Who is a speech therapist and what do they “eat” him with? Speech therapist

Specializes in the correction of speech disorders in both children and adults.

IN modern practice Pedagogical and psychotherapeutic methods of correction, listening (listening to audio recordings) and much more are used.

Treatment with a speech therapist should begin as early as possible, since correcting such disorders becomes increasingly difficult with age.

What is the competence of a Speech Pathologist?

Its task is to comprehensively assess the state of the child’s speech.

This means that it is necessary to find out whether the child pronounces speech sounds correctly for his age, whether he knows a lot of words (experts call this “vocabulary capacity”), whether he constructs phrases correctly, and whether he can communicate well enough through speech. If your child is of school age, then in addition to the above, the ability to write and read fluently is assessed. In addition, there is usually a need to assess the state of the child’s non-speech abilities.

It is necessary to find out how developed creative thinking. The ability to navigate in space, the ability to design, draw, think logically and consistently express one’s thoughts are assessed. It is important to know how and what a child can play, how rich and varied his games are.

Contrary to popular belief, a speech therapist does not only “produce” sounds. The work of a speech therapist in a correctional group begins with the development of attention, visual and auditory perception(recognition and discrimination), memory and thinking. Without this it is impossible to establish a full-fledged educational process. The tasks of a speech therapist include expanding and enriching children’s vocabulary, developing coherent speech and teaching literacy, and correcting grammatical errors.

In addition to mastery of methods for correcting oral and writing, a speech therapist is familiar with the basics of neuropathology, psychopathology, pathology of hearing and speech organs.

If some deviation in speech development from the age norm is detected, then the speech therapist’s task is to understand the causes and mechanisms of this deviation, decide who and how can help the child, whether the child needs long-term remedial training with the participation of a speech therapist, treatment and other therapeutic and restorative measures.

What diseases does a speech therapist treat?

- violations of the pronunciation of sounds (dyslalia and dysarthria);
- violations of the rhythm and tempo of speech (stuttering, reactive stuttering);
- speech disorders associated with hearing impairment;
- underdevelopment of speech or loss of speech (alalia, aphasia);
- incorrect bite.

What organs does a speech therapist deal with?

A speech therapist corrects speech defects.

When should you contact a Speech Pathologist?

- late development of speech;
- impaired speech understanding or defective sound pronunciation;
- stuttering.

The main sign and symptom of stuttering are cramps in the muscles of the child’s face, lips, tongue, and respiratory system.

They are clonic in nature, when the child repeats one sound or one syllable (“let’s go, let’s go”). And there are more severe convulsions - tonic - when the child simply cannot start speaking, as if he gets stuck on a word. There may also be mixed type convulsions.

In addition to seizures, parents may notice other signs of stuttering - these are motor tricks. Before starting to speak, the child performs some action: twitches his earlobe, taps his hand.

Speech tricks - a person, in order to start speaking, pronounces a sound for a long time or repeats the same word many times (“uh-uh-uh”, “And I... and I... and I...” ).

Personal changes in the child.

Children with stuttering worry about their speech and may refuse to communicate even with loved ones. And in the future, in adolescents, such speech pathology can even make it difficult to choose a profession. Not to mention that stuttering lowers a child's self-esteem. Although often the experiences are not always adequate to the severity of stuttering. It is not for nothing that speech therapists believe that when stuttering, it is not speech that suffers, but the person’s personality as a whole.

Another important sign of stuttering is the so-called logophobia. Fear, fear of speech and situations in which stuttering may occur, for example, answering in class in front of the whole class, making a request to to a stranger on the street.

When and what tests should be done

A physical and speech examination of the child is carried out to identify speech defects.

What are the main types of diagnostics usually carried out by a speech therapist?

A physical and speech examination of the child is carried out to identify speech defects. Very often, children who speak poorly for their age also eat poorly.

As a rule, it’s a real problem for them to eat an apple or a carrot, not to mention meat. This is caused by weakness of the jaw muscles, which, in turn, delays the development of movements of the articulatory apparatus.

Therefore, be sure to force your child to chew crackers and whole vegetables and fruits, bread with crusts and chunks of meat. To develop the muscles of the cheeks and tongue, show your child how to rinse his mouth. Teach to puff out your cheeks and hold the air, “roll” it from one cheek to the other.

Do not forget to develop fine motor skills - that is, the baby should work as much as possible with his naughty fingers. No matter how tedious it may seem to you, let the baby button his own buttons, lace his shoes, and roll up his sleeves. Moreover, it is better for the child to start training not on his own clothes, but first to “help” the dolls and even the parents get dressed.

As the child's fingers become more agile, his language will become more and more understandable not only to his mother.

It is very useful for kids to do modeling. Just don’t leave your baby alone with plasticine in order to stop his desire to taste the molded ball in time.

Many mothers do not trust their child with scissors. But if you stick your fingers into the rings of scissors along with your children’s and cut out some figures, you’ll get an excellent workout for your hand.

The source of the formation of speech sounds is an air stream leaving the lungs through the larynx, pharynx, oral cavity or nose to the outside.

Correct speech breathing ensures normal sound production, creates conditions for maintaining normal speech volume, strictly observing pauses, maintaining fluency of speech and intonation expressiveness.

