Prevention of speech disorders in children. Consultation on speech therapy on the topic

Prevention of speech disorders

PREVENTION OF SPEECH DISORDERS

Recently, the issues of providing specialized speech therapy assistance to preschool children have become relevant in preschool education. Statistics show that there is currently an increase in the number of children with speech defects. In this regard, there is an increasing need for speech therapists and teachers of non-special type preschool institutions to work together to prevent speech disorders in preschool children.

What are the causes of speech disorders?

Among the latter are:

• deterioration of the environmental situation;
• features of the region in terms of iodine and fluoride deficiency;
• an increase in the number of pregnancy pathologies;
• increase in the number of birth injuries;
• weakening of children's health and increase in childhood morbidity;
• various social reasons.

I would like to dwell separately on the social causes of speech disorders. First of all, it should be noted that the level of linguistic culture of society as a whole has decreased. Our children often hear around them not only incorrectly formatted speech, but also far from literary expressions. In some cases, the content and speech design of television programs and videotapes leaves much to be desired.

Improper speech environment and upbringing can also cause speech defects in children (type of distortion). In this state of affairs, a small child is not able to perceive the linguistic norm of his native language, the articulatory structures of the sounds of audible speech, and he develops an incorrect or inaccurate perception of speech sounds. And this, in turn, leads to the appearance of sound pronunciation defects.

Disturbances in the sound culture of speech that arose in preschool age can subsequently lead to a number of secondary speech disorders: underdevelopment of phonemic hearing, delayed formation of skills in sound, syllabic and letter analysis of words, impoverishment of the child’s vocabulary, violation of the grammatical structure of native speech. Any speech disorder to one degree or another can affect the child’s activity and behavior as a whole. Therefore, it is so important to take care of the timely development of children’s speech and pay attention to its purity and correctness.

Speech therapy work in a non-specialized preschool institution includes several areas. This includes overcoming existing speech disorders in children, and preventing possible secondary speech disorders, and prevention (propaedeutics) of speech disorders before they occur, and improving various aspects and qualities of speech in the absence of disorders, and parallel correction and additional development of other mental functions, such as auditory-speech and visual attention, visual and verbal memory, verbal and logical thinking. Often, all speech therapy work is perceived only as certain actions directly aimed at eliminating incorrect pronunciation in children. This is understandable, since violations of sound pronunciation are perceived by others first and cause the greatest concern to the child’s relatives. But with this approach to speech therapy, other areas of the speech therapist’s work are often not considered. One of the most important areas is the prevention and prevention of speech disorders in preschool children.

According to many experts, the beginning of targeted work on the formation of correct sound pronunciation from the age of three helps prevent the appearance of many speech disorders, and often identify other, more complex speech pathologies in children of this age, which contributes to their early correction.

Measures to prevent speech disorders include:

• creating the necessary conditions for preserving the physical and mental health of the child;
• concern for the safety of his speech organs;
• creating the necessary social and living conditions for the correct speech development of the child.

What do experts recommend?

• Prevention of head injuries.
• Prevention of various diseases occurring with high fever.
• Protection of the hearing organ from colds, from foreign bodies, from excessive noise (even during sleep), as well as timely treatment and mandatory follow-up treatment for ear diseases.
• Protection of articulatory organs: prevention (and treatment) of rickets and the possible appearance of anomalies of the bone parts of the speech apparatus;
• eliminating cases of thumb sucking or constantly placing your hand under your cheek during sleep (the latter can lead to the formation of a so-called crossbite);
• prevention of premature tooth loss, since tooth loss in children involves significant deformation of adjacent teeth and jaws (here we do not mean age-related change of teeth);
• timely surgery for cleft lip palate;
• timely trimming of the short frenulum of the tongue (no later than 4-5 years, since by this time those sounds should appear in speech, the correct articulation of which is prevented by the short frenulum);
• protecting the vocal apparatus from colds, dust, vocal overload (excessive screaming, excessively loud and intense speech, etc.);
• protecting the child’s nervous system (excluding loud shouts, scary stories and various types of intimidation, a gentle approach to the child during any illness, etc.); This type of prevention is especially important for the prevention of all kinds of neurotic speech disorders and, first of all, stuttering.

What is the concern for the correct speech development of a child?

• Providing a favorable environment as a necessary role model (in terms of the absence of speech disorders in people around the child).
• Encouraging baby babbling with facial expressions of joy.
• Developing an orientation towards the perception of the speech of others, for which you need to talk more with the child, starting from the first days of his life.
• Slow and clear pronunciation by adults of simple words related to a specific life situation, as well as the naming of surrounding objects and actions performed, will help the child “start” the gradual mastery of speech.
• A clear pronunciation by adults of words incorrectly spoken by a child, designed to unobtrusively and gradually correct his incorrect pronunciation.
• Teaching a child to look at the interlocutor’s face during a conversation, since visual perception of articulation contributes to more accurate and faster assimilation;
• Systematic creation of situations in which the child must express his request verbally (adults should not strive to “understand him at a glance,” and especially with just a gesture or glance); it is necessary to organize the child’s life in such a way that the environment itself causes him the need for verbal communication, including “talking” with animals, toys, etc.
• Complete elimination of cases of “lisping” with a child, depriving him of the right role model.
• Rhythmic, music and singing classes; the latter promotes the development of correct breathing and a fairly flexible and strong voice, and also prevents slurred speech.
• Development of fine manual motor skills, which plays an extremely important role in mastering full speech.

