Speech therapy is a science that is at the intersection of medicine, pedagogy and psychology, and studies various speech defects, the causes of their occurrence, mechanisms and methods of elimination or prevention. The particular relevance of the work of a speech therapist lies in the fact that, although disorders of speech function are not a fatal illness for a person, they can still greatly complicate his life, interfering with normal communication with others. This is especially true for children: firstly, most speech defects appear in childhood, when they can be most successfully treated; secondly, while adults are usually more tactful and understanding towards interlocutors who have problems with pronunciation, children, alas, are distinguished by a certain cruelty towards their peers with any characteristics. This state of affairs can cause the appearance of psychological trauma and complexes that will become an obstacle to normal communication with others in childhood and adulthood. A timely visit to a speech therapist will help you avoid such problems in life.
Who is a speech therapist: teacher or doctor?
There are different points of view regarding whether a speech therapist is a psychologist, a physician or a teacher. The thing is that speech therapists see patients not only in medical institutions. Today, most kindergartens, schools and correctional educational institutions have a speech therapist position on staff. These specialists work with children directly at their place of education. Such speech therapists are teachers - they have a higher education in speech therapy or defectology, and in their work they are guided by medical data obtained from the patient’s chart. The work of this teacher is closely related to the medical activities of a pediatric neurologist, otolaryngologist, and psychologist, since the causes of speech defects are often due to the presence of any health disorders.
Content:
- Who is a speech therapist: teacher or doctor?
- What does a speech therapist do?
- What organs and mental phenomena does a speech therapist treat?
- Diseases and disorders within the competence of a speech therapist
- The main causes of speech defects
- Reason to contact a speech therapist
- When should you take your child to a speech therapist?
- What diagnostic and treatment methods does a speech therapist use in his work?
Specialists working in medical institutions have a higher medical education, as well as education in the field of defectology or speech therapy, and additional courses of psychotherapy. Unlike teachers, they can prescribe medication as part of the treatment regimen, as well as use psychotherapeutic techniques to help the patient cope with speech disorders.
Why is distance learning easy?
To become a speech therapist remotely, you only need a computer, tablet or smartphone with Internet access. You do not need to have special knowledge or install any additional programs on your computer.
For example, training at ABiUS takes place on the website in a distance learning system. The student is required to have only general computer knowledge. Thanks to the intuitive interface, the user navigates this system independently and without difficulty. Here he uploads the necessary documents, gets access to educational materials and practical assignments, and takes tests.
The student can ask questions related to the training by phone to his methodologist, who supervises him from the beginning to the end of the training.
There is no need to come to take the final exam; everything takes place online. Receiving a diploma or certificate is free by Russian Post.
What does a speech therapist do?
A common misconception is the assertion that a speech therapist only helps to “establish” the correct pronunciation of specific sounds, since this is only part of the work of a speech therapist. The doctor diagnoses disorders, studies his patient’s medical history, and, if necessary, prescribes various examinations - in this way he manages to establish the cause of speech defects. After the diagnosis is made, the speech therapist decides to prescribe specific therapeutic regimens to eliminate speech impairment.
For this specialist, the skills of a psychologist and psychotherapist are required, since working with speech defects is often directly related to psychological trauma and complexes, suffering from fright or other severe, stressful conditions.
The main tasks of a speech therapist are:
- establishing the correct pronunciation of sounds;
- expansion of vocabulary;
- improving speech literacy;
- improving pronunciation clarity;
- correction of speech errors and inaccuracies;
- rehabilitation measures for patients who have acquired speech defects due to illnesses, for example, after a stroke;
- studying the mechanisms and causes of speech defects, developing methods for their correction;
- determination of organic lesions of the vocal apparatus.
Who is it suitable for?
The profession of speech therapist is suitable for everyone, but mostly women go into it, since the work requires enormous patience, which most men do not possess.
A speech correction specialist should know:
- fundamentals of age-related physiology and psychology, valeology, pedagogy;
- theory and practice of speech therapy;
- anatomy of the speech-forming apparatus;
- modern techniques for correcting written and oral speech;
- current methods of psychological and pedagogical diagnostics;
- principles of recruiting groups of students;
- technologies for behavioral, cognitive and emotional development of personality.
As for the personal qualities of a speech therapist, first of all you will need:
- endurance and patience;
- kindness and ability to communicate with a variety of people;
- tact and tolerance;
- psychologist skills;
- observation and good memory;
- perseverance and persuasiveness.
Only a teacher who has deep knowledge of his profession and related fields of knowledge will become a good speech therapist. When a specialist begins to manage a specific case, he first determines what is causing the speech disorder. Sometimes additional work with a child psychologist will be required, in some cases the problem lies in a physiological defect, and the intervention of a surgeon is needed, after which it will be possible to begin classes.
Diseases and disorders within the competence of a speech therapist
A speech therapist works with various types of speech disorders, both oral and written.
Its task is to eliminate:
- dysphonia and aphonia (impaired speech sonority or lack thereof);
- dyslalia (problems with the pronunciation of specific sounds or combinations of sounds);
- bradylalia or tachylalia (slow or accelerated pronunciation of sounds);
- dyslexia and legasthenia (reading impairments);
- speech defects and rhinophony of the voice associated with hearing impairment, as well as with surgical intervention;
- Battarism, Hottentotism (absolute slurring of speech);
- rhinolalia (speech problems that arise due to the formation of the upper lip and palate);
- dysgraphia and agraphia (written speech disorders).
The doctor treats some of these pathologies together with surgeons, dentists, neurologists, and otolaryngologists.
A separate area of activity of a speech therapist is speech disorders associated with organic damage to the speech centers of the brain. Such defects are usually quite difficult to correct. This is done by a speech therapist-aphasiologist.
