Article Methods of speech therapy work by I.N. Sadovnikova. Author: Gainullina Elvira Zainullovna

Numerous errors in writing and reading can arise due to pedagogical neglect, inadequate teaching methods, and unsteady knowledge of the rules. But starting from the second grade, many children develop dyslexia (reading impairment) and dysgraphia (writing impairment). What are these disorders and how to teach children with such features?

The functional system of writing and reading is formed gradually; the mechanisms that ensure it mature as a whole by the beginning of schooling (by the age of 7).

Mastering literacy is a complex process that is influenced not only by internal factors that determine a child’s readiness to master skills, but also by external ones. In most cases, difficulties in mastering literacy are overcome in the learning process, as writing skills develop and strengthen, if the child has the necessary support from the teacher and parents.

To avoid pedagogical mistakes and eliminate negative pedagogical factors, teachers need to focus on understanding the capabilities and individual characteristics of the child, which allows them to build an optimal learning route.

However, in 12 - 37% (according to various sources) of children after seven years of age, disorders are identified, which are defined as dyslexia (reading impairment) and dysgraphia (writing impairment). These disorders can occur either isolated or in combination, which happens in 75% of cases. At the same time, children have intact intelligence, hearing, and vision (or it can be compensated with the help of glasses).

How does dyslexia and dysgraphia manifest?

Dyslexia

manifests itself in a decrease in reading speed and its insufficient correctness (guessing reading, mixing optically similar letters, as well as letters denoting vowels and consonants similar in acoustic-articulatory characteristics, omissions of syllables, distortion of the grammatical form of a word, omissions and repetitions of lines), as well as insufficient reading comprehension.

Children with reading disabilities experience significant difficulties when working independently with text.

About dysgraphia

This is evidenced, first of all, by the incorrect relationship between the sound envelope of the word and its graphic designation. This is expressed in the replacement of letters denoting acoustically and articulatory similar sounds (b-p, s-sh, o-u, etc.), difficulties in designating optically and graphically similar letters (p-t, b-d, i-u, etc. ., mirror writing), omissions and rearrangements of letters and syllables. When oral speech is underdeveloped in writing, grammatical errors and lack of word and sentence boundaries are also noted.

Children with writing and reading impairments, the origin of which is associated with non-speech functions (visuospatial orientation, graphomotor deficits), may not have significant deviations in oral speech (in some cases, sound pronunciation may be slightly impaired). They can demonstrate effective communication skills and have a fairly wide range of knowledge about the world around them.

The severity of dysgraphia and dyslexia can vary: from individual unsystematic specific errors to a complete inability to read (alexia) and write (agraphia).

DYGRAPHIA - DYSLEXIA

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Written speech consists of two types of speech activity - writing and reading.
Dysgraphia and dyslexia are the inability (or difficulty) of mastering writing and reading with intact intelligence and physical hearing.
Most often, dyslexia and dysgraphia are observed in a child at the same time, but sometimes they can occur in isolation. Complete inability to read is alexia, complete inability to write is agraphia. Writing is one of the most difficult human activities and learning to write is not as easy as it seems.

A letter begins with an idea. You need to mentally create a plan for a written statement, determine the general sequence of thoughts and constantly maintain it. Each sentence that needs to be written must be divided into its constituent words, since the boundaries of each word are indicated in writing. To write a word correctly, it is necessary to determine its sound structure, the sequence and place of each sound. In the initial stages of mastering writing, it is important to pronounce every word. Pronunciation (loud, whispered or internal) helps to clarify the nature of the sound, distinguish it from similar sounds, and determine the sequence of sounds in a word.

The next operation is that the phoneme isolated from a word must be correlated with a certain visual image of the letter. Letters, like sounds, have elements of instability. In terms of its outline, any letter can be very different: large and small, pointed, round, curved. A letter does not resemble itself depending on what, what color and on what surface it was written. To learn to write and read, you need vision for letters - letter gnosis. By analogy with phonemic hearing, letter vision could rightfully be called graphematic. It is this vision that isolates from the letters the stable features hidden in them, the elements that distinguish one letter from another. Analyzing and comparing letters is a difficult task for a first grader.

