Report “Impairment of the tempo-rhythmic aspect of speech of preschool children”

Article:

Emphasizing the importance of words, we pronounce them slowly, and something secondary and insignificant - as if in a “patter.” However, there are speech pathologies in which the pronunciation of words is so accelerated or slow that the understanding of speech is lost - it is so illegible. These are signs of speech pathology - disturbances in the tempo and rhythm of speech. An adult and a child with such a pathology, seeing how others react to his speech, tries to speak out less so as not to get into an awkward position. What types of speech tempo and rhythm disorders are there? How to diagnose such disorders? How to work with such children in a regular school?

Types of speech rhythm and tempo disorders

Not only a speech therapist, but also parents and teachers can hear that a child’s speech deviates from the normal pace and the rhythm is disturbed, but only a specialist can determine the structure and cause of the defect.

Violations of the tempo and rhythm of speech include:

• Tahilalia is the accelerated pronunciation of words, sounds, syllables at a speed of 20-30 sounds per second (instead of 9-14 normally). The rapidity of speech negatively affects the articulation of sounds. Pathology occurs in childhood, becomes established during adolescence, and can remain with a person for life.
• Bradylalia is a pathologically slow speech, most often found in children with mental retardation or mental retardation, since violations of basic mental processes (memory, attention, thinking) and fine motor skills are often observed in parallel with bradylalia.
• Stumbling - against the background of accelerated speech, repetition of words, syllables and sounds occurs. It must be distinguished from stuttering, since stumbling does not have convulsions of the speech apparatus in its etiology; a child or adult with stumbling does not experience fear of speaking.
• Stuttering - during a statement, involuntary stops occur that are beyond the control of the stutterer. They are accompanied by convulsions of all parts of the speech apparatus.

Causes and forms of tachylalia

If your child is chattering randomly without slowing down, this may be a cause for concern. With tachylalia, the child also has non-speech symptoms, which are manifested by impaired general motor skills, nervous twitching of the limbs, and behavioral disorders. The child sleeps restlessly at night, rushes about in his sleep, and during the day the processes of excitation prevail over the processes of inhibition. Children are quick-tempered, experience constant mood swings, a sharp outburst of emotions, and aggression. Attention is impaired, there is no concentration on one object, there is frequent switching, low volume of visual and motor memory. During excitement, tachylalics experience redness of the ears, sweating (sweat may also appear on the forehead) or coldness of the palms, and an inability to articulate in accordance with the flow of thoughts.

There are two types of tachylalia: poltern (stumbling) and battarism.

Stumbling is often confused with stuttering because the speaker frequently repeats the same sounds and syllables. However, such “jumping” of phonemes is not stuttering, because during their production there are no muscle spasms of the speech apparatus, characteristic of logoneurosis.

Battarism is characterized by distorted phrase construction due to a lack of verbal attention. This is rearranging syllables in a word, eliminating syllables and sounds from words, leaving out endings, clumsy formatting of statements, replacing one word with another that sounds similar.

Correction of tachylalia

Work to eliminate the defect must be comprehensive. Medical intervention with the help of medications, physiotherapy, and special types of exercise therapy is mandatory. Speech therapy classes should include logorhythmics, musical accompaniment, exercises aimed at developing logical thinking and concentration.

Corrective work lasts from 9 months to a year and always in a group form

. In a group of children with similar disabilities, the child listens to the speech of others, where it is easier to create a problematic play situation. At first, children speak by imitation at a very slow pace, far from normal. The speech therapist sets the rhythm, which is accompanied by tapping on the table and clapping the rhythm of words and phrases with one's hands. Phrases and rhymes are spoken to the accompaniment of slow music. It is useful to march with your arms out to the sides and pronounce words as the ball hits you. At home, parents can also practice day after day, saying phrases at a slow pace, tapping a tambourine, using leisurely music. You can also smoothly sing vowel sounds repeatedly in the following sequence: “iiiiii, eeeee, aaaaa, ooooo, uuuuu...”

Everyday training leads to a slower rate of speech. After this, you can move on to exercises that develop expressiveness and clarity of speech. This is memorizing nursery rhymes, poems with emotional overtones, reciting poetry, clearly pronouncing simple sayings.

Tachylalics often have problems with the sequence of speech, so it is useful to train them in planning speech utterances. Compose a story from a series of plot pictures or based on a ready-made plan, suggesting the sequence of events. One of the effective means of storytelling is the game “get the word out.” The speech therapist begins the phrase, and each of the children takes turns finishing it. Phrases should be united by one topic, which develops logical thinking in children and allows them to practice mastering a leisurely pace of speech.