The main causes of speech defects
Determining the nature and etiology of the appearance of certain disorders in the functioning of the speech apparatus is the first step towards overcoming them. Theoretical knowledge in this matter allows us to take certain preventive measures in order to prevent the problem from occurring in those people who are at risk. Of course, each case is individual, and, for the convenience of speech therapists, the most basic and most common factors that provoke the appearance of speech defects have been combined into a general classification. There are:
- congenital features of the development of the speech apparatus: intrauterine pathologies of fetal development, genetic mutations, hereditary predisposition, acute or chronic fetal hypoxia, birth injuries;
- organic disorders in the cerebral cortex acquired during life: acute infectious diseases affecting the membranes of the brain, traumatic brain injuries, diseases affecting the cerebral cortex (for example, circulatory disorders);
- psychological problems - these include pedagogical neglect, lack of people around, unfavorable situation in the family, psychological trauma, for example, fear or the consequences of violence.
Identification of the level of speech formation in preschool children
Speech is considered expressive if it is characterized by restraint, accuracy (correct depiction of the surrounding reality), logic, clarity, as well as correctness and purity. One of the principles of preschool education reflected in the Federal State Educational Standard is the implementation of the program in forms acceptable for children of this age group. Learning should take place, first of all, in the form of games, cognitive and research activities, and creative activity.
The set of tasks in all educational areas includes, according to the Federal State Educational Standard: cognitive development, speech development, artistic and physical development.
All work on speech formation in preschool children takes place in three stages:
- Preparatory.
- Basic.
- Final.
Children are given exercises to develop diction, speech breathing, and motor skills. Poems and sketches are being learned. Singing is also of great importance. Each speech therapist also applies his own proven techniques. Children with minor speech impairments are prepared for school through special programs in kindergarten. In a regular secondary educational institution, a speech therapist can conduct correctional classes to correct diction.
Reason to contact a speech therapist
Many people believe that a speech therapist, be it a doctor or a teacher, only works with children, and there is no point in visiting one for an adult with speech impediments. This point of view is not true. Of course, adulthood is a factor that complicates working with speech problems. Many defects will no longer be completely eliminated, but achieving a certain improvement is quite possible.
It is necessary to contact a speech therapist in the following cases:
- after undergoing operations to remove the larynx or vocal cords: in such cases, the doctor helps the patient learn to use the glottis to produce certain sounds;
- as part of rehabilitation after a stroke: if brain damage affects the centers responsible for speech, paresis or paralysis of the muscles of the larynx and facial muscles may occur. In this case, the doctor suggests a special set of exercises that help achieve improvement;
- if speech impairments appeared after suffering mental disorders: work can be carried out together with a psychiatrist or psychotherapist.
In addition, people who want to improve their oratory skills and improve their diction also come to a speech therapist. A speech therapist works with them.
History of the specialty
The name of the profession comes from the Greek words logos and paideia, which mean “speech education.” The first attempts to correct impaired ability to speak were made in ancient times, but were recorded only in the 17th century in works on deaf pedagogy. At that time, speech disorders were viewed as a medical problem.
And only in the 1930s, with the development of scientific thought, came the realization that speaking defects are associated not only with problems of articulatory muscles or breathing, but also with personality psychology. The basis of the modern science of “speech education” is pedagogy, physiology, linguistics and psychology, and speech therapists began to be taught en masse in universities in the middle of the 20th century.
When should you take your child to a speech therapist?
Due to the fact that in children the process of development of speech centers is not yet complete, and reading, diction, and pronunciation skills are actively developing, working on speech problems with a child will have more significant results than in the case of adults.
Parents should not place excessive demands on their child. This is especially true when the baby begins to speak. For example, by the age of one to one and a half years, the baby should pronounce at least a few words, and, starting from the moment of birth, make single sounds. As for clear and coherent speech with absolutely correct pronunciation, it is difficult to say exactly when it should appear in a child.
Among the objective reasons for a child under one year old to visit a speech therapist is the baby’s lack of pronunciation of sounds. Usually the baby reacts to words, touches, and toys with basic humming, babbling, and a smile. If this does not happen, you should not postpone your visit to the doctor.
In the period from one to three years, parents need to bring their child to a speech therapist if he is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, if there is a hereditary factor (late speech development in one of the parents), also if the child is diagnosed with problems with hearing and vision , or shortened frenulum of the tongue.
From three to five years of age, parents monitor the appearance of the following signs of speech development disorders:
- incorrect pronunciation of words or individual sounds;
- impaired pronunciation speed and swallowing sounds;
- the child confuses prepositions, conjunctions, cases, and does not respond to corrections;
- inability to clearly and consistently describe a picture or make sentences.
Carrying out rehabilitation after operations affecting the speech apparatus also falls within the competence of a speech therapist, and can be relevant at any age.
Parents need to clearly understand all the consequences of a situation when a child’s speech problems are allowed to take their course:
- Children with speech impairments usually master educational material worse, which is why school performance fluctuates between low and average;
- speech hearing impairment interferes with the study of foreign languages;
- impaired speech coherence makes it difficult to study oral subjects: biology, literature, history, and others;
- Speech defects cause problems with communication, the appearance of an inferiority complex, and psychological discomfort.
How much do they get
Each speech therapist has his own approach to working with patients, which affects the effectiveness of the treatment they provide. This factor has a great influence on the level of earnings of a specialist. At the initial stage of his career, such an employee receives 20-30 thousand rubles.
As his professionalism grows, he can already choose his place of work. If in budgetary organizations defectologists are paid 35-45 thousand rubles, then in private companies their earnings reach 60-70 thousand rubles. Professionals running private practices earn from 80 thousand rubles if they have a client base and proper organization of work.
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