If, despite the preventive measures taken, it so happens that during pregnancy, childbirth or the early development of the child some unfavorable factors still took place, then you do not need to think that your child will definitely develop speech disorders.

Parents need to know that the child’s brain has very high plasticity, flexibility and has a pronounced tendency to develop. Because of this, many of its damages can be smoothed out almost without a trace, leaving no noticeable marks behind. A huge and indispensable role in such compensation belongs to favorable social and living conditions in which the child grows and develops.

If the conditions leave much to be desired, then one cannot count on compensation; rather, on the contrary, existing developmental deviations can be aggravated.

Thus, if not everything went well with your pregnancy, childbirth, or the very early period of the child’s development, then you need, without panicking, to make every effort to create more favorable social and living conditions for the further development of the child.

It is very important to take timely treatment and preventive measures recommended through the children's consultation at the clinic. Currently, there are many medications that promote faster maturation of certain brain structures and normalization of the pathological processes present in them. In addition, you can consult with speech therapists on issues of speech development in children.

Speech therapy for everyone

1. Primary prevention

A. Prevention before birth

Let us follow step by step (as if in the course of the child’s development) the main content of this type of prevention.

Since much in a child’s development can be determined by heredity, future parents need to approach this issue very seriously. If there is particularly unfavorable heredity on the maternal or paternal side, it is necessary to seek advice from specialists, and then carefully weigh the pros and cons. As life shows, in some cases it is better to completely abandon the intention to have a child than to doom him to severe disability.

As for the health of the future parents themselves, it is very important to prevent a thoughtless attitude to life and the acquisition of various kinds of bad habits, which have already been mentioned when considering the causes of speech disorders. If such habits have already been acquired, then both future parents need to completely abandon them at least a year before pregnancy.

Even such, as many believe, a “harmless” thing like maternal smoking during pregnancy has a negative impact on the entire course of intrauterine (and therefore subsequent) development of the child, as was also mentioned above. I have repeatedly encountered very severe cases of speech and other pathologies in children born to fathers who, some time before the birth of the child, were directly involved in the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident. This also applies to many other hazardous occupational conditions.

The period of pregnancy requires special attention in terms of preventing speech disorders. Great concern for ensuring the normal course of this most important period in a woman’s life is manifested on a national scale - through a network of antenatal clinics, where explanatory and preventive work is systematically carried out with expectant mothers. However, a lot depends directly on the woman herself, on her compliance with the necessary personal precautions. To make it clear what we are talking about, we will give only one specific example.

One of our young employees was going on maternity leave, and her pregnancy was going extremely well. She was really expecting a child, everything was fine in the family and, it would seem, nothing foreshadowed trouble. When we said goodbye to her, we all asked her to be as careful as possible. But since she felt quite normal, when she went on maternity leave, she decided to start general cleaning in the apartment on the very first day: wash all the curtains, which she herself removed from the high windows, etc. At the end of the third “working” day, an ambulance brought she was taken to the hospital, where she gave birth to a seven-month-old child with serious complications. And then he developed a long “tail” of not only speech, but also various neuropsychic pathologies...

This is the high price you often have to pay for your rash actions. Therefore, it is so important to understand that even the best health during pregnancy can be deceiving and that extreme caution must be exercised throughout this period.

Various kinds of stressful situations that arise in the family have a very negative impact on the unborn child, especially if they become protracted. Therefore, all family members should be well aware of the importance of the moment and the need to create as calm an environment as possible in the house. Resolution of all kinds of conflicts should be postponed not only during pregnancy, but also for the entire postpartum period. There are no everyday problems that would be more important than the neuropsychic health of the unborn child and the usefulness of his speech - this is ultimately always realized by all parents, but often such awareness comes too late...

As for various types of accidents, many of which are not in our power to prevent, here too the reasonableness of the behavior of the woman herself and her closest relatives and friends is very important. After all, we all know well that any misfortune can be experienced in different ways: mentally, as if smoothing it out (it has already happened anyway and nothing can be changed), or, on the contrary, aggravating it, “winding it up.” It is important to understand that the latter in this case is completely unacceptable and that, if possible, the most gentle conditions should be created for the expectant mother - she should be tried in every possible way to somehow be eliminated from direct participation in undesirable events and reassured as much as possible.