Then the child must reproduce the visual image of the letter using hand movements. Simultaneously with the movement of the hand, kinesthetic control is carried out. As letters and words are written, kinesthetic control is reinforced by visual control and reading what is written. At the beginning of learning to write, children focus their attention on many details that characterize the spatial orientation of movements and the graphic correctness of execution (“where to start, where to lead, where to end”). Each element at this stage is written out separately, even if the school requires you to write the entire letter or several letters at once. The child constantly controls what he is doing and thinks about what and how to do next. It takes the same amount of time to realize the action and determine the strategy for subsequent action as it does to perform the movement itself.

The lack of formation of any operation that ensures the process of writing or reading can lead to certain difficulties in learning to read and write, causing dysgraphia or dyslexia. The causes of reading and writing disorders are similar. Depending on which operation is impaired, different forms of dyslexia and dysgraphia are distinguished.

Forms of dyslexia and dysgraphia

In modern speech therapy, there are several approaches to the classification of dysgraphia and dyslexia. There is no generally accepted classification, and in practice, speech therapists hold different views on the causes of writing and reading defects and the problems of their development, most often focusing on the work of those specialists who belong to the same scientific school as them.

Phonemic dyslexia and dysgraphia

The most common are phonemic dyslexia and dysgraphia (acoustic in traditional terminology). Almost all authors describe it under different names. Children with this form of dysgraphia have difficulty hearing the sound of a word. They are poorly oriented in the sound of words, the sounds of speech are confused, merge with each other in words, and the words themselves often merge with each other. Audible speech is poorly perceived. And for correct writing, subtle auditory differentiation of sounds and analysis of all acoustic semantic distinctive features of sound are necessary. Phonemic dysgraphia manifests itself in writing in the substitution of letters corresponding to phonetically similar sounds. The child writes not what he is told, but what he heard. The word "brush" is spelled like "rosary", the words "copy" and "spears" sound and are written the same. A common mistake is replacing vowels even in the stressed position. The child understands some things exactly, but some things very approximately. Difficulties also arise when mastering spelling rules, since the child does not hear all the sound changes when words are grammatically changed, does not make the necessary generalizations, and does not feel the connections between words. Errors also occur when reading: children confuse letters, miss consonants when they come together, rearrange syllables, read by guess.

Optical dyslexia and dysgraphia

Optical dyslexia and dysgraphia (visual in other terminology) are caused by instability of visual impressions and ideas. To learn to read and write, one needs vision for letters—letter gnosis. A letter differs from any other drawing primarily in its convention; it is in no way connected in meaning with the sound that it denotes. In the history of mankind, letters have acquired such great importance that in the brain, in its left hemisphere, a special area has been allocated that is responsible for the letter. Violation of letter gnosis and spatial concepts is manifested in difficulties in mastering letters, their substitutions and distortions in writing and reading. Letters that are similar in design (Z - E, R - L), letters that differ in additional elements (L - D, Z - V), letters consisting of identical, but differently located elements in space (N - P - I) are mixed and interchanged , T – G). Children who have difficulty remembering a letter visually may reverse the letter, skip it, or add an extra hook. Optical dysgraphia also includes mirror reversals of letters. Mirror writing is more common in left-handed people, who can read, write, and copy a letter, number, or word equally likely in any direction.

Kinetic (motor) dyslexia and dysgraphia

Not all authors identify this form of written language impairment as an independent form. However, many people note disturbances in eye movements during reading (oculomotor dyslexia). A fixed gaze practically does not perceive an image with a complex structure. Any complex perception is carried out with the help of active, searching movements of the eye. The translation of the gaze from letter to letter, from word to word, from line to line has its own patterns. Children do not always manage to master them without hindrance. Kinetic (motor) dysgraphia is caused by certain requirements for hand movement; if they are not met, characteristic difficulties in hand movement during writing arise.

