Children's speech therapist services
Speech therapy classes for children from 2 years old are conducted by appointment individually and in small groups. The duration of the lesson is from 30 to 45 minutes. Parents' presence at the lesson is required.
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Working hours
from 9.00 to 20.00 daily without days off or breaks.
Parents often ask themselves questions:
- Does my child speak well?
- Why are all the children around already chatting, but mine can’t put together two words?
- When should you contact a speech therapist if your child has a lisp, burr...?
- What to do if there is a lot of drool in the child’s mouth or the tongue deviates to the right (left)?
- Is it stuttering or not?
- Should we wait five years, as the children's speech therapist at the clinic says, or not waste precious time?
The education system in Russia now makes it extremely difficult for a child to receive a free consultation with a speech therapist. The number of speech therapists in kindergartens has sharply decreased, and the quality of speech therapy assistance has deteriorated significantly. There are no or almost no speech therapy gardens. In kindergarten and school, a speech therapist can work with you only after your child has passed a special commission confirming that the child needs speech therapy help. Not all diagnoses are considered by the commission as necessary for classes with a free speech therapist. And the classes, if they finally get around to it, will last 10-15 minutes and give minimal results.
This does not mean that a speech therapist in kindergarten is a bad speech therapist. This means that a speech therapist working in a government institution is now faced with a colossal number of students from one cluster in need of speech therapy help. A speech therapist is physically unable to fully help your child.
General education institutions mean a complete lack of work with parents. You will not know what your child is doing during the lesson, no one will inform you at what stage your production of sounds is and whether there is any result at all. And if you are diagnosed with “Dysarthria,” you are unlikely to be sent to a neurologist and will not receive a speech therapy massage. And if they do, they will not explain that “Dysarthria” is an insidious thing and without the intervention of parents and the ability to help the child in time, the diagnosis of “Dysarthria” will return at the first stress. As a rule, all work with parents in kindergartens comes down to homework in a notebook on the weekends. Indifference reigns both in gardens and in clinics.
Every mother watches her children with interest and looks forward to their first words. But sometimes they do not appear for a long time, or speech is filled with individual sounds. Some parents notice that children pronounce words incorrectly or distort them, but do not know when their child needs a speech therapist and for what problems.
Often, mothers and fathers turn to a specialist only when the child is left for the second year at school or is forced to leave the kindergarten/school due to a developmental delay, the basis of which is speech.
When to contact a speech therapist with a child to avoid problems in the future.
The content of the article:
1. Signs of normal speech development
2. Recommended age for visiting a specialist
3. Reasons for contacting a speech therapist
Signs of normal speech development
The first reaction of a newborn baby is to cry. Afterwards it transforms into humming - the production of individual sounds. By six months, the baby is already babbling with might and main, that is, pronouncing similar syllables. He can already use them to express his demands and desires.
• The first stage of active speech begins at one year of age. By this time, the baby begins to pronounce individual words and connect them into simple sentences. The vocabulary increases; by the age of one and a half years, children begin to form phrases of four words.
• At 23 years old, the child is already actively communicating with peers. His speech is far from ideal, he swallows parts of words and does not pronounce half of the sounds, but is able to remember simple poetry.
• At three years old, whistling sounds [С], [С'], [З], [З'], [Ц] appear, but they are not always pronounced clearly - this is normal.
• At four years old, hissing sounds [ZH], [SH], [CH'], [SH'] appear; children easily formulate their thoughts and conduct full-fledged dialogues with adults, which are limited only by their level of knowledge about the world around them.
• At five or six years old, the most complex sounds appear - sonorous ones. These include [P], [P'], [L], [L']. Children are mastering speech better and better, and they almost no longer make mistakes. Their vocabulary contains about 2 thousand words.
• By the age of seven, the baby can pronounce all the sounds of the Russian language and pronounce them correctly. Actively retells stories using pictures, easily changes intonation and uses about 3,500 words in communication.