Speech breathing disorders can be a consequence of general weakness, adenoid growths, various cardiovascular diseases, etc.

Such imperfections in speech breathing, such as the inability to rationally use exhalation, speech while inhaling, incomplete renewal of air supply, etc., which negatively affect the development of children’s speech, may be due to improper upbringing and insufficient attention of adults to children’s speech.

Children who have weakened inhalation and exhalation, as a rule, speak quietly and have difficulty pronouncing long phrases. If air is used irrationally, the fluency of speech is disrupted, since children are forced to take in air in the middle of a sentence. Often such children do not finish the words and often pronounce them in a whisper at the end of the phrase. Sometimes, in order to finish a long phrase, they are forced to speak while inhaling, causing speech to become unclear, convulsive, and choking. A shortened exhalation forces you to speak phrases at an accelerated pace, without observing logical pauses.

When starting to develop speech breathing in a child, it is necessary first of all to form a strong, smooth oral exhalation. At the same time, it is necessary to teach the child to control the exhalation time and use air sparingly.

Additionally, the child develops the ability to direct the air stream in the desired direction.

During the games described in the article, constant monitoring of correct breathing is necessary.

Remember the parameters of correct oral exhalation:

Exhalation is preceded by a strong inhalation through the nose - “we take a full chest of air”;
- exhalation occurs smoothly, and not in jerks;
- during exhalation, the lips form a tube; you should not purse your lips or puff out your cheeks;
- during exhalation, the air comes out through the mouth, you should not allow the air to escape through the nose (if the child exhales through the nose, you can pinch his nostrils so that he feels how the air should come out);
- you should exhale until the air runs out;
- while singing or talking, you should not take in air with frequent short breaths.

When playing games aimed at developing a child's breathing, it is necessary to keep in mind that breathing exercises quickly tire the child and can even cause dizziness.

Therefore, such games must be limited in time (you can use an hourglass) and be sure to alternate with other exercises.

Promotions and special offers

Medical news

07.12.2018

Experts from Aarhus University (Denmark), together with scientists from the University of Queensland (Australia), argue that vitamin D deficiency in the blood of a newborn subsequently increases the risk of developing schizophrenia in adulthood.

Experts from the University of California (USA) have developed dosage form to fight Alzheimer's disease

16.05.2018

Experts have been able to establish that the use of a complex of drugs that contain protein molecules can extend the period of time before the onset of dementia.

Medical articles

The diagnosis of glioblastoma is perceived by patients as a death sentence, but doctors are now able to prolong the life of patients with this aggressive type of brain tumor.

The technique of treating teeth while preserving the pulp when making crowns is not often practiced by orthopedic doctors, since complications from overheating of the nerve during treatment led to inflammation and the teeth began to hurt under the crowns

During the period of mastering the physical world, the child has a need to do everything himself, which, naturally, he does not do “correctly”, but by experimenting and making mistakes. Adults either prohibit independent actions or interrupt them before the child...

How to remove tartar at home? Tartar is hardened plaque that forms on the surface of teeth. In this article we will look at traditional methods removing tartar at home.

How to choose toothpaste and which one toothpaste the best? A tube of toothpaste is a common guest on the bathroom shelf. We all know from childhood that to keep teeth healthy, they should be brushed with toothpaste.

A baby who has just been born does not have any speech skills, he cannot pronounce clear sounds, and even more so does not know words and cannot communicate with the people around him. The child learns all this in the process of his growth and development. But there are cases when the development of speech is delayed or individual specific, and it is in such cases that a visit to a speech therapist will help the child’s correct speech development.

The essence of the work of a speech therapist

The work of a speech therapist is to detect and correct defects in children's and adult speech, while the specialist’s task is not only correct positioning sounds, but also the development of fine and gross motor skills, as well as such cognitive abilities, such as perception, attention, thinking, memory.

At an appointment with a speech therapist, parents will learn what speech problems their child has, what the correct formation of children’s speech is, and what methods and techniques can be used to achieve it. The speech therapist, taking into account the child’s age, correlates the number of words used in speech with the norm, evaluates the pronunciation of individual sounds, the construction of sentences and the child’s communication skills. In other words, a speech therapist will expertly analyze the situation and make a conclusion whether the child needs special classes.

In classes with a speech therapist, the child performs exercises aimed at developing correct sound pronunciation and developing his articulation and forming his phonemic hearing and grammatical structure.

It is worth noting that a speech therapist must have a higher Teacher Education specialty speech therapist, speech therapist teacher, defectologist.

Why should you see a speech therapist?

Firstly, parents cannot always independently identify all speech defects and problems that a child has. These problems may exist unnoticed by a parent’s unprofessional hearing (with regard to speech therapy), so it is imperative to show the child to a specialist.

Secondly, problems in speech development that remain unsolved can lead to a child’s lack of readiness for school. In addition, these problems will only increase if you do not contact a speech therapist in time. Very often you can come across the opinion that if there are defects in a child’s speech, then they do not need to be corrected, they will go away on their own after some time. But this opinion is wrong, because as the child ages, it becomes more and more difficult to correct speech problems.

