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Speech therapist
For many people the word "speech therapist" is associated with the image of the hero Rolan Bykov in the comic scene from the film "For family reasons". The image of a speech therapist, with the characteristic "feces of fiction," one might say, became a visiting card of speech therapists. But all this is funny when it does not concern the problems of speech.
People are not born with already formed speech. The formation of speech occurs gradually. First, the child learns the correct and precise pronunciation of sounds, gradually linking them into words, which he then tries to put into sentences and then learns to express his thoughts consistently and constructively. Not always the development of speech occurs simultaneously with the mental development of man. It often happens that the development of speech occurs with some features that will help to correct the specialist - speech therapist. In general, a speech therapist is a specialist with a pedagogical education that corrects and eliminates speech disorders in adults and children. The main task of the speech therapist is to study the causes, mechanisms, symptoms, structure of speech disorders and the system of correction of these disorders. When working with children, the tasks of the speech therapist are greatly expanded. Namely, it is necessary to develop attention in children, visual and auditory concentration, the child's general thinking, motor skills of small and general. A systematic approach in the child's educational process allows achieving high results. The tasks of the speech therapist do not have a specific framework, because together with the correction of speech the vocabulary is enriched, a coherent speech develops, and the level of literacy increases. Therefore, the specialization of the speech therapist is quite broad and includes also the basics of psychopathology, neuropathology, pathology of the hearing and speech organs.
Speech therapy is a division of defectology - the science of speech disorders and methods for their prevention, further diagnosis, and elimination. The subject of studying speech therapy is the symptoms, mechanism, structure and course of various speech disorders and a system for correcting these disorders.
The profession of a speech therapist is relatively new and did not have much significance, and recognition before the beginning of the twentieth century. Problems with speech by themselves passed with age. Lack of knowledge in the field of speech therapy, contributed to the fact that problems with speech for a long time were considered a physical defect and they were treated as ordinary diseases. And only in the fifties of the last century the psychological basis of the problem of speech disturbance was established.
Everyone has a social essence and needs constant communication with other people. Communication is an important aspect in people's lives. Problems with speech, defects in diction can be a serious cause of development of the inferiority complex. Many sociable and sociable individuals would not have had the opportunity to be so if the speech therapist had not taken up their time. Undoubtedly, the role of speech therapists in society is invaluable, because their activities can change the destinies of people.
Currently, the speech therapist is a fairly common profession, in view of the significant scale of the speech problem in modern children. The effectiveness of the speech therapist's work is only partially dependent on the specialist himself. A successful result of speech correction can be impeded by various defects in the mouth and jaws, which can not always be removed.
Who is a speech therapist?
Who is a speech therapist and what are his goals and objectives? This we now find out. Specialist in speech disorders in adults and children, in fact, is called a speech therapist. As a rule, a speech therapist is a teacher who corrects, identifies and eliminates speech disorders. Many believe that the speech therapist corrects the problems of sound reproduction. Indeed, the tasks of the speech therapist have a much wider range of activities, including the perfection of the structure of the syllables of the word, the formation of skills in sound synthesis and analysis, the perfection of literate and coherent speech, literacy skills, correction of reading and writing disorders. It is quite obvious that the professional activity of the speech therapist is multidisciplinary and requires profound knowledge of pedagogy and speech therapy, psychology, the fundamentals of neuropathology, anatomy, and human physiology.
In view of the fact that speech refers to the higher mental function of people, the activity of speech therapists is aimed at the development of the child's mental processes, namely, the concentration of attention, perception, both auditory and visual, the development of thinking, motility, memory. Providing qualified assistance to a child becomes impossible if the speech therapist does not have sufficient knowledge of the basics of the physiology of the organs of hearing, speech and sight, neuropathology, and human anatomy. After all, only a systemic approach to the problem of speech disturbance can guarantee an effective correction and a successful result. Therefore, to say definitely - who is a speech therapist, you can only combine all these skills and specialties into one general concept.
When should I contact a speech therapist?
