Why can't children speak clearly?

When children are a little older and cannot speak clearly, it is probably because of slurred articulation. This is an adverse phenomenon in children's speech development, but it can be improved after some timely correction methods. So why do children not speak clearly?

1-2 years old is the baby's speech learning period, from the beginning of babbling to the gradual increase of vocabulary. Many children under 4 years old have problems with unclear pronunciation. There are many reasons, among which pathological reasons include: congenital cleft lip, cleft palate, short tongue tie, missing or deformed teeth, brain development disorders, hearing loss, etc.

Many parents attribute their baby’s unclear pronunciation to a short tongue tie. As soon as their children show signs of unclear speech, they take them to the hospital to have their tongue tie removed. In fact, this idea is very one-sided. A short frenulum is certainly one of the reasons for unclear pronunciation and incorrect articulation, but it is not the only factor. It generally only affects the inaccurate pronunciation of certain words of children and does not play a major role in the entire pronunciation process.

Generally speaking, the tongue tie of a newborn extends to the tip of the tongue or close to the tip of the tongue, and gradually retracts towards the root of the tongue during development. The tip of the tongue of a normal child gradually moves away from the frenulum after one to two years old. Only some children with abnormal development will have a tongue tie that is too short. Therefore, the tongue tie is mostly in a tense state during infancy, which is a temporary physiological phenomenon. With the increase of age and the eruption of deciduous teeth, the attachment of the tongue tie will gradually move down to the bottom of the mouth, gradually becoming thinner and looser, and the mobility of the tongue will also become more flexible.

Children aged 3-4 have an increasing vocabulary and they want to express their thoughts in their own language. However, they have just learned to speak and their brain’s language center and vocal organs are not yet mature, especially for some complex sounds, which are often pronounced inaccurately. In addition, if a child has been raised listening to a dialect since birth, or if the adults around the child do not speak standard Mandarin, this will also affect the child's Mandarin pronunciation.

A child's pronunciation is related to factors such as hearing function, language environment, intellectual development, and pronunciation level. These factors are generally gradually improved between the ages of 4 and 8. Therefore, there is no need to worry too much about inaccurate pronunciation of infants and young children. Children have a certain ability to correct themselves and will gradually speak clearly. Some normal children may have to wait until they enter school through learning to completely correct their pronunciation. If the child does have pathological problems, then they should be able to improve through targeted treatment.