What could be the consequences of ignoring problems? If sounds are pronounced incorrectly, the child may become withdrawn, have problems communicating with peers, as well as internal complexes that prevent them from fully using their potential. Without the ability to distinguish sounds from each other by ear, a child may have problems writing letters and reading. Without the skill to correctly construct phrases and sentences, difficulties may arise in correctly expressing your thoughts.

When should you contact a speech therapist?

Previously, there was an opinion that the first appointment with a speech therapist should be scheduled for the child’s 5th birthday. However, by the age of 5, most children already have almost formed speech. Therefore, it is now believed that the most suitable age is 2-3 years. It is during this period that speech development is particularly intense, and many problems are easier to correct and prevent.

There are certain standards, based on which a parent can understand whether his child’s speech is developing correctly or incorrectly, in a timely manner or with a delay. If she lags behind the standards below, you should contact a speech therapist as soon as possible.

Age standards for proper speech development:

Having reached the age of 1 year, a child has 3-4 words in his vocabulary, which can still be called babble. He already understands some words and phrases of his parents, what is being said, and can also complete simple tasks such as “give me a toy,” “take a spoon,” etc.

At 2 years old lexicon child - from 50 words and above, can compose a simple sentence of 3 words, and also performs two-step tasks such as “open the closet and take out a toy.” By the age of 2, a child should master the sounds p, b, f, v, d, t, n, m, g, k.

At 3 years old, a child, as a rule, knows how to connect words in the correct sequence, distinguishes and correctly speaks words in the singular and plural, uses cases, simple prepositions (with, under, on, for, in, etc.) and conjunctions ( when, because, etc.)

At 4 years old, a child can use more complex prepositions (because of, from under, instead of, etc.) and conjunctions (where, what, where, etc.) in sentences, and is also already able to pronounce correctly whistling sounds ts, s, z, hissing zh, sh, shch, ch (the situation is allowed if a little later than 4 years) and sounds e, s.

At 5-5.5 years old, the child fully masters words used in everyday life, and also uses generalizations (fruits: orange, grapes, etc., furniture: chair, table, sofa, etc.). In the pronunciation of words there should no longer be any rearrangements or omissions of sounds and syllables (with the exception of words that are difficult to pronounce). By the age of 6, the sounds l, r are mastered, and now the child knows and correctly pronounces all the sounds in the language.

It is important to remember that speech development is individual in nature, and each child needs his own approach when correcting speech deficiencies, which a specialist can choose. Therefore, you should not be afraid of seeing a speech therapist, because his task is to help the child. If speech development does not correspond to age-appropriate norms, a speech therapist will explain in detail the essence of the problems and give advice on how to correct them, as well as conduct a course of special classes. If speech development proceeds according to age norms, the speech therapist will advise how to maintain the achieved results and successfully master the language in the future.

Beautiful, correct speech will allow your child to achieve great success in the future!

What does a speech therapist do?

Contrary to popular belief, a speech therapist does not only “produce” sounds. The work of a speech therapist in a correctional group begins with the development in children of attention, visual and auditory perception (recognition and discrimination), memory and thinking. Without this, it is impossible to establish a full-fledged educational process. The tasks of a speech therapist include expanding and enriching children’s vocabulary, developing coherent speech and teaching literacy, and correcting grammatical errors.

Can a mother herself determine whether her child needs a speech therapist?

Children master correct speech gradually over several years. Each age has its own norm. By the age of one year, a normally developing child already uses 3-4 “babble” words, understands individual words, and relates them to specific objects. Understands simple instructions, accompanied by gestures (“where is mom?”, “give me a pen,” “no”). By the age of two, he uses sentences of two or three words, understands and correctly follows two-step instructions (“go to the kitchen and bring a cup”), and has a vocabulary of at least 50 words. By the age of two, the child can already pronounce sounds correctly: p, b, m, f, c, t, d, n, k, g. If by the age of 2.5 years a child has not formed elementary phrasal speech, it means that the rate of his speech development lags behind the norm. In the speech of a three-year-old child, the ability to correctly connect different words into sentences is gradually formed. From a simple two-word phrase he moves on to using a complex phrase using case forms singular and plural nouns, uses simple prepositions in sentences (on, in, under, for, with, from) and unions (because if, when). By 3.5 years, the number of adjectives increases significantly. In the speech of a four-year-old child, complex and complex sentences are already encountered, prepositions are used (by, before, instead of, after, because of, from under), unions (what, where, how much). By this time, whistling sounds have become familiar. (s, z, c), and s, uh, somewhat later hissing (w, f, h, sch). Sounds r, l usually appear by 5-5.5 years. By the age of five, the child fully masters everyday vocabulary and uses general concepts ( clothes, vegetables etc.). There are no longer omissions or rearrangements of sounds and syllables in words; the only exceptions are some difficult unfamiliar words ( excavator and so on.). All parts of speech are used in the sentence. The child masters all the sounds of his native language and uses them correctly in speech.
If children's speech differs significantly from these norms, you should contact a speech therapist.

Can parents correct their child’s speech themselves?

