Children are a great joy for parents who are waiting for their arrival. With their arrival in this world, moms and dads try to provide the kids with everything they can: food, clothes, shoes, full development. Of course, there are many problems on the way of personality formation, one of which is speech development.
Speech is formed in the first three years of a child's life. For each, this process occurs individually - some do not experience difficulties, and some children cannot learn to speak correctly. Speech problems are becoming more and more common in children. It depends on how the pregnancy proceeds, childbirth and whether the parents are engaged with the baby.
What is speech therapy massage done for?
Not everyone associates the development of speech and massage. Some are skeptical about this method of forming sounds and words. But do not underestimate its importance for the child. Recently, babies are often born with increased muscle tone. This affects their development in general and the mobility of tissues. The muscles of the face and lips also suffer from this, the tongue becomes inactive, it does not have the necessary flexibility. Speech therapy massage helps to relax the cheeks,lips, tongue, face, so that it is possible to correctly form the pronunciation of sounds. In addition, it contributes to the softening of tissues, their flexibility and proper articulation.
Tasks of such a massage
When done correctly, great success can be achieved with this manipulation. Of course, exercises with a speech therapist should also be carried out with problems of speech formation. The advantage of this manipulation is also that it can be carried out at home. Massage is done to solve the following problems:
- correcting the pronunciation of sounds when they do not correspond to the correct sound, for example, if a child cannot learn to speak hissing or the sound "p";
- when it is necessary to improve the condition of the voice - this requires medical indications;
- normalization of speech breathing - sometimes a child cannot pronounce a word correctly due to confused breathing;
- reducing emotional stress;
- correction of problems with stuttering, dysarthria, rhinolalia, voice disorders;
- increase in the tone of the muscles of the vocal apparatus and oral cavity, when there is no necessary tension for the pronunciation of sounds;
- decrease in hypersalivation (increased salivation);
- strengthening the throat reflex when speaking;
- improved articulation.
Speech therapy massage at home can also accomplish these tasks. With proper training in basic movements, thanks to hard work,mothers achieve maximum results with their children.
Indications for manipulation
Speech therapy massage is not carried out just like that. Feedback from parents testifies to its effectiveness in overcoming certain difficulties in the development of the child. There are specific indications for its use, which are due to certain conditions.
- Violation of the voice is a disorder of its function, which can have different causes: physiological and psychological. It manifests itself in insufficient voice strength, constant tickling, fatigue when speaking, pain, the appearance of a "coma" in the throat.
- Dysarthria is a speech therapy and neurological problem in which the child's pronunciation and articulation apparatus are impaired.
- Stuttering is a speech disorder that manifests itself in frequent repetition or prolonged pronunciation of sounds, syllables, words. It can also be hesitation in speech, stops.
- The need to accelerate the results of the speech therapist. This usually happens before school, when parents turned to a specialist late with serious problems.
- Constant salivation.
- Weak or increased muscle tone of the articulatory apparatus.
In these cases, face and mouth massage is necessary. In other speech therapy problems, it can be done if there are no contraindications.
Are there any contraindications to it?
The main contraindications include:
- Infectious diseases in acute form. Speech therapy massage is not done in this case, as the child feels unwell and may be in pain.
- Skin diseases. Manipulation can also cause pain and worsen the child's condition.
- Conjunctivitis.
- Gingivitis.
- Herpes, stomatitis. Speech therapy facial massage may be allowed provided that its lightweight form is used and there is no penetration of instruments into the oral cavity.
- Swollen lymph nodes, as well as a strong pulsation of the carotid artery.
Conditions for speech therapy massage
Any manipulation with a child, educational or therapeutic, must be carried out in conditions acceptable to him. For massage, it is initially necessary to consult a doctor and determine a speech defect by a speech therapist. Then specific methods of relaxing or toning the muscles of the neck, torso, facial expressions and articulatory apparatus are prescribed.
Speech therapy massage at home is more expedient, as children perceive familiar surroundings better. The room must be ventilated, the duration of the entire massage in the first few days is no more than 10 minutes. Then the time increases gradually up to 25 minutes. Massage is carried out 2-3 times a week, and at least 10-15 procedures should be applied. Parents note positive dynamics already after the 4-5th procedure. It all depends on the severity of the damage to the nervous system and the development of facial muscles.
