Any deviation that occurs in the process of development causes anxiety in parents. When speech functions are violated, the child does not have the opportunity to fully communicate with members of his own family and people around him. In severe cases, we are talking about such a pathology as systemic underdevelopment of speech.
Let's consider this pathology in more detail.
General Features
Speech underdevelopment of a systemic nature is a complex violation of the functions of the speech apparatus in a child, which is characterized by the unformed processes of speaking and receiving speech messages.
The following language elements may be violated:
- Phonetics - some sounds the child pronounces incorrectly.
- Vocabulary - the child does not own the volume of vocabulary that he should have mastered for this period of his development.
- Grammar - there are violations in the selection of case endings, in the preparation of sentences, etc.
This category of deviations is usually made up of disorders that qualify in the existing classifications as general underdevelopment of speech, or motor alalia.
The concept of "systemic underdevelopment of speech" was introduced by R. E. Levina and is used in the diagnosis of speech functions in children with mental retardation. For patients with organic brain lesions, which are characterized by a secondary speech disorder, speech therapists most often make a similar diagnosis against the background of this pathological condition. Children with intact hearing and intelligence are diagnosed with "general underdevelopment of speech."
A true diagnosis can be made after the child is seen by three specialists: a neurologist, a psychologist and a speech therapist. In addition, such a diagnosis is not given to those children who have not reached the age of five.
Causes for the development of pathology
It is rather difficult to identify the main cause of systemic underdevelopment of speech, since often it is not just one factor that matters, but their whole combination.
The main factors are:
- head injuries that were received by the child during childbirth or in the first years of life;
- difficult course of pregnancy, and this category of causes includes serious infectious diseases during childbearing, drinking alcohol, smoking, severe chronic infections, etc.;
- fetal hypoxia;
- unfavorable situation in the family - inattentive andrude attitude towards the child, frequent quarrels between relatives, overly strict methods of education, etc.;
- childhood diseases, which include asthenia, cerebral palsy, rickets, Down syndrome, complex pathologies of the central nervous system.
In certain cases, systemic underdevelopment of speech develops mildly as a reaction to a bacterial or viral infection.
Signs and symptoms
How to understand that a child is behind in development, and suspect that there is a delay in speech, mental or intellectual development even before he is five years old?
Initial warning signs in children with systemic underdevelopment of speech can be observed as early as the first year of life. Situations should be alerted when, in response to certain words spoken by adults, the child does not try to reproduce them.
At the age of one and a half years, the child must learn to imitate the sounds uttered by people around him, as well as point to objects at their request. If this is not observed, parents need to think. The next milestone is the age of two. Here the child needs to be able to pronounce words and even phrases spontaneously at will.
At the age of three, children should understand about two-thirds of what adults say, and vice versa, adults - children. By the age of four, the meaning of absolutely all words should be mutually understood. In cases where this does not happen, you should seek the advice of a specialist.
At the age of five, when the question is about posing suchdiagnosed as a systemic speech disorder, symptoms may be as follows:
- child's speech remains slurred, extremely difficult to understand;
- There is no consistency between expressive and impressive speech - the child understands everything, but cannot speak out on his own.
Classification
This violation has several degrees of systemic underdevelopment of speech:
- Mild degree - insufficient vocabulary for a certain age, violation in the pronunciation of sounds, inaccuracy in the use of indirect cases, prepositions, plurals and other difficult points, dysgraphia, insufficient awareness of causal relationships.
- Systemic underdevelopment of speech of an average degree - difficulty in perceiving too long sentences, words that are used in a figurative sense. Difficulties with the construction of semantic lines during retelling are also noted. Children do not know how to agree on gender, number, case, or they do it with mistakes. They have underdevelopment of phonemic hearing, weak active speech, poor vocabulary, impaired coordination of language movements in the process of articulation.
- Severe systemic underdevelopment of speech - perception is severely impaired, there is no coherent speech, there are violations of fine motor skills, the child cannot write and read, or it is given to him with great difficulty, there are only a few dozen words in the vocabulary, monotonous intonation, the power of the voice is reduced, there is no word formation. However, the child cannotconstructive dialogue, as it is difficult to answer even simple questions.