If your baby develops according to the scenario described above, then the child needs a speech therapist at 2.5 years old. The specialist will diagnose speech development, make sure that the baby is developing normally, and tell you the nuances of the current state of speech, what you should pay attention to.
Recommended age to visit a specialist
A speech therapist is a specialist who eliminates speech defects. People turn to him for various reasons. Sometimes this is not pronouncing a sound, in other cases it is a long silence of the baby. The age at which a child needs a speech therapist depends on the specific problem.
The main cause for concern is the lack of speech. Normally, children begin to speak at one year of age. Don't worry if the words appear a little later. Experts consider the critical age to be two and a half years. If by the age of 2.5 years the baby has not spoken or has only a few words in his speech, then there is a delay in speech development. A comprehensive examination by specialists is recommended here.
If you have questions about the speech of a child under 2 years old, or you doubt his correct development, then it makes sense to go to a pediatrician. The speech therapist accepts children from the age of 2 years.
Many people do not think about at what age they should contact a speech therapist with their child, believing that speech will develop on its own. That in kindergarten or school teachers will correct all problems. Then the child is asked to leave a private kindergarten due to problems with speech development or is left for the second year at school. There is a practice of such cases and they are not isolated.
The speech therapist conducts a speech therapy examination, which resembles a comprehensive testing of the child’s abilities. He checks whether the child understands speech, whether the child follows simple instructions, how many words are in his speech, whether he knows how to change words by numbers, etc. A speech therapist is a correctional teacher. He conducts special classes that are aimed at evoking and developing the baby’s speech. This slow process sometimes takes several years.
The parent has many reasons for concern, including the absence of humming or babbling, the baby’s lack of understanding of spoken speech, and delayed physical development. This may be a symptom of serious problems. Therefore, consultation with various specialists, not just a speech therapist, will be required. Before taking the child to a speech therapist, parents can show him to a psychiatrist, audiologist (to exclude hearing impairment, or a neurologist.
Reasons for contacting a speech therapist
Most often, parents decide to go to a speech therapist with their child if the child cannot pronounce several sounds. In common parlance this is called “lisp” or “burr.” Children may replace sounds, distort them, or not pronounce them at all. During the examination, the speech therapist checks not only the ability to correctly pronounce speech sounds, but also other aspects of speech development:
• Grammar;
• Vocabulary;
• The ability to identify sounds and distinguish between them.
The baby’s articulatory apparatus (lips, teeth, palate, tongue, frenulum, etc.) is required to be studied. Since some anatomical features may interfere with the correct formation of speech. In this case, consultation with an orthodontist or surgeon is indicated.
Rearrangement of syllables or swallowing of syllables at 2.5 years should be alarming. For example, a child says: “eeko” instead of “heart”, “fruit-uky, dog - ahaka, zebra - heha” or “maka kusha coffee” instead of “Masha is eating candy”.
If, in addition to sounds, other components of the subject are impaired, then he is given the conclusion “general underdevelopment of speech.” In this case, you will have to work with a speech therapist twice a week. It is impossible to say exactly how long it will take for correction. It usually takes from one to three years.
Sound pronunciation disorders only include problems with sounds. Children may distort them, omit them, or replace them. For example, instead of [K] say [T], instead of [W] say [S]. Distortions are often observed. For example, whistling sounds are pronounced in such a way that the tip of the tongue is between the teeth.
Very often, incorrect pronunciation occurs due to confusion of sounds (immature phonemic hearing). Such children have difficulty with tasks of isolating a sound, determining its place in a word, and distinguishing sounds.
Some parents carefully monitor the development of their daughter or son, but they do not know at what age a speech therapist can examine children and take them to work. After all, a specialist can identify the problem even in 2 years. Experienced speech therapists know how to help children of all ages from 2 years old.
In case of delayed speech development, timely support will help to quickly cope with the problem. The longer you wait, the more time and money it takes to solve the problem.
Does a 5 year old child need a speech therapist? It may be needed due to incorrect pronunciation of sounds [L, R]. If the sound [L] is distorted, he pronounces it with his lips, and if there are problems with [R], he “growls” with his throat, which gives a defective sound. Introducing these sounds will not take much time and will save your baby from speech impediments.