The process of childbirth itself also largely depends on the woman herself. Reasonable and correct behavior of the expectant mother during pregnancy largely determines the normal course of childbirth. In the immediate period before giving birth, it is necessary to completely exclude supposedly urgent travel and flights to other cities, since cases of labor starting directly on a train or plane are not so rare. There is hardly any need to explain what an unimaginable risk this entails not only for the unborn child, but also for the mother herself. Often you will regret such a trip for the rest of your life. As for a woman’s behavior directly during childbirth, it is very important for her to acquire all the necessary information about this in advance. Fortunately, the necessary work in this regard is carried out by antenatal clinics; you just need to take this with full responsibility.

B. Prevention after birth

After the birth of a child, one should very carefully monitor the course of its early development, noting any lag in this development or deviation from its normal course. So, if a child does not begin to hold his head up or sit up independently in due time, if he is delayed in starting to walk or in appearing his first words and phrasal speech, then the reasons for these delays must be promptly clarified from specialists and the measures they recommend to correct the situation must be immediately taken. In this regard, the following general rule usually applies: the less time the lag from the norm continues, the easier it is to overcome it.

As for the prevention of speech disorders directly, it consists mainly of the following two points:

1) care for the physical and neuropsychic health of the child and the safety of his speech organs;

2) concerns about the correct speech development of the child, including the creation of the social and living conditions necessary for this.

The solution to the first of these problems is specifically expressed in the following:

• prevention of bruises in the head area;

• prevention of various diseases and childhood infections that occur with high fever (compliance with the timing of preventive vaccinations, exclusion of direct contact with patients, etc.);

• protection of the hearing organs from colds, from foreign bodies, from excessive noise (even during sleep), as well as timely treatment and mandatory follow-up treatment for ear diseases;

• protection of articulatory organs, consisting of the following:

- prevention (and treatment) of rickets and the possible appearance of anomalies of the bone parts of the speech apparatus;

- eliminating cases of thumb sucking or constantly placing your hand under the same cheek during sleep (the latter can lead to the formation of a so-called crossbite);

— early dental prosthetics in case of their premature loss, since tooth loss in children causes significant deformation of adjacent teeth and jaws (here we do not mean age-related change of teeth);

— timely surgery for clefts of the upper lip and palate, if the child has them;

- timely trimming of the short frenulum of the tongue (no later than 4–5 years, since by this time those sounds should appear in speech, the correct articulation of which is prevented by the short frenulum);

• protecting the vocal apparatus from colds, dust, vocal overload (excessive screaming, excessively loud and intense speech, etc.);

• protecting the child’s nervous system (excluding loud shouts, scary stories and all kinds of intimidation, a gentle approach to the child during any illness and for some time after its end, fighting roundworms, etc.); This section of prevention is especially important for the prevention of all kinds of neurotic speech disorders and, first of all, stuttering.

Concern for the correct speech development of the child should be expressed in the following:

• providing a favorable speech environment as a necessary role model (in terms of the absence of speech disorders in people around the child);

• encouraging the baby's babbling with facial expressions of joy;

• fostering a focus on perceiving the speech of others, for which you need to talk to the child as much as possible, starting from the first days of his life;

• slow and clear pronunciation by adults of simple words related to a specific life situation for the child, as well as clear naming of surrounding objects and actions performed, which will help the child gradually begin to master speech;

• clear, correct pronunciation by adults of words incorrectly said by the child, designed for unobtrusive and gradual correction of his incorrect pronunciation;

• teaching the child to look at the interlocutor’s face during a conversation, since visual perception of articulation contributes to its more accurate and faster assimilation;

• systematically creating situations in which the child must express his request verbally (adults should not strive to understand him at a glance, much less with just one gesture or glance); it is necessary to organize the child’s life in such a way that the environment itself causes him the need for verbal communication, including “talking” with animals, toys, etc.;

• complete elimination of cases of cooing with a child, depriving him of a correct role model;

• rhythmic, music and singing classes; the latter promotes the development of proper breathing and a fairly flexible and strong voice, and also prevents slurred speech; • development of fine manual motor skills, which plays an extremely important role in mastering full speech.

MAGAZINE Preschooler.RF

Speech impairment is a fairly common phenomenon not only among children, but also among adults. The causes of these disorders are varied. They are the result of untimely or ineffective treatment. The most complex are organic disorders: alalia, dyslalia, dysarthria. With normal development at 2-3 years, children undergo a continuous process of increasing their passive and active vocabulary. They can pronounce almost all the sounds of the Russian language, except for hissing sounds (zh, ch, ts, sh, shch) and the sounds l (l), r (ry). At this age, children have a great tendency to imitate, which is a favorable factor in introducing a child to a sound or sound combination. An exciting game encourages the baby to repeat the same sound combination over and over again. The more lively the game, the brighter the image, the more enthusiastic the child is, he more actively reproduces the necessary sounds. This means that the training is going well.