Undoubtedly, it is difficult to overestimate the role of the mother or other close people in the development of the child’s speech. Currently, a lot of books and games have appeared to help parents develop their child’s speech.
Sometimes it is enough to attract the baby's attention to the correct pronunciation of a sound to get a positive effect. In other cases, it is first necessary to develop articulatory muscles with the help of articulatory gymnastics. However, if, despite your efforts, the child has not learned to pronounce sounds correctly within a month of lessons, it is best to turn to a professional. Further attempts to correct the pronunciation may aggravate the problem - for example, it may reinforce the child’s incorrect pronunciation or even discourage the child from studying.
Pay special attention to your own speech, since for children aged 1 to 6 years, parents’ speech is a role model and the basis for subsequent speech development. It is important to adhere to the following rules:

- you cannot “lisp”, that is, speak in a “babbling” language or distort sound pronunciation, imitating the speech of a child;
- it is desirable that your speech is always clear, fairly smooth, emotionally expressive, and moderate in tempo;
- when communicating with a child, do not overload your speech with difficult to pronounce words, incomprehensible expressions and phrases. The phrases should be fairly simple. Before reading a book, new, unfamiliar words found in the text must not only be explained to the child in a form understandable to him, but also illustrated in practice;
- you should ask only specific questions, do not rush to answer;
- a child should not be punished for mistakes in speech, mimicked or corrected irritably. It is useful to read age-appropriate poetic texts to children.

- It is very important to develop auditory attention, mobility of the articulation apparatus, and fine motor skills of the hand.

Advice from a speech therapist!

How to organize speech therapy classes at home?

You will need:

1. A table mirror so that the child can monitor the correctness of the exercises;

2. “Lotto” of various topics (zoological, biological, “dishes”, etc.);

3. Models of fruits, vegetables, etc.;

4. Cut pictures from two or more parts, cubes. The main difficulty for parents is the child’s reluctance to study. It is necessary to interest the child. Since the main activity is a game, classes should be built according to the rules of the game. You can “go on a journey” to a fairy-tale kingdom or visit Dunno. The plush doll can also talk to the baby. To achieve results you need to practice every day. The following are held daily:

Development games fine motor skills;

Articulation gymnastics;

Games to develop auditory attention or phonemic awareness;

Games for the formation of lexical and grammatical categories.

Let's start with you!

Alas, most parents notice that their child does not pronounce some sounds only when enrolling him in first grade. And then daily classes begin, both with a speech therapist and at home, just to have time to “pull up” the child before September 1st. But when a child was silent at 2.5 years old, some said: “He understands everything, he’s just lazy,” or “He’s just like his dad (aunt, grandfather), he also spoke late.” But such a delay in itself should have raised alarm bells.

Other parents, on the contrary, having read a lot, are looking for a way out of the situation and are surprised: “I did everything as recommended: I didn’t lisp, spoke in full words, read a lot, put on audio cassettes to listen to.” But this did not bring the desired result: after all, they loaded the child with backbreaking work. And the child needs strictly dosed activities; he cannot be overloaded.

Articulatory apparatus.

Very often, children who speak poorly for their age also eat poorly. As a rule, it’s a real problem for them to eat an apple or a carrot, not to mention meat. This is caused by weakness of the jaw muscles, which, in turn, delays the development of movements of the articulatory apparatus. Therefore, be sure to force your child to chew crackers, whole vegetables and fruits, bread with crusts and chunks of meat. To develop the muscles of the cheeks and tongue, show your child how to rinse his mouth. Teach to puff out your cheeks and hold the air, “roll” it from one cheek to the other.

Visibility.
Voice any situation - but only if you see that the child hears and sees you. Don't talk into emptiness, look into his eyes. Try to let him see your articulation.

Speak clearly.
Speak simply, clearly, pronouncing every word and phrase clearly. It is known that children are very sensitive to intonation, so try to pronounce each word that has logical emphasis as expressively as possible.

Speak differently.
Repeat the same word and phrase many times, changing the order of the words. “GRANDMOTHER HAS COME. OUR GRANDMOTHER CAME.” This makes it easier for the child to hear and understand: phrases are divided into words. If you want your child to learn a word, try to use it in different contexts and more than once. Do not overdo it. Don't use too many long phrases.
Do not overload your child by presenting him with a large number of obviously unfamiliar words at once.

Good mood.
Try to pronounce a new word in an emotionally favorable situation: in such conditions, the child learns and absorbs information 10 times better than in neutral or unfavorable conditions.

Speech is based on the desire to communicate.
No matter how imperfectly your child speaks, accept and support his desire to communicate with you. Even if he doesn’t speak at all, engage him more often in non-verbal dialogue, welcoming and approving any response (gesture, expressive look). At the same time, turn off the music, TV and try to give him the opportunity to hear you and himself. Speech develops on the basis of imitation and self-imitation - therefore he needs to hear himself.

Learn through play.
While playing, learn to imitate (two dogs bark, two pussies meow, roll calls: ah-ah). Create these specifically game situations, where the child will need onomatopoeia, or will need to pronounce some words in order for the game to take place. Please note: it is not you who motivates, but the situation.