Quite often parents of children ask a question - when should I go to a speech therapist? Do not postpone visit to the speech therapist in case when you communicate with the child you notice wrong pronunciation of sounds, stuttering, lack of understanding of speech, lagging behind the speech development of the child.
Stuttering is characterized by cramps in the muscles of the face, tongue, lips and breathing apparatus of the child. By type, convulsions can be tonic, clonic and mixed. Clonic convulsions are characterized by the repetition of a single sound or one syllable, for example, "in-as-a-help," for tonic seizures is characterized by difficulty in starting speech when the child seems to be stuck on one word. In especially difficult cases, there are mixed convulsions, combining the characteristic features of both types of seizures.
In addition to the characteristic seizures, it is possible to notice characteristic motor tricks - when the child commits, beforehand, or by hand, for example, stroking the forehead, nose, earlobe. Stuttering is accompanied by speech tricks, when the child before the beginning of speech for a long time utters one sound or repeats many times one word, for example, "i-and-and-and-and," "yes ... Yes ... Yes ... Yes ...".
Obvious changes in the behavior of the child, also cause an urgent visit to the speech therapist. When a child is embarrassed by her stuttering, becomes withdrawn, she avoids communication even with her parents. In general, in the future, stuttering significantly complicates the development of the child's personality, perhaps the development of low self-esteem. Do not always worry about stuttering, the seriousness of stuttering is adequate. Very fairly, among speech therapists there is an opinion that stammering affects, first of all, the personality, and only then to speech.
Experts call logophobia an important sign of stuttering. The occurrence of inexplicable fear and fear of situations in which stuttering may occur, for example, answers in class at school, address to strangers in unusual situations.
The question of when to contact a speech therapist can not be left without specificity as to the age of the patients. Obligatory visits to the speech therapist specialists identified in several periods. So, the help of a qualified speech therapist is necessary in cases when:
- a child at the age of two or three months does not reproduce the sounds of walking;
- a child at the age of six or seven months does not babble;
- a kid at the age of one year does not utter sounds;
- a toddler at the age of two does not speak the words;
- all children at the age of three years need a speech therapist;
- a child at the age of five is difficult to express his thoughts, build proposals, retell stories and stories.
In a situation where one should address a speech therapist, parents need to formulate goals and tasks that require the direct participation of a qualified specialist. Such a formulation can consist of such questions:
- learning correct pronunciation of sounds;
- learning the skills of making stories, retelling fairy tales;
- literacy and writing;
- elimination of problems of violations of writing and reading;
- learning the skills of the syllabic structure of the word;
- stretching the hyoid frenum, which interferes with the correct pronunciation of sounds-n- and -p-;
- speech therapy massages.
What kind of tests do you need to pass to a speech therapist?
Many parents ask a specialist before a visit to a specialist what tests should be taken when addressing a speech therapist? The importance of the first visit to the speech therapist is significant, but, nevertheless, there is no need for any analysis or laboratory research. As a rule, everything happens in the speech therapist's office. It is necessary to tell the speech therapist in detail about the arising speech disorders or deviations to which you pay attention. The detail and detail of your story will help the speech therapist to choose a technique for diagnosing and further correcting speech disorders of the child.
Any diagnosis of speech disorders begins with a survey of parents on the composition of the family, language communication of the child, heredity. Answering the questions of the speech therapist, parents need to be extremely accurate in their answers, because they are about their child. Important is information about the early childhood of the baby, the course of pregnancy, the appearance of the child, the physical development of the baby, when he said the first word and sentence.
As practice shows, the first visit to the speech therapist is introductory, the survey is conducted at the following meetings, in view of the possible shyness or shyness of the child. It is possible that the child will not answer the questions of the speech therapist and especially participate in games and training. Such situations are absolutely normal. Unfamiliar situation and conditions, meeting with a stranger contribute to the child's cautious attitude. A qualified specialist knows how to establish personal contact with the child.