At the same time, children 2-3 years old experience difficulties in mastering grammatical forms of speech. The causes of these disorders are also varied. Some children may have delays in the formation of the pronunciation aspect of speech. The child replaces hissing sounds with whistling sounds. Incorrect formation of individual sounds is observed: interdental, lateral, and violation of whistling sounds. Some children's speech is extremely slurred, and some babies do not speak at all. All these disorders are the most well-known and if they are not corrected in time in childhood, they cause difficulties in communicating with others, and in the future entail certain personality changes. Many children with general speech underdevelopment have motor impairments in the articulatory apparatus, arms and legs. Pathology of fine motor skills of the hands is closely related to speech disorders. These children are characterized by instability of attention, inconsistency, rapid fatigue, and distractibility.

Modern prevention of speech disorders is closely related to the prevention of neuropsychic disorders. It should be provided by a set of measures, including therapeutic and pedagogical influences. According to world statistics, the number of speech disorders is growing, and therefore the relevance of the problem of preventing speech disorders is becoming global. Of great importance is the study of factors that ensure normal development, that is, the diagnosis of speech development by age. Taking into account the age-related characteristics of children’s speech development, the formation of speech sound culture can be divided into three main stages.

Stage I: from 1 year 6 months. up to 3 years.

At this age, understanding of speech develops, vocabulary increases, and word structure improves. They easily repeat first sound combinations and then simple phrases. By the age of 3, the child constructs phrases of a more complex structure of 3-5 words or more. During this period, speech develops as a means of communication not only with adults, but also with peers.

At this time, the child will develop the sound side of speech: vocal and articulatory apparatus, sound pronunciation, auditory perception. In order to ensure good, clear, correct intonation-expressive speech, you should start working with children from an early age to develop the sound culture of speech.

The formation of a sound culture of speech should be carried out through systematic and constant communication between children and adults. The main task at this stage is to constantly develop auditory perception, strengthen and develop the organs of the articulatory apparatus. To achieve these goals, certain groups of sounds are taken and practiced with children based on onomatopoeia. Basically, these are the simplest sounds: vowels (a, u, i, o), labio-labial (p, b, m), front-lingual (t, d, n), back-lingual (k, g, x). After 2 years, more complex articulation of the anterior lingual sounds is constantly being developed: whistling (s, z, z), sonorant (l, r), but this does not mean that it is necessary to achieve their correct pronunciation, the sounds are developed gradually. Previously formed articulatory movements are refined and become more stable.

When working with children aged 2 to 3 years, onomatopoeia becomes more complex and includes sounds of different characteristics: i-go-go, kitty-kiss, ku-ka-re-ku. This promotes clear and precise pronunciation of sounds, develops speech hearing, and improves sound pronunciation. Children refine existing sounds and new ones appear.

At the stage of articulation work, nursery rhymes, songs, and games are given, including various onomatopoeias. Onomatopoeia is also introduced into the content of games and activities for the development of speech and familiarization with the outside world, and in music classes.

Stage II: from 3 to 5 years.

This stage is the formation of the phonetic and morphological composition of the word. The improvement of the most difficult movements of the organs of the articulatory apparatus continues. This enables the child to produce target, africative and sonorant sounds. The leading methods are still speech patterns, conversations, didactic games, memorization of nursery rhymes and poems.

Stage III: from 5 to 7 years.

This stage is the final period in the formation of the sound side of speech. But it is important that sounds that are similar in articulatory characteristics are clearly distinguished. When working with a child to develop the sound structure of speech, it is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of speech development. The problems of speech correction in raising and teaching children in a kindergarten are solved through the efforts of a speech therapist and educators in close contact with parents.

Of great importance in developing the problem of preventing speech disorders is the study of factors that ensure normal speech development in children. This knowledge is directly related to the hygiene of speech development, which is the most important indicator of a child’s neuropsychic health. Its objectives mainly boil down to studying the age stages of speech ontogenesis and identifying conditions (including the external environment and social conditions) that positively or negatively influence speech development. Recommendations and standards for the psychophysiological conditions of raising children are being developed, incentives for a child’s mental development and the possibilities of their use are being scientifically substantiated, and mass propaganda of psychological and pedagogical knowledge among the population is being organized.

The prerequisites for the normal development of the younger generation are created by measures to protect the health of the population as a whole.

One of the important directions in the development of speech therapy assistance to the population is the prevention of speech disorders and the consequences of speech pathology.

This special branch of speech therapy faces the following tasks: a) prevention of speech disorders - primary prevention; b) preventing the transition of speech disorders to chronic forms, as well as preventing the consequences of speech pathology - secondary prevention; c) social and labor adaptation of persons suffering from speech pathology - tertiary prevention.

Primary prevention.

Prevention of disorders in speech development is based on measures of social, pedagogical and, above all, psychological prevention of disorders of mental functions.

The implementation of preventive health care and special pedagogy begins even before the birth of a child by creating the most favorable conditions for the expectant mother during pregnancy, regulated by relevant laws and provided by the entire maternal and child health service.

