20 Yoga for Speech-Language Development
speech, language, cognition, and play skills throughout the
developmental periods. Yoga can enhance the prelinguistic
communication skills of eye gaze, joint attention, and turn-
taking in infants and toddlers. These skills, which reflect the
children’s engagement with their caretakers, are the foundation
for future communicative interactions. For example, turn-
taking with vocalizations and toys during the first two years
of life is the foundation for conversational turn-taking at later
stages of development. The parent-child yoga classes for infants
and toddlers provide many opportunities for engagement and
prelinguistic communication.
The prelinguistic stage is followed by the emergence of early
speech and language. Speech refers to the sounds emitted through
the oral and nasal cavities and takes shape in the form of words
(Hamaguchi 2010). Yoga, with its emphasis on the coordination
of breath with movement, can enhance breath support for speech.
Breath support involves stabilizing the body for proper airflow.
Practicing the yoga poses helps stabilize the body. With the body
strong in proper alignment, speech, which occurs on exhaled air,
becomes more efficient.
Yoga can facilitate the motor act of speaking. The brain sends
signals to the muscles that control the articulators, namely the
tongue, lips, and jaw, to produce clear, connected speech. Two
yoga practices, the poses and chanting (sound sequences), require
motor planning, or praxis. The poses require motor planning at
the level of the body while chanting involves motor planning
for speech. Sequencing movements for speech is important for
generating meaningful spoken language. Repetition of the poses
and chants provides opportunities for children to practice and
eventually master these different motor plans.
Yoga can help children build their vocabulary and linguistic
concepts. By five years of age children understand at least 10,000
words and use at least 900–2000 words (Shipley and McAfee 2009).