Expand your baby's vocabulary.
The child speaks words at 2 levels: understands words - this is a passive dictionary, speaks - this is an active one. The active vocabulary can be quite small. Try to enter into the active dictionary the names of the things that surround him (toys, kitchen utensils, household items), the names of things and creatures in pictures and books, and, of course, the names of relatives and close people. Teach your child to show where the hands are and where the legs are (for the doll, for you). Ask more often: “Where is the table? Where is the clock? etc. This will certainly lead to the so-called lexical explosion: in the future, the child will transfer into the active dictionary what you taught him by looking at pictures together, reading books and commenting on his actions. Develop phonemic awareness by encouraging you to distinguish words that differ in one sound (rat - roof, nose - knife).

Read.
Read short poems and fairy tales. Reread them many times - don’t be afraid that your child will get tired of it. Children perceive texts that they have heard many times before much better. If possible, try to act out the poem - show it in faces and with objects; and give these objects to the child to play with. Wait until the child remembers the poem well, catches its rhythm, and then try not to finish the last word of each line, letting the child do it. Sing simple songs to help him perceive and reproduce the rhythm.

Fingers help speech.
Pay attention to the development of fine motor skills - precise movements of the fingers. Modeling, drawing, finger theater, playing with small objects - all this will help speech, and in the future, writing. The child should work with his naughty fingers as much as possible. No matter how tedious it may seem to you, let the baby button his own buttons, lace his shoes, and roll up his sleeves. Moreover, it is better for the child to start training not on his own clothes, but first to “help” the dolls and even the parents get dressed.
As the child's fingers become more agile, his language will become more and more understandable not only to his mother.

Only you!
Remember: only you and your faith in the child’s strengths and abilities can help him develop harmoniously. About the benefits of articulation gymnastics in the development of a child preschool age. Gymnastics for arms and legs is something familiar and familiar to us. It’s clear why we train muscles: so that they become dexterous, strong, and mobile.

But why train the language? After all, he is already “without bones.”
It turns out that the tongue is the main muscle of the speech organs. And for him, like for any muscle, gymnastics is simply necessary. After all, the tongue must be well developed in order to perform subtle, purposeful movements called sound pronunciation.
Pronunciation deficiencies aggravate the child’s emotional and mental state, preventing him from developing and communicating with peers. To prevent this problem from arising in a child, it is worth starting to do articulatory gymnastics now.
With the help of articulatory gymnastics, existing sound pronunciation disorders are overcome. At first, articulation gymnastics must be performed in front of a mirror. The child must see what the tongue is doing: where it is (behind upper teeth or behind the lower ones). At the same time, the movements of the tongue are brought to automatism by constant exercises. Engage with your child daily for 5-7 minutes. Learn and repeat special poems with your child.

Speech development in preschool children

Not all children are able to coherently convey their thoughts by the time they enter school. It is quite difficult to learn this on your own; in this difficult task - the development of speech in preschool children - adults should help them.

Not all children learn language skills at the same rate. Many people have trouble remembering, pronouncing correctly, and later writing any sounds or letters. Don't panic if you discover a similar disorder in your child. There is nothing tragic in this, and yet your attention is definitely required here. Teachers insist on timely elimination of detected deviations, otherwise they may lead to a delay in the child’s mental development.

You should not make a common parental mistake when adults, touched by the baby’s babble, adapt to his pronunciation and distort sounds and words. On the contrary, you should carefully pronounce all the words when talking even with a small child: after all, he learns his first words from you, and if he starts to burr or lisp, the parents who “lisp” with a 2-3-year-old baby will be to blame for this.

The development of speech in children 4-5 years old has its own characteristics. Usually at this age we no longer hear baby babble, but rather conscious childish speech. The child’s vocabulary is already large enough for him to construct correct phrases and reason on abstract topics. Now the conversation with the child is not limited to what he sees around him, he is interested in a variety of topics that the child seeks to talk about with adults and peers. But it also happens that due to the insufficient speech development of preschool children, it is difficult for them to convey their thoughts to an adult or talk about any event.

Memorizing new words and expanding his vocabulary, a 4-5 year old child strives to understand the connection that exists between an object and the combination of sounds that this object denotes. This is how interest in the lexical side of human speech arises. Often, the child tries to come up with new words himself, replacing generally accepted designations with such “ideas”: for example, instead of “helicopter” he says “vintolet” or “vetrolet”, instead of “plasticine” - “lepin”, instead of “shovel” - “digger”.

Paying attention to the development of speech in preschool children, adults begin to notice that the child increasingly answers questions with detailed sentences, uses adverbs and participles, consciously includes adjectives in his speech, and uses the plural when pronouncing verbs and nouns.

The development of speech in children at this age is characterized by the manifestation of interest in the sound side of each word. Children try to change familiar words, using their existing experience with other words. True, most often such attempts end in failure, preschoolers make mistakes: “many windows”, “handles” (by analogy with another noun known to them: “house” - “houses”), “there are poles hanging there”, “dad and I were in the cinema" (they don’t yet know that the words “coat” and “cinema” do not decline).