Dysorphography

There is also no consensus on the legality of classifying dysorthography as dysgraphia. This is currently the least studied category of writing disorders. It is believed that with dysorthography, a child lacks a “sense” for spelling; he can make from 15 to 60 errors on a page. The child cannot determine where exactly the rule that is well known to him needs to be applied; he cannot detect an error, much less correct it. In other words, “he knows the rules, but cannot apply them.” Detecting spelling patterns and solving a spelling problem requires mastery of morphological analysis of words, sufficient vocabulary, and the ability to select the necessary test words based on formal grammatical features. Difficulties in mastering spelling skills are noted not only in the initial period of education, but also in middle and high school. The most common mistakes are on the rules that are studied in elementary school. A special type of dysorthography is a persistent inability to master syntactic rules in writing, i.e. punctuation. Children with dysorthography especially need speech therapy help. Without it, they often find themselves among the underachievers in all subjects.

Secondary (nonspecific) dyslexia and dysgraphia.

All these types of dysgraphia are primary, because are caused by a violation of one of the basic prerequisites for written speech. A distinctive feature of secondary reading and writing disorders is the absence of specific prerequisites for them. Such children easily differentiate phonemes, navigate the sound-letter analysis of a word, recognize complex visual images, and have no restrictions in movements. In the occurrence of secondary dyslexia and dysgraphia, a significant role is played by deficits in voluntary concentration, switching and distribution of attention. Poor auditory-verbal memory makes it difficult to remember a read or dictated text and reproduce it correctly. The pace of activity during writing and reading is of particular importance. Children who, for some reason, do not have time to write and read at a given pace, in a hurry to complete the task, make a wide variety of mistakes. You might think that they have all types of dyslexia and dysgraphia at once. However, when the pace slows down, these children read and write quite well.

Every child should learn to write and read.

Many children fail to cope with this task.

How can I help them?

AT THE HEALTHY CHILD CENTER A Speech Pathologist WILL HELP YOU COPE WITH THESE DIFFICULTIES!

Consequences of dysgraphia

Even minor impairments lead to difficulties in using reading and writing as meta-subject skills. These skills are necessary for mastering any subjects that involve working with textual material (including problem texts).

Many students with writing and reading disorders suffer from activity regulation processes. These disorders affect the formation of such higher mental functions as perception, memory, attention. As a result, children with dyslexia and dysgraphia are at risk for school failure.

Low academic performance leads to a decrease in motivation, even to the point of educational negativism, and to problems of school adaptation and socialization in general.

Who is at risk for developing dysgraphia and dyslexia?

The possibility of developing these pathologies is significantly higher in those children who:

• do not pronounce sounds clearly, articulate sluggishly;
• have general speech underdevelopment and have not attended speech therapy classes;
• write with the left hand or write with the right after they have been retrained;
• grow up in families where they speak different languages;
• start learning to write and read too early;
• went to school early and immediately started learning a foreign language;
• have attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity disorder or mental retardation.

How to overcome dyslexia and dysgraphia

With dyslexia and dysgraphia, reading and writing errors are repeated and become persistent. They do not disappear on their own and are not eliminated through the use of conventional pedagogical techniques. Specialized additional classes for teachers with such children turn out to be ineffective.

Children with reading and/or writing impairments require special correctional assistance. If such work is not carried out, and the interaction between subject teachers and the speech therapist is not smooth, then the difficulties become fixed or even increase.

To overcome violations, comprehensive work is needed in several areas. These areas include different types of assistance: speech therapy, neuropsychological, psychological and pedagogical, and often medical.