During and after the completion of the correction course, close adults need to monitor their speech at home and monitor the child’s speech. Tahilalia tends to return if the necessary speech environment is absent in the family. After a year has passed after the rate of speech has normalized, we can say that tachylalia has disappeared.

Symptoms of speech tempo and rhythm disorders

With tachylalia (accelerated speech rate), the rapid flow of utterance stuns the interlocutor, whom the speaker practically does not listen to the end of, and often interrupts. The articulatory apparatus does not have time to clearly pronounce sounds, syllables and words; the entire utterance is pronounced in one exhalation, without respite. Tachylalia may be accompanied by twitching of the body or separately of the arms and legs, and grimacing.

Stumbling is distinguished, in addition to the frequent repetition of speech units, by unjustified pauses in speech, stops in the middle of a speech utterance. Unlike stuttering when stumbling, a child’s speech does not deteriorate in front of an unfamiliar audience and does not have periodicity.

With bradylalia , the articulation of sounds is sluggish and unclear, vowel sounds are pronounced stretched out. The voice is monotonous, the statements are not emotionally colored, they lack characteristic modulations. Speech is so slow that it causes impatience and irritation among others.

Children, seeing such an attitude, try to remain silent more often than to speak. This position further retards their mental development. According to scientific research, with bradylalia, not only external, but also internal speech has a slow pace.

Stuttering has a wide clinical picture. It is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Convulsions of all parts of the articulatory apparatus.
• Accompanying movements of the muscles of the face, neck, arms and legs - squinting, stomping, clenching fists, frequent blinking.
• Speech tricks - all kinds of “uh”, “well”. “so”, “here”, etc.
• Fear of speech, fear of pronouncing individual sounds and words.
• Increased stuttering when communicating with unfamiliar people.

Examination of children with violations of the tempo and rhythm of speech

If parents suspect that their child has disturbances in the tempo and rhythm of speech, they should consult with a speech therapist at a children's clinic, speech center, school or kindergarten. Sometimes you can hear the erroneous opinion that you should not start correcting speech deficiencies until the child is 5 years old.

This is partly true for uncomplicated cases of sound pronunciation formation, since the speech apparatus has not yet been formed, and sounds can appear on their own. In all other cases, the sooner correction work begins, the more successful it will be.

At the initial visit, the specialist is required to conduct a speech therapy examination. The main directions of this survey:

• Establishing the cause and nature of speech impairment.
• Determining the rate of speech of the child and his parents.
• Diagnosis of basic mental processes (memory, attention, thinking).
• Studying the history of speech development - the appearance of the first words, phrases, the likelihood of parents forcing the child’s speech. Bilingualism in the family.
• Determining the style of family education, attitude towards the child, the presence of conflicts, difficult life situations.
• Collecting anamnesis of the disorder and concomitant pathologies.
• Determination of existing articulation deficiencies.
• Correspondence of the level of speech development of the child to the age norm.

Perhaps some questions may seem unnecessary to parents, but the speech therapist does not ask them out of idle curiosity - there are no trifles in the development and correction of speech disorders, the situation in the family and the presence of psychological problems are very important.

Why you should contact our clinics

High quality speech therapy and medical services

Our network of clinics has always been distinguished by a high level of medical care. Proof of this is the first place that the NEARMEDIC network of clinics won in the ranking of private clinics in the capital in 2021.

Complex treatment and individual approach

Stuttering is a violation of the tempo of speech; it is corrected in NEARMEDIC clinics only in a comprehensive manner - by psychologists, neurologists, and speech therapists. In this case, specialists take into account the state of the child’s central nervous system, the characteristics of individual speech development, possible mental trauma, improper upbringing, heredity, social environment, etc.

The stuttering correction program is developed separately for each child, taking into account his age characteristics and speech defects.

Causes of speech pathologies

The basis for disturbances in the tempo and rhythm of speech is an incorrect relationship between the processes of excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex.

The causes of tachylalia (accelerated speech rate) are:

• The predominance of excitation processes in the cerebral cortex, responsible for the formation of speech.
• Heredity, congenital characteristics of temperament.
• Imitating the fast-talking of others, mistakes in education - such speech is most often found in unbalanced and excitable children.

The causes of bradyllalia (slow speech) can be:

• Dominance of inhibition over excitation in the speech areas of the cerebral cortex.
• This feature of external and internal speech can be inherited.
• Pathology appears as a result of a child’s imitation of incorrect speech patterns from others.