Many parents are frightened by diagnoses of a speech therapist, for example, dysarthria, dyslasia. But these logopedic reports are not a medical diagnosis and contain recommendations for the elimination of speech disorders. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the correction of speech disorders is equally dependent on the participation of the child's parents in this process. The length of the correction process directly depends on the serious attitude to the speech therapy sessions of the child and his parents. In some cases, the presence of parents is mandatory. A successful result of correction of speech defects is possible with the efforts of all participants in this process, namely, the child and his parents and speech therapist.
Consultation of the speech therapist is very important and any concern in the issue of speech disorders is justified. Seeking help from a speech therapist in a timely manner, you will greatly contribute to the successful resolution of problems, if any.
What methods of diagnosis does the speech therapist use? Let's take a closer look at what diagnostic methods the speech therapist uses in his practice. In order to detect speech defects, first of all, a speech and physical examination of the child is carried out. The speech therapist needs to thoroughly assess the level of speech development of the child. To do this, you need to find out the correct pronunciation of sounds, the level of his vocabulary and the ability to use it in communication, the correctness of the formation of phrases. The level of speech communication taking into account the age of the child. The child of school age additionally assesses the level of literate writing and reading, the level of development of figurative thinking, the ability to orientate in space, drawing skills, and design. It is very important to evaluate logical thinking and the ability to consistently expound your thoughts. Speech therapist important to know the preferences of the child in games, his interest in games. The formation of the ability of the child's competent speech occurs when the child's emotional development and his needs for communication with people are in place. Evaluation of the level of emotional development is very important when examining a child as a speech therapist.
If violations are found in the speech development of the child, the tasks of the speech therapist are to determine the causes and mechanisms of this violation and determine the strategy of corrective education or treatment with the use of therapeutic and restorative measures.
Currently, parents take their child as much as possible with music, sports, studying foreign languages, ignoring the fact that the child speaks in his native language not well enough. This is certainly a matter for parents, but the child does not need to be overloaded with information, because the limits of human capabilities are not unlimited, everything should be in moderation and in a timely manner.
Timeliness of treatment to a specialist, in fact, determines which diagnostic methods the speech therapist uses.
What does the speech therapist do?
Pedagogical specialization determines what the speech therapist does. The main task of the speech therapist is to evaluate the child's speech development. By revealing the level of the development of the child, for example, the correct pronunciation of sounds, the adequacy of the word stock, the ability to write phrases, the practical skills of speech communication, the speech therapist makes an overall picture of the child's speech development and determines the priority directions of his activity.
A child of school age is assessed literacy and reading skills. Typically, older children assess non-verbal abilities, the degree of development of figurative thinking, the ability to navigate in the space, the skills of drawing, constructing, logical and constructive thinking, the skills of consistent presentation of thoughts. In addition, it is important to know the game preferences of the child, what he likes to play, the variety of games that interest him, as well as the degree of interest in a particular game. The activity of the speech therapist is not limited only to correction of the spoken sounds. First of all, the speech therapist develops the attention of the child, his perception of auditory and visual, develops recognition and discrimination of subjects of situations in the child, the development of memory and logical thinking. This contributes to a successful educational process to enrich the vocabulary of the child, the development of literate speech.
If a child detects deviations in speech development from children of his age, the speech therapist needs to find out the main causes and mechanism of such deviations. To determine the priority directions of correction of speech deviations, the methods of their correction, the participants in the adjustment process, if necessary, other therapeutic and restorative methods. Determine exactly what a speech therapist does is difficult, in view of the multi-profile of this profession. In each case, an individual method for correcting speech disorders is determined.
In general, logopedic practice includes the correction of such speech abnormalities:
- defects in pronunciation of sounds, dysarthria, rhinolalia, dyslalia;
- violation of speech tempo and rhythm, bradilia, stammering, tahilalia;
- voice disorders, aphonia, dysphonia;
- speech underdevelopment, loss of speech, aphasia, alalia;
- violation of written speech, dyslexia, dysgraphy;
All these speech disorders are combined into such groups:
- Violations in the pronunciation of sounds or phonetic speech underdevelopment (abbreviated abbreviation FNR);
- violations of pronunciation of sounds, combined with the development of phonemic hearing or the ability to distinguish sounds (FFNR);
- violations of pronunciation of sounds, problems with vocabulary, grammar, connected speech, and other linguistic structures, or general undeveloped speech (OHR).