When working with your child, remember a few basic rules:

1. Throughout special classes, the child needs a favorable regime. After numerous twos and threes, unpleasant conversations at home, he should feel at least a little success.
2. Avoid testing your child's reading speed. It must be said that these checks have long been causing fair criticism from psychologists and defectologists. It’s also good if the teacher, understanding the stress the child experiences during this test, conducts it without emphasis, hidden. But it also happens that they create a complete exam situation, call the child alone, put a clock in front of him, and even check it not with his own teacher, but with the head teacher. Perhaps for a student without problems all this does not matter, but in our patients neurosis can develop. Therefore, if you really need to test your reading speed, do it as gently as possible.
3. Remember that you cannot give exercises in which the text is written with errors (subject to correction).
4. The “read and write more” approach will not bring success. Better less, but better quality. Do not read long texts or write long dictations with your child. In the first stages there should be more work with oral speech: exercises to develop phonemic perception, sound analysis of words. Numerous mistakes that a child with dysgraphia will inevitably make in a long dictation will only be recorded in his memory as a negative experience.
5. Do not praise too much for small successes; it is better not to scold or be upset when the child does not succeed. It is very important not to show your child your emotional involvement: not to get angry, not irritated, and not to be overly happy. A harmonious state of calm and confidence in success is better - it will be much more conducive to sustainable good results.

Diagnosis of disorders

Teachers or parents who encounter difficulties in reading and/or writing in a child should contact a speech therapist

. A speech therapist, using special techniques, identifies the presence of writing and/or reading impairments and recommends additional examinations.

It is necessary to determine the child’s neurological status ( examination by a neurologist

), exclude hearing loss in the child (an audiometric study is performed), and correct vision if necessary.
Frequent or chronic illnesses ( a pediatrician's opinion
), leading to absences from classes, reduce the effectiveness of training in general and correctional work, in particular, due to unsystematic nature.

Neuropsychological examination

and subsequent classes are most often included in the program of diagnostic and corrective work.

Diagnosis of dyslexia

If symptoms of dyslexia appear, you should contact a speech therapist. The specialist will examine the child and draw up a profile that includes the level of correct formation of spoken and written speech, reading, memory, attention and thinking.

The initial stage of a speech therapist’s work is collecting information about the formation of the child’s personality and life activity. The specialist examines the child’s articulatory apparatus, his speech and manual motor skills, and evaluates the student’s progress in reading and the Russian language.

Diagnosis of spoken speech occurs by assessing the pronunciation of phonemes, the construction of syllables, and the ability to construct sentences and texts.

To diagnose written speech, the speech therapist gives the student the following tasks:

• rewrite part of the text;
• write a text from dictation;
• write a personal letter.

By testing children's reading aloud and silently, the specialist evaluates speed, accuracy, reading method, comprehension of what they read, and takes into account specific defects.

When studying dyslexia, it is necessary to find out the degree of development of visual perception, the ability to analyze and synthesize, and optical orientation in space.

If necessary, speech diagnostics is supplemented by medical examinations, including consultation with doctors: a neurologist and an ophthalmologist. A neurologist can prescribe an EEG, echoEG, and an ophthalmologist conducts ophthalmological examinations.

How the work is structured

The task of neuropsychological work

- restructuring and compensation of impaired brain functions, which ensures the regulation of various types of activity and behavior.

Children with writing and/or reading impairments need psychological support,

which will help the child feel successful in the activities available to him and strengthen his faith in his own strength.

Speech therapy work

planned depending on the structure and mechanisms of identified violations. The speech therapist takes into account all the recommendations and conclusions received and plans classes, the purpose of which is to normalize the processes of writing and / or reading, the formation and consolidation of relevant skills.

Coordination of the activities of the speech therapist and teachers involves the development of recommendations

regarding how to present educational material to children with reading and/or writing disabilities, and
requirements
for assessing written work and reading results.

Work with verbal material is structured differently depending on the individual characteristics of perception. It can be oral only (listening), written only (reading), or oral and written combined (listening and reading). It is possible to convert verbal material (for example, word problems) into graphic or subject material (diagrams, models).

Correction and treatment of dyslexia

In order for a student to successfully study at school and university, so that the child has high self-esteem, good relationships with children and teachers, and the ability to achieve goals, it is necessary to correct dyslexia in a timely manner. The sooner you start eliminating visible errors in spoken and written speech, the more positive the result of the work done will be.