At the end of the 20th century, the health of the younger generation depends on a number of conditions related mainly to ecology and its influence on the immune, nervous and endocrine systems. Pollution of air, water, and soil leads to an increase in acute and chronic (especially allergic) diseases and a decrease in the body's resistance to harmful influences. Along with this, the role of stressful psychological influences is increasing, which in turn worsens the neuropsychological health and immunity of children. It is clear that the quality of all aspects of parents’ health also continues to decline, and with a family history, children are 2-3 times more likely to suffer from the same illness as their parents.

Providing early assistance to children with severe speech impairments in preschool settings

From the first days of life, a little person, like a sponge, absorbs new sensations, impressions, ideas. Every sound heard, every picture seen is a coin in the treasury of practical and sensory experience. This is the process of cognition during which the child’s development occurs.

Recently, specialists are increasingly encountering children with severe speech impairments, which significantly complicates speech therapy work with them. The group of such children is heterogeneous. It includes children with motor and sensory alalia, pseudobulbar dysarthria, various mental development delays, including childhood autism, intellectual disability, and cerebral palsy. What do these children have in common? Lack of motivation to communicate, inability to navigate the situation, disordered behavior, inflexibility in contacts, increased emotional exhaustion - everything that interferes with the child’s full interaction with the world around him.

The participation of a speech therapist in this case is necessary to determine the cause of the child’s silence and determine the stages of qualified assistance to him. A speech therapist will help his parents outline a prognosis on which the social adaptation of a non-speaking preschooler depends. In this case, it is important not to miss early help for the child, which will help him develop not only the basics of communication, but also develop mental functions, personality as a whole, and promote his integration into the world around him.

Speech develops when a child has the opportunity to constantly expand his knowledge of the environment, learn new things, and gain experience. The child must move, act. There is a very important means of developing a child’s speech - stimulating fine motor skills. The better he controls the movements of his hands, the more success he will have in his speech. There are plenty of resources for this: toys, objects of different sizes and shapes, games, etc. When performing various actions with objects, most of the mental problems are solved - the hand acts, and the brain records sensations, connecting them with visual, auditory and olfactory perceptions into complex, integrated patterns and representations. The greater the stock of trials and actions a child accumulates in his experience, the sooner he will move to a higher level of development of thinking - visual-figurative. He will no longer operate with objects, but with their images. This means that the more a child can, wants and strives to do with his hands, the smarter and more inventive he is.

From the moment a child is born, there are many sounds around him. Hearing is one of the most important means of perception; it is not without reason that one of the first reactions of infants is a reaction to sound. Without hearing, full development of speech is impossible. Children with great pleasure play games aimed at distinguishing non-speech sounds: “Sounding toys” (tambourine, rattle, bell, etc.), “Sounding jars” (using paper clips, sand, pebbles, beads). “Sounding objects” (water pouring, turning a key in a lock, paper torn, pencil creaking on a sheet of paper).

An equally important area that influences the formation of correct sound pronunciation is the formation of speech breathing.

A very important part in the prevention of speech disorders is articulatory gymnastics. Traditional articulation exercises help develop the mobility of the organs of the articulatory apparatus, which is especially necessary for dysarthria. To strengthen the flaccid, weak tip of the tongue (with reduced muscle tone in the articulatory muscles), children are offered games about the “Fun Tongue”.

The quality of speech is an indicator of the level of intellectual and emotional development of a person, therefore adults must stimulate the child’s speech abilities, create an environment in which the child not only understands well the speech addressed to him, but also wants to speak and use speech.

Our preschool institution has established a consultation center for the prevention of speech disorders with young children.

The main objectives of the Center are:

– providing psychological and pedagogical assistance to parents (legal representatives), aimed at identifying the child’s potential, creating psychological and pedagogical conditions for the harmonious mental and social development of the child;

– determining the level of development of the child, its compliance with the normative indicators of the leading development lines for a given age;

– organization of psychological and pedagogical examination of child-parent interaction;

– creation of the necessary information and motivational fields for early psychological and pedagogical assistance, active inclusion of parents (legal representatives) in the targeted developmental process;

– providing parents (legal representatives) with information on the development and upbringing of the child;

– formation of prerequisites for a child’s education in preschool education organizations.

The center’s specialists use both face-to-face and remote forms of work: seminar, discussion, individual and group consultations, teamwork training, master class, game session, creative activity, etc.

The main objectives of such classes include:

• Development of fine motor skills, articulatory apparatus, coordination of speech and movements, tempo-rhythmic characteristics of speech;
• Formation of phonemic perception;
• Developing correct speech breathing;
• Optimization of the emotional background.

Classes are held in a speech therapist's office, a music room and are often performed to music or using musical instruments (drums, metallophones, pipes, etc.). Some elements of classes are used by teachers when conducting dynamic pauses in speech development classes.