Another possible speech disorder is stuttering. Children begin to stretch out sounds or “stumble” on sounds and syllables. The appearance of such symptoms requires immediate consultation with specialists (speech therapist, neurologist) to distinguish complex speech disorders from physiological hesitations due to speech formation.
Often, the help of a speech therapist is required at school age. Children in this age group have problems with reading, writing and arithmetic. Students confuse letters, miss them, write words together in a sentence, read syllables, words incorrectly, etc. All this must be corrected in a timely manner, since in the future such problems seriously complicate the child’s life, even to the point of leaving the child for the second year.
As you can see, in an ideal case, a speech therapist is not a mandatory specialist in the lives of children. But these are few cases. It’s not for nothing that there are such specialists in kindergartens and primary schools. In the case of a speech therapist, the following rule works: the sooner you contact, the easier and cheaper it will be to solve the existing problem.
What is the way out of this situation?
Go to a private speech therapy center with good reviews. Yes, it's paid. But reasonable prices for good service are normal. This is the health and future of your child. It is important. In a private center, you can attend lessons where the speech therapist is not only obliged, but also happy to share information with you about your child. Give new direction to your thoughts. Recommend a related specialist (for example, a speech pathologist or psychologist), whose help can enhance the effectiveness of speech therapy classes. The speech therapist will find an individual approach to your child and develop a speech correction program for him. Each lesson you will understand and know what your child is doing in the lesson, what his results are. In a private center, 45 minutes will be devoted only to your child and no one else. Home environment, smiling speech therapists, non-official premises, candy, tea, toys, books, no fear for the child, no stress for you. Comfort.
We have experienced speech therapists, as well as a neurologist and a neuropsychologist. We provide assistance to all children from 2 years old and older. We can handle any diagnosis. In conclusion, I can say that there are no “difficult” children, there are only unqualified specialists.
When do children need a speech therapist?
The help of a speech therapist-defectologist for preschool children aged 2 to 6 years is necessary when:
- At 2 years old the child did not start talking. Normally, the first words and simple phrases begin to appear between the ages of 1 and 2 years. If a child does not speak at the age of 2, you need to contact an experienced speech therapist to prevent delayed speech development in the child.
- At 3 years old, the child’s speech is unintelligible and incomprehensible to others.
- After 4 years, the child pronounces sounds unclearly, incorrectly coordinates words in a sentence, incorrectly uses the gender of nouns and pronouns (for example, a boy says to himself in the feminine gender: “I did”), and has an insufficient vocabulary.
- By the age of 6, the child has not mastered the system of his native language, distorts words (“kittens”, “dogs”), problems with sound pronunciation persist, and there are difficulties in learning to read.
- The child stutters and speaks with hesitation.
- The child is bilingual (bilingualism), and at the same time pronounces the sounds of the Russian language incorrectly, makes mistakes in the use of words, and the coordination of words in a sentence.
- It is necessary to check whether the child’s speech development corresponds to the age norm.
- The child is diagnosed with “GSD” (general speech underdevelopment), “GRD” (speech development delay), “motor alalia”, “sensory-motor alalia”, “CHD” (mental development delay), “cerebral palsy” (cerebral palsy) , “rhinolalia”, “RDA” (early childhood autism).
How is consultation and correction carried out?
Speech deficiencies can be corrected at any age. But we must remember that the earlier a speech disorder was identified, the faster and easier it can be eliminated in classes with a speech therapist.
At the initial lesson in our center, a speech pathologist-defectologist will conduct a speech diagnosis, determine whether there are defects and what are the reasons for their appearance. If necessary, the speech therapist can issue a certificate for the kindergarten or put a mark in the medical record.
After the examination, the specialist will begin corrective work to eliminate the identified speech deficiencies. An individual speech correction course may include speech therapy massage, special speech exercises, work with computer programs and speech therapy probes, articulatory gymnastics, as well as homework to automate new speech skills.