Causes of stuttering can be:

• Unbearable speech load (learning large poems, memorizing texts that are not age appropriate, memorizing difficult and obscure words).
• Frequent punishment of children, sudden and severe fear, mental trauma due to improper upbringing.
• Excessively accelerated speech due to imitation of family members, getting stuck on individual sounds during speech;
• Traumatic brain injuries, neuroinfections.

The main factors provoking pathology of speech development are congenital or acquired weakness of the nervous system and a decrease in its stability.

Recommendations for correction

Correction of bradyllalia, like any other disease, should be carried out comprehensively.

• Drug treatment is aimed at normalizing the activity of the nervous system. As a rule, strengthening and tonic preparations containing B vitamins and vitamin C are prescribed. Glutamic acid preparations are widely used in the treatment of bradyllia.
• Positive results are obtained from exercises in the pool, water procedures, physiotherapeutic treatment, massage, and physical therapy.
• Consultation with a psychologist and psychotherapist is mandatory.
• To relieve physical and mental stress, autogenic training is carried out with the patient.
• Active and educational games and participation in theatrical skits will have a positive impact on improving the emotionality of a child’s speech, motor skills and facial expressions.
• Reading books and guessing riddles help normalize the baby’s speech rate.
• Manual labor activities develop fine motor skills.
• The pace of speech accelerates when playing sports, singing, dancing.

The help of a speech therapist is paramount. Logorhythmic exercises are very effective in terms of impact. Children move to an accelerated rhythm given to them, quickly march, run, perform exercises to rhythmic music, and play outdoor games with speech accompaniment. It looks something like the video below:

Stimulation of a child’s speech rate occurs gradually in several stages:

1. The speech therapist pronounces a light phrase like “the kitten drank warm milk,” setting the pace of speech by conducting or clapping his hands, or tapping the rhythm on the table. Children repeat the phrase several times, following the accelerating pace set by the speech therapist.
2. At this stage, children and adults quickly recite lines from a familiar poem.
3. The third stage of correctional work includes work not only on speech speed, but also on its expressiveness. Children tell fairy tales in roles, learn dramatizations, fixing the required pace and rhythm of speech.
4. At the last stage, tongue twisters and tongue twisters are used at an accelerated pace, consolidating the acquired skills and developing speech motor skills.

Oratory, speech production, theatrical scenes form the expressiveness of speech and its emotionality:

To develop inner speech, all sorts of activities for ingenuity and imagination are used. At the same time, the speech therapist invites the child to complete tasks at different paces, maintaining the speed, for example, by clapping his hands. Gradually, the child learns to control his speech and speak faster.

With timely detection of the disease and its prompt treatment, the prognosis is positive. Treatment is successful with regular classes and comprehensive support from medical specialists. But even after curing the disease, strict control on the part of parents over the state of the child’s speech is necessary. An adult must have self-control.

What should parents do if their child has a speech disorder?

You should not try to correct this pathology through prohibitions and shouts like “Come on, stop making faces, speak correctly now.” Since these disorders are closely related to the state of the nervous system, you should try to create a calm atmosphere in the family, try to adjust communication with the child, and establish a trusting relationship.

Correction of speech disorders should be carried out by a qualified speech therapist. It is advisable to consult with a neurologist, psychotherapist, or psychologist who works with children with developmental disabilities before starting classes. You will have to be prepared for the fact that the cycle of correctional classes will be long - several months, perhaps several years.

If there are people in the family with speech impairments, you need to work on correcting it. It is advisable for the child to hear calm, quiet speech around him at a leisurely pace for imitation. It is necessary to celebrate any, even the smallest, successes of the child, convince him that the defect can be overcome, and encourage him.

To strengthen the child’s nervous system, it is advisable to carry out general strengthening measures:

• Hardening.
• Doing feasible sports.
• Taking vitamin complexes, a large amount of fresh vegetables and fruits in the diet.
• Maintaining a daily routine.
• Optimization of teaching load.
• As recommended by your doctor, take antipsychotics.

Compliance with such recommendations will lead to the correction of speech disorders.

Rhythm and speechconsultation on speech therapy

Rhythm and speech

Speech is a complex process that requires the coordinated work of breathing, the oral cavity, the nervous system and the organs of perception: when at least one of the components fails, as a rule, the entire mechanism falls apart. Processes must function and proceed rhythmically.

What is rhythm? Rhythm – uniform alternation of any elements (sound, motor, etc.); internal organization of a musical, poetic, etc. work, based on the alternation of sounds and movements; the well-established course of something, the regularity in the flow of something (rhythm of life, daily routine, etc.).

