitate sounds. At this time, they constantly spit out something; inflate bubbles from saliva, which is evidence of the beginning of the training of the muscles of the speech apparatus. The child independently begins to build sounds in a variety of sequences, listening to the speech of others. Children in the second year of life, more often than in another period of early childhood, have a delay in the development of active speech. This is due to the fact that emotional and direct communication continues to prevail over subject-effective communication, which entails a delay in speech development.

At the age of 2.5 - 3 years, the child often talks to himself. This is not a very long stage in speech development: gradually the monologues become internal. In this age interval, there is a second hypersensitive phase of speech development. This is the period when the child actively masters extended phrasal speech. At this time, the child makes the transition from non-symbolic to symbolic verbalization.

The realization of the child's speech plan at this stage is accompanied by mental and emotional stress. Pauses appear in the child's speech between separate phrases, in the middle of phrases and words. This period is accompanied by certain features of speech breathing. A child can start a speech statement on inhalation, exhalation, in the pause between exhalation and inhalation. Any stress during this period, as well as any type of sensory deprivation, can not only change the rate of speech development, but also lead to some kind of speech pathology.

At the age of 3.5 - 4 years, the child begins to use speech purposefully and consciously. This means that with the help of speech he solves his problems and can, for example, ask a friend to close the window, rather than go himself. Children of this age are keenly interested in the symbolic designation of sounds by letters. They can work with a movable alphabet, laying out letters representing individual sounds.

Finally, at the age of about 5-6 years, the child learns to read without coercion and independently. The process of reading also involves understanding the thoughts of other people, which is behind these words. This is the third hypersensitive phase, when contextual speech is normally formed, that is, the independent generation of the text. A child at this age, on the one hand, is extremely sensitive to the quality of speech samples of contextual speech of adults, on the other hand, mental stress can lead to speech pathology, and the restriction of speech communication leads to insufficient formation of monologue speech. In the future, this violation is difficult to compensate and requires special assistance.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, during these periods of crisis, the child needs to pay increased attention from adults. He believed that “certain influences have a sensitive effect on the entire course of development, causing certain profound changes in it. In other periods, the same conditions may be neutral or even have a reverse effect on the course of development”.

If during the sensitive period of speech development the child is influenced by any negative factors, then the normal process of speech development is disrupted. Risk factors can be the absence or violation of conditions of a favorable speech environment, frequent noise environment, changes in the language environment, somatic diseases, emotional deprivation, and limited communication.

It can be concluded that if the necessary conditions for the optimal development of the child are not created and the necessary functions of the sensitive period are not formed, this has a negative impact on its further development.