The diagnosis, as well as the identification of the degree of the disorder that is observed in a particular child, is carried out only by a specialist, and not by parents, other relatives or teachers.
Other classification
There is another classification of general underdevelopment. At the same time:
- 1st degree - no speech.
- 2nd degree of systemic underdevelopment of speech - there are only initial speech elements with a large amount of agrammatism.
- 3rd degree is characterized by the fact that the child can speak phrases, but the semantic and sound sides are underdeveloped.
- 4th degree involves individual violations in the form of residual disorders in such sections as phonetics, vocabulary, phonetics and grammar.
General speech underdevelopment of moderate degree, for example, corresponds to the second and third levels of this classification.
We examined the levels of systemic underdevelopment of speech.
Mental retardation
Such a pathological phenomenon as severe systemic underdevelopment of speech with mental retardation is due to the following symptoms:
- The development of the speech system is far behind the norm.
- Memory problems observed.
- There are difficulties in defining simple concepts and relationships between them;
- Increased motor activity.
- Child cannot concentrate.
- There is no conscious will.
- Underdeveloped or missingthinking.
In the case of systemic underdevelopment of speech with mental retardation, the psycho-emotional functions of children are developed incorrectly, which negatively affects not only communication, but also other necessary social skills.
What determines success?
The success of corrective measures depends on the degree of the violations themselves, as well as on the timeliness of the assistance provided to the child by specialists. In this case, the goal of parents is to note deviations in speech or intellectual development in time and visit a specialist with the child.
Systemic underdevelopment of expressive speech
Expressive speech disorders are a general underdevelopment of speech functions in children against the background of sufficient mental development in understanding what others are saying.
This disorder manifests itself as a small vocabulary that is not appropriate for the age of the child, difficulties in verbal communication, insufficient ability to express one's opinion with words.
Also, children who have more or less pronounced disorders of expressive speech are characterized by difficulties in learning grammatical rules: the child cannot agree on the endings of words, uses prepositions inadequately, cannot decline nouns and adjectives, does not use conjunctions or uses them incorrectly.
Desire to communicate
Despite the above speech disorders, children with similardisorders tend to communicate, use non-verbal cues and gestures to convey their thoughts to the interlocutor.
The first signs of expressive speech disorders can be noticed even in infancy. By the age of two, children with a similar pathology do not use words, by the age of three they do not form primitive phrases consisting of several words.
Therapy and correction
In mild and moderate stages of disorders, the prognosis is usually quite positive, in severe forms of pathology, treatment is longer and more complex, but it also gives good results.
Therapeutic measures are carried out by a speech therapist if speech disorders are accompanied by other disorders. A psychologist and other specialists are also included in the work.
Classes should take place in different forms - both in the form of constant repetition of sounds, rules for constructing endings, words, sentences, etc., and using progressive modern methods, during the development of which children learn to remember, ask questions, understand speech, master the meaning of certain concepts, train memory, develop motor skills.
An interesting form of presentation of material, bright pictures, a favorable atmosphere in a medical institution where correction is carried out, are a combination of components designed to help the patient cope with existing disorders faster.
As a rule, physical exercises are also included in the process of general therapy - children do not sit still, but activelytrain the motor center.
Serious Approach
Systemic underdevelopment of speech is a disease that requires a serious approach. You should not rush to determine the child for correction to the first doctor who comes across. At the same time, it is necessary to study whether he has a positive experience working with such children, as well as the ability to establish psychological bonds with “difficult” patients.
Correctional methods include not only psychotherapy and special exercises, often disorders arise due to the wrong approach to the organization of the educational process, so you have to correct it.
Reviews
About this disease in adults and children on medical sites there are a large number of a wide variety of reviews. Patients and parents of children suffering from this pathology say that such a disorder is very successfully treated with the help of various neurological drugs, as well as medications that help normalize cerebral circulation. In addition, they note that it is extremely important not only to use drugs, but also to carry out special methods for correcting such disorders, which are carried out by speech therapists in medical institutions.