To conduct speech therapy massage for children at home, it is necessaryprepare some remedies:
- massage oil;
- sterile gloves (if it is done for babies);
- protective mask (if a massage therapist is suspected of having a viral infection).
Gloves and a mask are also needed when massaging the mucous membranes of the mouth.
Speech therapy massage for hands
The nerve endings on the fingers are very closely related to the state of the internal organs. Therefore, some speech therapists advise starting speech therapy massage for children from the hands, especially since it has no contraindications. Parents' reviews indicate that children are happy to accept massaging their fingers. But this must be done according to certain rules:
- massage should be started from the little finger, it is necessary to massage, starting from the nail to the base of the finger, do this with each joint several times;
- several times you need to press on each fingertip, first weakly, then harder;
- massaging the palm like "magpie-white-sided";
- do several times a spiral from the edge of the palm, ending it in the center;
- if you have it at home, you need to take a rubber ball with spikes, then move it gently from your wrists to your fingers;
How to massage the tongue?
Speech therapy massage of the tongue already requires some training of the massage therapist. First you need to relax the muscles of the cervical, mandibular, shoulder girdle. This is necessary so that the muscles of the root of the tongue alsobecame relaxed. All of them are closely related. All movements should be directed from the tip of the tongue to its root.
Sometimes you may experience spasms in your throat when massaging. In this case, speech therapy massage of the tongue for children begins with massaging only the tip so that it is inside the oral cavity. Then you can gradually bring the tongue out of the lips, increasing the massaging area.
Basic moves:
- take the tip of the tongue and shake it in different directions, forward, backward;
- stroke the tongue with your thumb, while supporting it from below with the index finger of the other hand, all movements go from the center to the periphery and from the tip to the root;
- grab the tongue from above with your thumb, index and middle finger to strengthen it from below, in this position rub the surface on both sides of the center;
- then move on to vibration: grab the tip, shake it up and down a little, pat the surface of the tongue a little.
Speech therapy massage of the tongue is done if the problem with salivation is eliminated. There are also several tricks for this.
- Chewing with head thrown back.
- The child must learn to swallow saliva the first time without accumulating it in the mouth.
- Rotate the tongue around the lips with your mouth open and closed, then swallow saliva the first time.
Lip massage
How to do speech therapy lip massage? There is nothing complicated in it. The same movements are repeated here many times.times - up to 50. They need to be changed in direction. Basic actions:
- at the right wing of the nose and lips, you need to put the index and middle fingers, make several circular movements, repeat the same on the left side;
- set two index fingers in the middle under the lower lip, then above the upper one, in this position of the fingers make circular movements in different directions;
- the same setting of fingers, making pinching in this area;
- then pinch with three fingers around the baby's lips.
The complex of such actions must be repeated 2-3 times in one massage session.
Speech therapy massage with spoons
This method is also effective in the process of forming a child's speech. The child is interested in conducting such a massage. Basic exercises include the following actions:
- lip warm-up - stroking with slides of spoons of the lower and upper lips;
- circular movements with the back of the kitchen utensils on the sponges;
- shallow pressing with the tips of a spoon throughout all nasolabial folds;
- scraping movements with the tips of this item along the lower and upper lip;
- frequent pressing with the ends of a spoon on the lips;
- warm-up with circular movements of a spoon of chewing and chin muscles.
Massage for dysarthria
With this speech disorder, massage is necessary, since there is a need to influence not only the muscles, but also the nerve endings. That is why it covers a large area forcarrying out manipulations. When it is necessary to carry out a speech therapy massage for dysarthria, the child undresses to half, lies down on the table, and the massage therapist does a warm-up of the entire back, abdomen and above. In case of such a serious deviation, the procedure should only be carried out by a qualified specialist. He knows what movements are made, their sequence, what they are aimed at, and can cope with unpredictable situations (for example, cramps or spasms).
The ritual of the end of speech therapy massage
Specialists pay special attention to how speech therapy massage ends. Parents' feedback confirms that in order to set the child to continue such manipulation, it is important to be able to finish it.
After making massaging movements, you need to caress and praise the baby for patience and obedience. You can play with it a little. After such an interaction, the baby will no longer be afraid of the next procedure, and he himself will substitute the tongue.