Thus, preventive work in these areas helps prevent speech disorders.

Group of organic causes

Intrauterine pathology leading to impaired fetal development.

The most vulnerable period of exposure to negative factors on the fetus is the first third of pregnancy. The influence of a harmful factor or their combination during this period can lead to underdevelopment or damage to the child’s central nervous system, including the speech zones of the cerebral cortex. These factors include:

• Intrauterine fetal hypoxia (oxygen starvation), the causes of which can be different - gestosis (toxicosis) in the first and second half of pregnancy, nephropathy, threat of miscarriage, pathology of the placenta, increased blood pressure, somatic (general) diseases of the mother (diabetes mellitus, nephritis, heart disease -vascular system).
• Viral diseases suffered by the mother during pregnancy (rubella, influenza, scarlet fever, measles, infectious hepatitis, tuberculosis, polio, toxoplasmosis, herpes, syphilis, HIV infection). The diseases that cause the greatest harm to the fetus include, first of all, rubella. Rubella disease in the first months of pregnancy can cause severe malformations of the child (deafness, blindness, mental retardation, cardiovascular system defects). Cytomegalovirus has a dangerous damaging effect on the fetus. Infection with this virus in the early stages of pregnancy leads to the death of the embryo and spontaneous abortion. If pregnancy continues, cytomegalovirus causes fetal developmental abnormalities. Infection with viral hepatitis also poses a great danger to the fetus, since it can cause various fetal abnormalities at all stages of pregnancy.
• Injuries, falls and bruises of the mother . Especially if the bruise was in the abdominal area. Can lead to placental abruption and premature birth.
• Incompatibility of blood between mother and fetus . Penetrating through the placenta, antibodies cause the breakdown of fetal red blood cells and the release of a toxic substance - indirect bilirubin. Its action affects parts of the brain, which leads to congenital pathologies of hearing and speech.
• Violations of the terms of gestation - prematurity (less than 38 weeks) and postmaturity (more than 40 weeks).
• Smoking, drinking alcohol and taking drugs . Nicotine, being the main toxic component of tobacco smoke, has a negative effect on blood circulation in the uterus and placenta. Under its influence, the processes of active transport of amino acids from mother to fetus are inhibited. As a result, the processes associated with the increase in fetal weight are disrupted (the lag in body weight during full-term pregnancy can reach 300 grams or more, and the body weight deficit persists during the first year of the child’s life). In addition, children whose mothers continued to smoke heavily during pregnancy (more than 20 cigarettes per day) may subsequently be characterized as hyperactive and disinhibited, and often experience more difficulties in school. Alcohol and drugs have a negative impact on the development of the fetus, as well as the mental and physical development of the newborn. When a mother abuses alcohol and drugs, a syndrome may occur characterized by multiple anomalies of fetal development and disturbances in the physical and mental development of the child: disorders of the central nervous system (hyperexcitability, incoordination of movements, decreased intelligence), slowed growth, abnormalities of the facial skull (elongation of the face, low forehead, underdevelopment of the chin, ears, strabismus), as well as anomalies of internal organs and limbs.
• Taking medications. There are medications that are contraindicated during pregnancy or should be used with caution. These include: Anticancer antibiotics (actinomycin, sarcolysin). When consumed in the early stages of pregnancy, they lead to deformities in the fetus.
• Ototoxic drugs - antibiotics - streptomycin, monomycin, kanamycin, gentamicin, amikacin, tobramycin; diuretics - furosemide; and also - aspirin, quinine, which cause dystrophy of the auditory nerve with the development of congenital deafness.
• Indirect anticoagulants (dicoumarin, pelentan), quickly penetrating the placenta, can cause hemorrhages in the fetus in the soft meninges and internal organs.
• Prescribing antidepressant drugs (imizin, amitriptyline) and tranquilizers (sibazon, meprotan) in the early stages of pregnancy leads to fetal intoxication.

Hereditary predisposition, genetic abnormalities

The structural features of the speech apparatus can be inherited. For example, improper fit and set of teeth, bite shape, predisposition to defects in the structure of the hard and soft palate (cleft palate), as well as features of the development of speech areas of the brain. A hereditary predisposition to stuttering has been identified.

In a family where one of the parents started speaking late, similar problems may arise in the child. Researchers attach varying importance to the hereditary nature of speech disorders - from minimal to very large. This is due to examples of the fact that speech disorders are not always inherited from parents to children. However, this circumstance cannot be excluded.

Dangers of childbirth

• Birth injuries leading to intracranial hemorrhages. The causes of birth injuries can be different - the mother’s narrow pelvis, mechanical stimulation used during pregnancy (application of forceps to the baby’s head, squeezing out the fetus). Intracranial hemorrhages caused by these circumstances can affect the speech areas of the brain.
• Asphyxia is a lack of oxygen supply to the brain due to breathing problems, for example, when the umbilical cord is entangled. Causes minimal organic damage to the brain.
• Low body weight of the newborn (less than 1500 grams) and subsequent intensive resuscitation measures (for example, artificial ventilation lasting more than 5 days).
• Low Apgar score (a generally accepted method for assessing the condition of a newborn immediately after birth).