A child - a preschooler - does not always know how to talk coherently and clearly about some events, his experiences, thoughts, feelings. The development of speech in children 4-5 years old is characterized by situational coloring of the story. The child, choking from overwhelming emotions, tells in simple common sentences about what he saw today in kindergarten, while it is often difficult to understand the meaning of his story. Adults have to ask additional questions in order to somehow navigate the mass of information. The child’s monologue is still understandable only to himself. At this age, it is still quite difficult to describe the content of a picture in your own words; most often, when children look at it, they only name the objects, people, animals depicted in the picture, accompanied by brief explanations: “The cat is sleeping,” “The chicken is running,” “The boy is getting dressed,” etc. etc. Almost all children aged 4-5 years have phenomenal memory. Adults are often surprised how a child manages to remember a rather long fairy tale after the second or third reading, and even corrects an adult who, trying to “make his life easier,” shortens the fairy tale and skips some words.

The child’s pronunciation also improves. Even if recently the baby found it difficult to pronounce some sounds, such as “s”, “z”, usually by the age of 5 all these difficulties are left behind. Almost all children can already correctly pronounce the complex sounds “y”, “x”, “e”. True, hissing still remains an insurmountable barrier for many “five-year-olds”; instead of the insidious “sh”, “zh”, “ch”, “sch” they have to pronounce “s”, “z” (“mesh” instead of “brush”).

Quite often, in the same kindergarten group there are children who have significant differences in the degree of speech acquisition. While some preschoolers at the age of 4-5 are already fluent in almost all sounds and know how to form phrases correctly, other children of the same age find it difficult to pronounce almost half of the alphabet and communicate only using monosyllabic sentences. The duty of the teacher is to pay more attention to “lagging” children, point out the peculiarities of the speech development of preschool children to their parents and, together with them, find ways to solve the problem.

Speech therapy as a field of science focuses on the study different varieties speech defects, as well as the causes that provoke them, symptoms and features of the course accompanying these defects. Based on the complex of listed features, accordingly, specific correction methods are also being developed, due to which it becomes possible to influence existing speech disorders. It should be noted that this area of science is closely related to otolaryngology, psycholinguistics and pedagogy.

What does a speech therapist do?

A speech therapist is a specialist with whose help the necessary methods for eliminating speech defects, relevant for both children and adult patients, are determined and implemented. It helps in “producing” sounds properly, in getting rid of incorrect pronunciation, as well as stuttering (logoneurosis). Elimination of speech defects is carried out due to a certain effect on the speech organs. This specialist teaches proper breathing and control of one’s own speech; they are also given explanations regarding the formation of certain sound options. Among other things, the speech therapist also uses certain exercises with the help of which the required information is consolidated.

IN mandatory A speech therapist must have certain skills as a psychologist, because the work of a speech therapist is generally focused on contact with patients who have suffered serious illnesses. The fact is that speech disorders represent a complex psychological trauma, and it is from literate and the right approach The speech therapist ensures that the patient can quickly recover.

Diseases that a speech therapist treats

The following types of diseases that can be eliminated by a speech therapist include:

aphonia, dysphonia (impaired speech sonority);
dyslalia (impaired pronunciation of separately considered sounds: lisp, burr);
logoneurosis (speech disorder in the form of stuttering);
tachylalia, bradyllalia (impairments manifested in the speed of pronunciation);
(speech impairment manifested in reading skills);
rhinolalia (that is, nasal sound);
various speech disorders that occurred in patients due to deafness;
disorders associated with hearing or pronunciation that arose as a result of the patient undergoing surgery or any injury.

How does a speech therapist treat

The need to visit a speech therapist's office is naturally associated with a number of questions that patients want answered immediately before the visit, and one of these questions is related to the features that the speech therapist's treatment implies.

For example, correction of speech function for children involves its implementation during various exercises and games. Selection concrete solutions is carried out on a strictly individual basis, like treatment in any other area.

As for the specifics of treatment for adults, the speech therapist here starts from the reasons that provoked problems in speech, as well as how pronounced the damage to the vocal apparatus is against the background of the traumatic impact. For example, during laryngeal surgery, a speech therapist teaches so-called “esophageal speech,” in which all sounds are produced through the esophagus. If the problems of the vocal apparatus are caused by paralysis of the larynx/facial muscles or a stroke, then the correction is based on several stages with the gradual restoration of speech.

The treatment process with a speech therapist often involves prescribing a set of exercises, the implementation of which requires a careful approach, without any interruptions. Current speech defects can be eliminated only with joint efforts on the part of both the doctor and the patient, which undoubtedly requires a certain patience and perseverance in achieving results.

When to go to a speech therapist with a child?

If the child pronounces certain letters incorrectly. This feature may indicate an underdeveloped state of the speech apparatus, but in some cases it is also explained by a short frenulum located under the uvula.
When a child has a speech delay or complete absence. A variety of factors can be the reasons.
The baby’s speech is too slow or fast, confusion in the pronunciation of sounds, “swallowing” them. The cause of such manifestations may be damage to the hearing aid or defects in its development. Here you may need not only treatment from a speech therapist, but also from an ENT specialist.
The baby undergoes surgical treatment aimed at eliminating congenital facial anomalies or anomalies of the oropharynx. Surgical intervention in itself does not cause deterioration in speech functions, but this factor requires the need to accustom the muscles in combination with the vocal apparatus to work in a new way.
With cerebral palsy in a child. Mostly, these children have dyslexia or speech delay. The lack of medical assistance can lead to the fact that the child does not begin to speak at all, or his speech will be slurred and blurred.