What diseases does the speech therapist cure?
Let's take a closer look at what kind of a disease the speech therapist is treating. So, we have already found out that logopedic specialization has a multidisciplinary character. This fact causes many diseases on the profile of the speech therapist. These include stuttering of various degrees, cartilage, lisp, nasal, lack of ability to pronounce words in a certain order, lack of ability to make logical suggestions, treatment of dyslexia of various degrees. Speech defects can be caused by congenital malformations, for example, hare lip or speech defect.
It is not uncommon for adults to turn to the services of a speech therapist or a phonopede.
This, as a rule, is associated with a disruption of the speech device caused by an accident or a transferred disease.
Speech therapists practice the treatment of patients who, due to oncological diseases, remove the larynx, patients with lesions of the brain regions, provoked by sclerotic phenomena or brain tumors, patients with laryngeal integrity disorders and other diseases in consequence of which the speech function is disrupted. In such cases, the treatment technique is assigned individually and depends on the cause of speech disorders.
Children's speech therapists practice in their methods of treating speech disorders in children the use of all kinds of games, trying to create the most favorable environment for the child's free expression.
Methods of treatment are quite diverse. For example, attempts to extinguish a candle or inflate soap bubbles contribute to the development of the ability to give the lips a certain position and develops the ability to control breathing. Putting out his tongue, in front of the mirror or showing his speech therapist, the child learns about possible movements of the tongue. Such exercises contribute to the training of muscles that are actively involved in the pronunciation of sounds. The speech therapist teaches the patient the right breathing, and only then begin to develop the correct voice voice. After this, training in general articulation begins.
Of great importance are regular constant training of the articular apparatus, which are possible as a result of the dialogue between the child and the adult. A peculiar training of the articular apparatus occurs when chewing solid apples or carrots. As a rule, children try to repeat the sounds that the speech therapist tells them. Very often, enough logopedic exercises for the child to get rid of the tongue-tied tongue. Developing games, viewing all kinds of pictures contributes to the proper formation of speech development, training in the correct composition of words and sentences and the development of expressive and coherent speech.
And yet, what kind of a disease the speech therapist cures. First of all, this is a violation of sound pronunciation or dysarthria and dyslasia, violation of speech tempo or stuttering, speech disorders associated with auditory disorders, loss of speech, speech underdevelopment or alalia and aphasia, a defective bite.
Doctor's advice for speech therapist
The advice of a speech therapist doctor will not be superfluous and will be useful to parents of children of different ages, especially since speech problems are now quite frequent.
Specialists-speech therapists noted this pattern - in children who have problems with speech there is a lack of appetite. Eating an apple or carrot becomes a whole problem. This is because the jaw muscles of such children are underdeveloped, which actually hinders the development of the articulatory apparatus. In order to develop jaw muscles and articulatory apparatus, it is necessary to accustom a child to chewing crusts of dried bread, you can even crackers, whole fruits and vegetables, small pieces of meat. To develop the muscles of the tongue and cheeks, you can teach the child to inflate the cheeks and roll the air from the cheek to the cheek.
It is important to develop fine motor skills, the child needs to move fingers as much as possible, for example, to press the keys of the phone, fasten buttons, lace up shoes. Such finger training should be done regularly. As the development of finger motility, the child's speech is formed and becomes clearer.
The development of motility is facilitated by modeling. But it is necessary to ensure that the baby does not take clay in his mouth.
Many parents do not give the child a pair of scissors. On sale there are special scissors for children, excluding the possibility of injury. Cutting with such scissors will be an excellent training, which develops the motor skills of children's fingers.
Few know that the sounds of speech are formed by an air stream that leaves their lungs in the larynx, through the pharynx and mouth.