Diseases suffered by a child in the first years of life

At an early age, the following circumstances are unfavorable for speech development:

• Infectious viral diseases, neuroinfections (meningoencephalitis, meningitis), leading to damage to the central nervous system, decreased or loss of hearing.
• Injuries and bruises of the brain, in severe cases leading to intracranial hemorrhages, impaired speech development or loss of existing speech. The type and severity of the speech disorder will depend on the location (focus) of the brain damage.
• Injuries of the facial skeleton leading to damage to the peripheral part of the speech apparatus (perforation of the palate, tooth loss). Lead to disruption of the child’s pronunciation aspect of speech.
• Long-term colds, inflammatory diseases of the middle and inner ear, leading to temporary or permanent hearing loss, impaired speech development of the child.
• Taking ototoxic antibiotics leading to hearing loss.

The formation of a child’s speech occurs under the influence of external circumstances - emotional communication with loved ones (primarily with the mother), positive experience of verbal interaction with others, the opportunity to satisfy the child’s cognitive interest, allowing him to accumulate knowledge about the world around him.

Prevention of speech development deviations in young children

Identification and correction of deviations in the development process is an important condition for modernizing the special education system, since it allows children with disabilities to be included in the educational space as early as possible. (N.N. Malofeev, 1997, 1999, 2003). Early correctional influence is based on the concept of the continuous emergence of new forms based on previous ones in development, taking place in real interaction with the environment in conditions of the unity of the material and mental aspects of the genesis of each phenomenon (L.S. Vygotsky).

In pre-preschool age, mastering speech as a means of communication is the central line of child development, since it changes his attitude to the environment, removing him from situational dependence (L.S. Vygotsky, A.V. Zaporozhets, A.N. Leontiev, A.A. Lyublinskaya, V.S. Mukhina, L.F. Obukhova, D.B. Elkonin, etc.). The speech system is formed and functions in inextricable connection with the development of the sensory, sensorimotor, intellectual, affective-volitional spheres of the child (P.K. Anokhin, L.S. Vygotsky, N.I. Zhinkin, V.P. Zinchenko, etc.). Deviations in speech acquisition make it difficult to communicate with close adults, interfere with the development of cognitive processes, and negatively affect the formation of self-awareness (R.E. Levin).

The formation of speech in young children is the subject of research by scientists in various fields of special pedagogy: N.D. Shmatko – for hearing impairment and various forms of mental dysontogenesis; I.Yu. Levchenko, O.G. Prikhodko – for movement disorders; O.S. Nikolskaya, E.R. Baenskoy, M.M. Liebling – for disorders of the emotional sphere; E.A. Strebeleva – for organic lesions of the central nervous system; Yu.A. Razenkova – with the consequences of social deprivation.

In modern speech therapy, speech deviations at an early age are traditionally referred to as “delayed speech development” (N.S. Zhukova, E.M. Mastyukova). Recently, children whose speech development allows them to be classified as a “risk group for general speech underdevelopment” (O.E. Gromova) have been identified from this category. The main signs of these speech dysontogenies are a pronounced deficiency in the child’s expressive vocabulary and the late appearance of phrases, which currently determine the main directions of differential diagnosis and corrective action (Yu.F. Garkusha, O.E. Gribova, O.E. Gromova).

Children of preschool age, whose speech condition is interpreted by neurologists and speech therapists in healthcare institutions as delayed speech development, represent a heterogeneous group in terms of the level of linguistic and cognitive development. In some children, delayed speech development is successfully compensated without outside intervention and can be considered as a temporary, reversible condition. In another group of children, similar deviations in speech ontogenesis manifest themselves mosaically in linguistic and cognitive processes, which in preschool age can provoke speech disorders of varying severity (A.N. Kornev, B.J. Mondelaers, E. Bates). The problems of determining prognostically significant signs of deviations in the formation of speech in young children and distinguishing them from delays in the rate of speech development for the purpose of timely corrective action still remain insufficiently studied in the theory and practice of speech therapy.

It is known that the development of components of speech activity is determined by the dynamic interaction of biological and social prerequisites, which determines the dynamics of changing periods of speech ontogenesis and promotes the assimilation of new means of communication (L.S. Vygotsky, R.E. Levina, M.I. Lisina). Correction of individual components of speech acquisition without taking into account the dynamics of their interaction does not contribute to the further development of speech as an integral system. Consequently, there is a need to synchronize the disturbed or insufficiently formed components of speech ontogenesis.

Thus, for speech therapy, the description of prognostically significant signs of speech dysontogenies, the study of the dynamic interaction of speech components of young children at different stages of speech acquisition, and the development of timely comprehensive speech therapy interventions remain relevant.