When should an adult go to a speech therapist?

There are also situations in which the help of a speech therapist is also required for adults, contrary to the opinion of many that a speech therapist is exclusively a children’s doctor. Here are the following options:

Speech impairment due to stroke, paresis or paralysis of the laryngeal or facial muscles. Using a special set of exercises, a speech therapist will help restore lost speech function. Additionally, if necessary, massage, acupuncture, physiotherapy, as well as drugs whose action is aimed at increasing muscle tone can be prescribed.
Due to mental illness or nervous shocks Certain speech disorders may also occur in the form of aphonia, dysphonia, logoneurosis, and dyslexia.
Removal of the larynx or vocal cords also leads to the need for consultation with a speech therapist and the appropriate treatment developed by him. In particular, a speech therapist will help you use the esophageal hiatus to extract the necessary sounds, and will also teach you how to use the voice-producing apparatus.

Stuttering, burr, lisp - these defects, as most of our fellow citizens mistakenly assume, are too late to correct in adults. Meanwhile, in this case, it is not only possible, but also necessary for an adult to visit a speech therapist, because they are completely correctable - the exercises he suggests, in combination with the treatment provided, will ensure the possibility of correct pronunciation of sounds and the formation of the required diction.

In the process of studying, the future physician masters many disciplines previously unknown. Express your thoughts correctly, speak clearly and understandably for everyone, in fact, very difficult task. These simple actions require coordinated work nervous system, auditory analyzer, muscles and vocal cords. When problems arise, especially in childhood, the consequences can be very serious, including inhibition of mental development. Therefore, the speech problem should be dealt with by an experienced speech therapist.

Who is a speech therapist

A speech therapist (logos - from the Greek “word”, ped - “to teach”) is a doctor who teaches a person to speak correctly, express his thoughts, and fights speech defects.

The specialist is engaged in eliminating various defects speech in children and adults. A speech therapist must have the following qualities:

responsiveness;
high erudition;
knowledge of the language high level;
there should be no defects in the pronunciation of words;
be able to listen to the patient, regardless of the level of development - be it a child or an adult;
perseverance;
pay great attention to communication and eliminating psychological trauma in a child or adult;
a doctor must love children, since this is what age group suffers most from speech impediments.

The problem of each patient must be approached creatively and very scrupulously. Much time should be spent building rapport between doctor and patient. The specialist uses the following methods in his work:

constant repetition of words, phrases, sentences in game form;
memory learning of simple and difficult words;
exercises that increase attention;
building a logical chain between sentences;
creating associations for better memorization of words;
exercises that force patients to add the necessary sentences to the text, writing letters;
reading aloud in class and at home;
breathing exercises;
speaking in front of an audience to overcome fear and anxiety;
listening large quantity songs, films, fairy tales with simple words.

The time spent on classes is of great importance in getting rid of a speech defect. The longer and more intensively a person practices, the better the result will be.

What diseases does a speech therapist treat?

Speech problems can be identified already in the first period of a child’s life. From 1-2 years old, the baby should make characteristic sounds for a specific period of life. If parents notice that the sounds are incomprehensible or absent altogether, or the child does not respond to his name, they should immediately consult a doctor.

A speech pathologist-defectologist deals with the following diseases:

aphonia is the absence of pronunciation of sounds, when the patient wants to talk, creates sentences in his mind, but cannot pronounce them;
Dysphonia is characterized by impaired pronunciation of sounds. The person’s voice becomes hoarse, hoarse, and one has to speak in a whisper;
dyslalia occurs when a child does not pronounce certain sounds, for example, the sound “r”, “sh”, “sch”;
Logoneurosis is the pronunciation of saccaded speech. In other words, stuttering. The causes of such a defect may be head injuries, past fear, fright or stress;
tachylalia and bradyllalia - a condition when the speed of pronunciation of words is impaired;
dyslexia is associated with difficulties in reading and spelling, problems with literacy and mathematics, and attention;
rhinolalia, or nasality;
Hearing impairment always leads to speech problems. The earlier the hearing is lost, the more difficult it is to restore speech;
postoperative problems with pronunciation of sounds.

In cases where a speech problem is associated with injuries, operations, or hearing problems, a speech therapist works together with neurosurgeons, ENT doctors, and psychotherapists.

Causes of speech problems

Speech disorders occur due to the following reasons:

heredity. If parents do not pronounce the sounds “r”, “sch”, or have a lisp - a very high percentage of the same problem appears in children;
injuries during childbirth. Brain damage during childbirth. Doctors' use of obstetric forceps and vacuum extractors often affect the child's health. It is possible that not only problems with speech may appear, but also life-threatening conditions;
Cerebral palsy (cerebral palsy) affects nerve fibers and muscles. Often such children suffer from speech impairment and mental retardation;
head injuries are dangerous due to the formation of a hematoma inside the skull, which requires immediate surgery. After such manipulation, residual effects appear, often stuttering, slowed speech, memory loss;
Otitis media and acoustic neuritis sharply worsen hearing. As a result, adults and children have difficulties with sound production. They don't hear themselves. Because of this, information processing in the brain is disrupted, and the patient begins to lose normal speech;
congenital deaf-mutism can be caused by the mother taking toxic pills, antibiotics, or viral diseases during pregnancy. Such patients are difficult to treat;
Surgeries on the larynx for oncology often result in the complete removal of this organ. The absence of vocal cords negates the restoration of the ability to speak. But by working with a speech therapist, you can train the esophageal formation of sounds. To do this, you need to change the type of breathing and put in a lot of effort and time;
stress, a sudden feeling of fear can trigger the appearance of stuttering;
a short frenulum of the tongue may slightly impair the pronunciation of sounds in childhood, but as the patient grows, the defect becomes more noticeable and more difficult to deal with;
A stroke provokes the appearance of paralysis of the face, tongue, and, as a consequence, speech distortion.