Rhythm is inherent in a person by nature itself (daily routine, seasonal changes in the rhythm of life). Let us highlight the characteristic features of the rhythm:

internal organization - that is, rhythm has the ability to organize, order chaotic elements;

repeatability – rhythm is characterized by repetition, alternation of the same elements;

regularity - in contrast to spontaneity, rhythm determines the predictability and well-established course of something (for example, a daily routine or some activity).

The development of a sense of rhythm is one of the prerequisites for the implementation of speech activity.

A well-developed sense of rhythm creates the basis for further mastery of the phonetic side of speech: the syllabic structure of a word, verbal and logical stress, and the rhythmic organization of the speech motor act.

The development of rhythm prepares children to work on stress and intonation expressiveness of speech.

Working on rhythm is very effective in working to overcome violations of the syllabic structure of a word.

What contributes to the development of a sense of rhythm?

- Clapping (stomping with the foot, tapping the ball on the floor) a simple rhythmic pattern by demonstration and by ear;

- repetition of a clapping rhythmic pattern on a sounding instrument;

- acceleration and deceleration of walking (running) when the music playing changes;

- performing a movement at a given pace when counting or music stops;

- walking with clapping, rhythmic verses, to the beat of a drum (tambourine);

- transition from walking to running (and back) when changing the rhythm of the tempo, the nature of the music;

- raising your arms forward to a reference point without visual control under the beats of a tambourine;

reproduction of rhythm (or tempo) in hand movements (children's choice);

- performing simulation exercises to different types of music: march, lullaby, polka...

- telling nursery rhymes, poems, singing;

- games with balls;

— alternation of specified movements;

— laying out various paths;

- drawing patterns according to a given rule..

Rhythmic exercises are based on auditory perception with the participation of visual and tactile contact, which creates conditions for the diversified development of the individual.

How to work with children with speech rhythm and tempo disorders in a secondary school?

At the beginning of correctional work to eliminate speech defects, a speech therapist can establish a so-called “silence mode” for a month in order to break the stereotype of incorrect speech. It is necessary that the teacher supports this event, does not force the child to speak out, and if necessary, then controls that this happens through whispered speech.

It is desirable that speech without hesitation or pauses, practiced in classes with a speech therapist, be encouraged and supported by the teacher. There is no need to force the child to repeat an incorrectly pronounced word, discuss his defect with strangers, or demonstrate the characteristics of the pathology. If such a child is left-handed, you cannot re-teach him to write “like everyone else.” With this approach, speech pathologies will resume with renewed vigor.

It is advisable to protect children with speech impairments from participating in noisy and stressful events, long excursions and travel during their correction. The teacher’s speech should be a role model - clear, smooth, calm, expressive, and impeccable in articulation.

Therapeutic measures

Treatment measures include eliminating the causes of speech dysfunction, as well as corrective work. If a child has a pathology that has caused a change in speech, he is first prescribed a course of treatment. Upon completion of therapy for the underlying disease, the patient is referred to a speech therapist. The speech therapist draws up a plan for speech therapy sessions. Correction is carried out both at home and in educational institutions. The number of classes is determined by the severity of speech disorders.

For bradyllalia, speech therapy classes are aimed at developing a faster pace of conversation and training the articulatory and motor apparatus. The speech therapist teaches the child to write, read, and clearly pronounce phrases and sentences faster. The classes train memory and attention. Outdoor games, skits, and dialogues are actively used, which help accelerate the pace of speech function. A good effect from the correction can be expected after 4 weeks. During a monthly course of therapy, speech speed becomes faster and pronunciation becomes clearer.

Children with slow speech need to conduct independent studies at home and control their conversation.

When treating tachylalia, a speech therapist conducts classes that include breathing training (slow, even), reading, and orderly, calm speech. The specialist teaches the child to work with a team, organizing performances in front of a group of people or children. During classes, they must develop general, auditory attention and train diction. The course of treatment for preschoolers and primary school students is 6-12 months.

It is better to correct tachylalia as early as possible (before 5 years of age), since therapy is less effective during puberty.

Stuttering correction is carried out at home and in the speech therapist's office. Family members need to avoid conflict and speak slowly and clearly. During treatment, it is better to refrain from visiting kindergarten for 2 months, events, and holidays, so as not to excite the patient. The correction course includes physical activity (running, swimming, cycling). During classes, you need to practice counting (count clothespins by attaching them to paper cut out in the shape of a circle), and use silent games. For correction, tongue twisters, gymnastics for the articulation apparatus, and breathing exercises are used.