Purpose of the study: to develop the content and methods of complex correctional and preventive interventions at an early age based on identifying prognostically significant signs of speech development disorders.

Object of study: the process of formation of the speech system of young children with delayed speech development.

Subject of research: complex corrective and preventive intervention for deviations in speech development in the third year of life.

Research hypothesis: at an early age, the dynamic interaction of psychophysiological, linguistic and cognitive components determines each stage of speech development and the transition to the next; deviations in speech development are a consequence of dysynchrony of the components of the speech system and provoke phonetic-phonemic disorders or general underdevelopment of speech in preschool age; targeted corrective and preventive effects on psychophysiological, linguistic and cognitive components will minimize deviations in speech development in the preschool age and prevent speech disorders in preschool age; the effectiveness of the correction process depends on the timeliness of differentiation of deviations in speech acquisition and delays in speech development, on the complexity of the impact on the components of speech development and the guided participation of the family.

Research objectives:

• based on the analysis of available theoretical data on the research problem, develop a dynamic model of psycho-speech development of a young child;
• to develop methods for early diagnosis of the speech system of children in the third year of life, to systematize prognostically significant signs that determine the typology of deviations;
• to develop and justify a methodology for complex correctional and preventive interventions for speech development disorders at an early age.

methods were used in the work :

• analysis of the literature on the research topic in order to create a model demonstrating the systematic nature of the speech development of a young child;
• empirical methods: analysis of medical and pedagogical documentation, questionnaires, observation using video recording, collection of follow-up data, ascertaining, formative and control experiments;
• quantitative and qualitative analysis of data from ascertaining and control experiments, statistical analysis of the results of formative training.

The methodological basis of the study is: cultural-historical theory of the development of higher mental functions (L.S. Vygotsky, A.V. Zaporozhets); concept of systemic organization of speech (R.E. Levina, A.A. Leontyev, G.V. Chirkina); theory of activity (A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinstein).

Scientific novelty of the research. The main components are characterized, the harmonious interaction of which determines the speech development of a young child: psychophysiological, linguistic and cognitive. The feasibility and possibility of comprehensive identification of speech development deviations in young children is substantiated. A set of prognostically significant signs of such deviations is described and the types of deviations in speech development at an early age are analyzed. The directions for differential diagnosis of deviations and delays in speech development are substantiated. A method of complex correctional and preventive intervention for deviations in speech development in the third year of life has been developed.

Theoretical significance of the study. A dynamic model of the interaction of psychophysiological, linguistic and cognitive components of emerging speech activity has been developed, which makes it possible to identify the signs of dysontogenesis. Variants of speech dysontogenies have been clarified and characterized, which make it possible to predict speech disorders of various etiologies. The results obtained during the study expand the possibilities of early differential diagnosis of deviations in speech acquisition caused by an imbalance of psychophysiological, linguistic and cognitive components of speech development, in contrast to a delay in its pace, and determine the content of correctional measures.

The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that methods of speech therapy diagnostics have been adapted and developed to determine deviations in speech development in young children. Follow-up data confirmed the effectiveness of differentiating deviations in speech development by pace, severity and structure of underdevelopment. A methodology for complex corrective and preventive intervention has been created and tested, recommended for implementation in specialized nursery groups, preschool speech therapy centers, short-stay groups, and healthcare institutions. The results of the experimental study can be used in training specialists in universities during lectures, seminars and laboratory classes, in advanced training courses for speech therapists, as well as in consulting families raising young children with speech development disorders.

The reliability and validity of the results obtained is ensured by the methodological basis of the study; its complexity, the adequacy of research methods to the goals and objectives, as well as the combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained; using statistical analysis methods: ranking, T - Wilcoxon test and Pearson linear correlation.

Main conclusions:

The process of speech development is determined by the stage-by-stage interaction of psychophysiological, linguistic and cognitive components, which is reflected in the model of psycho-speech development of a young child that we have developed.

A set of prognostically significant signs of speech development disorders at an early age was identified, which made it possible to identify and characterize different types of speech development disorders among children at risk, and to differentiate them from tempo variants of delay.

A method of complex correctional and preventive intervention for various deviations in the speech development of young children has been developed, scientifically substantiated and tested, the immanent components of which are the following blocks: clinical and speech therapy (correction of motor prerequisites for articulation and auditory speech gnosis), music and speech therapy (correction of intonation-rhythmic processes), social and pedagogical (development of cognitive, emotional spheres).

The effectiveness of the developed correctional and preventive intervention for speech abnormalities at an early age has been proven, allowing, in the sensitive period of mental development, depending on the structure of dysontogenesis, to eliminate the insufficient functioning of the psychophysiological and cognitive components of the speech-language system and thereby minimize the likelihood of secondary speech disorders.

We see further prospects for studying the speech processes of children at risk in monitoring the state of specific age-specific abilities of psycho-speech development of children during preschool childhood.