To achieve results, the patient and speech therapist must spend a lot of effort and time. An important place in this long process is occupied by the support of relatives, positive emotions and motivation.

When should you contact a speech therapist with your child?

There are parents who do not notice health problems in their children. This happens especially often in first-born children, when the father and mother did not have previous experience in raising a child.

You should contact a speech therapist in the following cases:

friends and relatives notice the child’s lack of reaction to the name and sounds;
a child, when he begins to speak words and sentences, does not pronounce some sounds;
if the child has a short frenulum of the tongue, which must be incised by a doctor;
when children do not speak until they are 3-5 years old or speak only in syllables;
incorrect speech structure school age, confusion of words, meanings;
slow or fast speech, incomprehensible to others;
after operations on the tongue, pharynx, vocal cords, larynx;

Parents should know some features of speech development in childhood:

The child begins to make the first sounds at 6-10 months.
in the first year of life, the baby must clearly pronounce some sounds, the first syllables, and understand the simple requests of the parents;
at one and a half years old, the child should already say “dad” and “mom”;
At two years old, the child clearly pronounces some light words and names: “Anya”, “I”, “you”, “we”. Also understands mother’s instructions and requests;
Until the age of three, a child understands a lot general values, he can indicate where the table is, what a ball, sofa, mug is, count to 10, knows his last name;
at 4 years old, a child listens to fairy tales, can point and name many household objects, the names of relatives, and learns short poems.

Whenever the slightest problem, it is better to contact a speech therapist immediately. In childhood, a delay of a couple of months can play a cruel joke and affect future health.

When adults go to a speech therapist for help

It is very difficult to force an adult to come to a speech pathologist. Usually at this age there have already been irreversible changes that are difficult to treat. But you should never despair, there is always a chance to improve your speech and gain self-confidence.

The help of a speech therapist is necessary for an adult in the following cases:

previous operations on the vocal cords, if hoarseness occurs, the ability to speak is completely lost;
residual effects after stroke and traumatic brain injury;
a condition after removal of the larynx, when the ability to speak is completely lost;
stuttering;
inability to pronounce some sounds;
slurred, fast or slow speech, when a person needs to be among a large number of people (singers, presenters, actors, business executives, politicians).

In such cases, speech therapists use various techniques. To get rid of speech problems, acupuncture, esophageal breathing when removing the larynx, physiotherapy, and reflexology are suitable.

It is worth noting that it is much more difficult for adults to get rid of hesitant speech, anxiety and voice defects. But a speech therapist-defectologist can offer new techniques, using which you can forget about speech problems.

What examinations does a speech therapist prescribe?

Examinations by a speech therapist are specific. It is not necessary to undergo blood tests and biochemistry in order to determine the presence of speech problems.

When examining a child, a specialist has his own plan for studying possible problems at the baby's. The diagnostic program is as follows:

examination of the child's oral cavity. In this case, you can find short bridle, pathology of the uvula, upper palate. Sometimes problems with the nose, deviated septum, adenoids are possible;
the child is given the opportunity to play, listen to speech;
hearing and attention test. The baby is given loud toys and his reaction is studied. Some commands and requests are spoken in a whisper and the reaction is noted;
determine visual attention by showing various colored pictures and toys;
mental capacity they check by asking the child to count the number of toys and objects, determine the time of year, and remember the names of trees;
study understanding of other people's speech. The doctor assigns simple tasks to the child and monitors their implementation;
if the child is in school, then they check their knowledge of the alphabet, complex phrases, heavy sounds and syllables;
checking the quality of reading, speed and intelligibility of sounds produced.

The problem with adults is that over many years the speech impediment has only become stronger and it is very difficult for a person to overcome this problem. Classes must take place daily, and the patient must practice independently at home. Only in this case can uncertainty be overcome and speech impediment eliminated.

A child will develop correctly and comprehensively when he is in a good social and speech environment, receives education and proper upbringing from the first years of life.

The speech therapist gives following tips parents:

talk to your child often and answer all his questions;
read fairy tales, books, educational magazines with children;
while walking, find interesting objects whose meaning the child does not know. Talk about them;
speak literary language, avoid consumption bad words;
ask questions correctly, for example: “What are you doing, not what are you doing?”;
ask the child to describe an object, a word, a game in his own words. Correct in case of incorrect pronunciation;
learn a couple of new words every day. For example, body parts, objects around you.

As soon as parents notice any speech defect, they should immediately contact a speech therapist for help.