Normal sound formation is possible due to proper speech breathing, which creates a condition for the normal loudness of speech, the preservation of smooth speech, expressiveness and intonation. Disturbed speech breathing can be the result of a general weakening of adenoidal dilatation, all kinds of diseases of the cardiovascular system. Insufficient attention of adults to the development of the child's speech provokes such violations of speech breathing, irrational use of exhalation, incomplete renewal of air reserves. The child with a weak exhalation-inhalation evident difficulties with loudness of speech, pronunciation of phrases.
The irrational consumption of air disrupts the smoothness of speech, in view of the fact that the child needs to breathe in the middle of the sentence. Very often a child with such problems may not speak the words and at the end of the phrase go to a whisper or end a long phrase, the child speaks on the breath, while speech will be convulsive, fuzzy, with choking. A short exhalation does not give the child a logical pause in speech and he speaks quickly.
Developing the child's speech breath, first of all, you need to form the correct, sufficient strength, a smooth exhalation of the mouth. This exhalation should be gradual. The child needs to explain the need for a gradual exhalation and economical air consumption.
It is very important to develop the child's ability to direct air flows in a certain direction. This can be practiced during games with the child. In doing so, you must constantly monitor the correctness of the child's breathing.
The right oral breath is preceded by the right inhalation. Exhaling is done by a set of a full chest of air through the nose. Exhale need air smoothly without jolting. When exhaling, the lips need to be folded with a tube, without squeezing or inflating the cheeks. Exhalation is necessary through the mouth, not breathing air through the nose. To the child felt the air coming out through the mouth, hold his nostrils briefly. The exhalation should be complete, until the air is completely exhaled. Make sure that during a conversation or singing, the child does not gain air with frequent short breaths.
Carrying out the games developing the child's breathing, keep in mind the possible dizziness in the child. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the duration of such games or the alternation with other developmental exercises.
Of course, the role of parents and close people in the child's speech development is significant. In some cases, it is enough to concentrate the attention of the baby on the correct pronunciation of sounds, and he happily repeats these sounds. With the arising difficulties of pronunciation of sounds, it is necessary to further develop the articulatory muscles with the help of special gymnastics. If the expiration of the month spent lessons pronunciation is not improved, you need a speech therapist. Further nonprofessional studies with the child may contribute to the development of improper pronunciation or even the unwillingness of the child to do anything.
Parents of the baby need to monitor their speech, because they are role models and the first words the child hears from parents.
Parents need to communicate with the child as an equal. The distortion of sound reproduction by the type of "syzyukaniya", "babbling" intonations, imitation of the child's speech is also excluded. The speech of parents should be clear, moderate pace.
When communicating with a child, do not use difficult to understand expressions and phrases and hard-to-pronounce words. Your speech should be as simple as possible for the child's perception.
The meaning of unfamiliar words and expressions should be explained to the child in an accessible and understandable form for him. No mimicking or irritated correction of the child's speech, do not punish the child for mistakes in speech.
Great benefit from reading the child poems appropriate to his age. The development of auditory attention, mobility of the articulatory apparatus, fine motor skills of the hands, certainly contribute to the proper development of speech.
As a rule, communicating with peers, provided that this is a normal language environment, it is possible to have a positive impact on the child's speech development. But not always the child is able to solve speech problems on his own. A lot of adults have speech defects - this is proof of this. Therefore it is very important, if the child has speech disorders, it is necessary to consult a speech therapist. Successful correction of speech depends more on the timely beginning of correction of these violations. The identification of a problem in speech development in the early stages guarantees in most cases the achievement of a successful result. Parents need to remember that the effective correction of the child's speech depends on communication and games at home and the consolidation of knowledge obtained in the classroom with a speech therapist.
Toddlers with obvious speech defects need qualified help from a speech therapist, and do not forget about adequate help from parents. The main advice of a speech therapist, first of all, is in careful communication with the child and timely access to specialist services in case of speech disorders.
Medical expert editor
Portnov Alexey Alexandrovich
Education: Kiev National Medical University. A.A. Bogomolets, Specialty - "General Medicine"
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