This paper highlights the importance of speech in child development, as well as the role of educators and the environment in speech and language development. The work combines chapters in which speech is emphasized as the basic means of communication between people and brings some of the obstacles that children and educators often encounter. Linguistic and speech development of a child is a long-term process, therefore it requires great patience from parents and educators who must be very supportive of the child and react to his needs, especially in working with children with developmental disabilities. In working with children of early and preschool education, the educator must possess a certain knowledge and approach in working with them in order for development to proceed successfully, therefore some of the essential qualities he possesses are mentioned, which provide the child with autonomy of expression. The family is the child's primary community where they acquire their first words and behaviors. For successful child development, the family environment must provide conditions that encourage exploration, strengthen self-confidence, and the most important, provide love and warmth. The basic means of a child's expression is play, which is a necessary activity whose process is more important than the end result. The importance of play in the speech and language development of the child and the examples used to encourage communication through play are described in the last chapter of this paper. Besides play, media also has a significant role in children's speech development as they are readily accessible to them daily. When the content provided by media is useful, it helps children to communicate in various ways.