Home activities in delayed speech and language development in children

Speech and language development in children occurs in two stages as receptive language and expressive language. First, receptive language and then expressive language are acquired. An education program is prepared according to the performance of the children whose language development will be supported. Behaviors related to receptive and expressive language are tried to be gained by using various methods and techniques in the order specified in the stages.

In order to develop receptive language, children are made to listen to concepts and sentences through various exercises. After gaining ear fullness, it is ensured to memorize it, short and concise speech should be made in order for the receptive language to be formed well, being the right model is the most important stage for language development, speaking with the child with complex sentences and long-worded sentences and words with exaggerated suffixes will harm language development instead of benefiting it. can provide. (The student may not want to talk.)

In the following process, activities such as describing their daily lives, talking on pictures, providing life activities and making sentences are carried out. Afterwards, story books are read, dramatized and narration activities are included, and all speaking opportunities in free, regular and imaginary play environments should be evaluated.

Apart from this, suffixes and their duties are handled one by one in our language and the duties of suffixes are taught. It is taught practically how to use it. Later on, he is asked to use the affixes he has learned, so first the word without suffix should be applied in accordance with the context, while speaking with the child, speech should be made in sentence format but in the shortest and most concise form, and the affixes should be repeated as the stage progresses.

Creating the need for speech in children. Speech is only ingrained by speaking and is reinforced as he speaks. If speaking is made enjoyable and shown to be useful, the child may be tempted to speak. However, some children with delayed speech avoid speaking.

Some have no attempt to speak at all. Some people are not afraid to speak, but their speech is incomprehensible, so it is useless. They are often unaware of how important speech is a tool to establish relationships with adults and to satisfy needs. For example, in some families, siblings speak for the child. The child does not need to speak when he speaks for himself. Some of the children are not aware of the benefit of talking and feel that it will be harmful. He believes that learning and using speech will get him in trouble. They think that they will get along with their environment without learning to speak. In fact, in a family where all adults try to learn and use the child’s language, gestures and facial expressions are a sufficient language for the child.

It is useful for those who are in contact with such children to pay attention to the following in general:

– It is helpful to talk to the child as loudly as he can hear, at a speed that he can follow, in a simplicity that he can understand, and in a tone he likes. On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that if the child’s attempts to speak are noticed, monitored and supported, it will still be beneficial. It would be useful to open them up a little more.

– In such children, those who have intercourse should ignore the expressions made with silent gestures and facial expressions in order to create the need for them to speak. Parents and adults who make up the immediate environment should gradually reduce the rewarding and understanding of the child’s signs and gestures. On the first day, he must choose two signs or gestures and persistently ignore and misunderstand. So the child will be surprised. You are surprised. But he’ll understand that these signs don’t work. The next day the number of selected marks can be increased. Selected marks must correspond to a single word.

– Another method that creates a need for speech in the child is when the parent, teacher or specialist speaks loudly and a lot to himself. This conversation should be with the child, while they are doing some work or movement. For example, if the mother is with the child while the mother is cleaning the house, she can make a speech like this: “Mom is cleaning the house now.. collected the slippers.. wash the tray.. the tray is now soapy..wash..rinse..dry..the tray is clean.. put the tray on the table.” If such simplified conversations are made several times a day, the child watching them participates in loud conversations, first internally and later externally.

– During the treatment, the therapist should also include abbreviated speech in this way. In the first session, he should speak as little as possible. The marked and gestured speech of the child should be followed and communication should be attempted. The most appropriate single word to replace the sign used by the child later, short sentence speech patterns should be used together with the signs. It should be noted that the conversations with the child should be slow and simple in terms of speed in the first sessions and stages. Since adult speech has a lot of flow and speed, and the meaning is complex, most children with delayed speech have the feeling that it will be very difficult to reach such speech. Whereas, a simplified and slowed-down speech seems like a job to the child. The healer should pay attention to this.

– If there is a tradition of reading a story to the child before bedtime by the parents or an adult, the family should give up this for a while. Because reading speed and fluency seem inaccessible to the child and can create intimidation.

– Making speech a means of communication. The child should be encouraged to use the new words taught to him in his daily life. For this, parents, experts and teachers should work together. Children enjoy using newly learned words with adults. “Open the door.” If he has learned to say it, he takes great pleasure in ordering it to an elder and seeing his order carried out. By taking advantage of this feature, children can be encouraged to speak. Children should not be denied this opportunity. Such exercises can be done using imperative sentences and words such as come, open, close, take, give, open the door, shut the door.

– While carrying out such studies, it is necessary to pay attention to two issues. One of them is not to force the child to speak more than his actual skill, than he can. When the child disassembles speech and realizes that it is an instrument of social control, he or she has a great desire to speak and wants to speak very quickly. Talking too fast and too often creates hesitation and hindrance. The rhythm disorder called stuttering is mostly seen in children with such a background, especially in children who are forced to keep up with their peers. If the child is in a calm, slow speaking and listening environment, the above disadvantages can be avoided.

The second thing to note is that parents should avoid haste. Frequent interference, which is usually done to correct articulation disorders, hinders the treatment. Parents expect the child with delayed speech disability to suddenly speak normally without making articulation errors. Parents should be reassured that this should not be expected immediately. The best help parents can do in this regard is for them to play the role of tolerant listeners, clear-speaking speakers. Parents should always keep in mind that a child who started speaking at age 4 and a child who started at age 2 may not have the same level of speech by age 5. But in three years, maybe they can catch up. Unless, of course, other situations are equal.
“To forget the old habit of speaking, you must adopt the new habit of speaking.”