Classes with a speech therapist and a child psychologist to correct dyslexia are aimed at correcting speech defects and developing thinking, memory, and perception.

Correction by type of dyslexia:

• Phonemic dyslexia. Violations of phonemic pronunciation are corrected, sound functions are developed, and the concepts of composing words from sounds and syllables are formed.
• Semantic. It can be eliminated by increasing vocabulary, synthesizing syllables, clarifying words unknown to the child, and studying grammatical language norms.
• Ungrammatical. The speech therapist forms the student’s syntactic concepts of word formations and changes.
• Mnestic. Elimination is based on the formation of all types of memory through games and solving puzzles.
• Visual. Defects are corrected by the formation of visual and spatial concepts, as well as visual synthesis and analysis.
• Tactile. It is corrected by differentiating tactile things and by forming visual concepts.

Ronald D. Davis argues that dyslexia occurs in children with above-average intelligence

Ronald D. Davis, in his book “The Gift of Dyslexia,” recommends an unusual method of correcting the disorder, based on the mental revival of letters, which removes gaps in memory. The author of the book independently coped with dyslexia at the age of 38. He argues that this problem occurs in children with above average intelligence.

Treatment

A child psychologist and speech therapist take part in the therapeutic course of treating dyslexia in a child at the center. Classes are conducted using specialized correction methods, selected personally for each patient. Thanks to such courses, the child learns to read correctly and his self-esteem increases.

Working with the development of speech function, using a variety of technical aids and alternative teaching methods allows patients with such disorders to overcome problems with reading, number and word recognition.

The right approach to teaching a student with dyslexia guarantees a great chance of recovery. The child learns to technically control his personality so that the signs of dyslexia disappear without a trace over time.

If a child is diagnosed with Dyslexia, but the disorder is not corrected, the problem will not go away in adulthood

If a child is diagnosed with Dyslexia, but the disorder is not corrected, the problem will not go away in adulthood. The person will still write with errors, which will negatively affect his business image.

Sign up for a consultation. The center's children's speech therapist and psychologist will determine the individual causes of dyslexia, give recommendations for correction, and also draw up a plan for classes in the center and at home. This system of work will make the correctional route the most effective and will successfully harmonize the baby’s development process.

Prevention of writing and reading disorders

This work is carried out with preschoolers and continues in the first grade in the process of teaching literacy. The development of oral speech, the ability to observe language material, its analysis, synthesis, generalization (development of metalinguistic ability), the formation of basic non-speech functions (orientation in space and on a sheet of paper, the development of graphic and motor skills) is the subject of the cooperative work of a speech therapist and teachers, working with children of the appropriate age (educator, teacher). This work allows you to create and strengthen the necessary functional base that ensures the development of literacy.

Photo: Unsplash

What does dysgraphia look like?

Perhaps the most common symptom of dysgraphia (from the Greek dis

- “loss of something, discord” and
grapho
- “writing”)
-
bad handwriting. Also, errors that cannot be explained by ignorance of grammar are typical for people with this disorder.

Other common symptoms (as with dyslexia, none of these alone are sufficient to warrant a diagnosis):

1) inconsistency of handwriting (a person writes sometimes in italics, sometimes in block letters, sometimes in large letters, sometimes in small letters); 2) some words may break off, merge with neighboring ones, or even “disappear”; 3) letters are often missed or confused (especially if they are similar in shape, like P

and
b
); 4) unusual movements and body position when writing; 5) difficulties with rewriting texts; 6) difficulty expressing one’s own thoughts on paper.

The reasons for poor handwriting in dysgraphics have not been precisely determined: perhaps the culprit is poorly developed fine motor skills, perhaps a dislike of writing (as a rule, people do not like those activities in which they are weak).

Problems with the perception of sounds and letters that are characteristic of dyslexia can also affect writing, which makes it difficult to distinguish between the two diagnoses. First, it is not uncommon for both disorders to occur in the same person. Secondly, much depends on the medical definitions of these terms - and they can vary from country to country, from system to system, from doctor to doctor. Some, for example, call dysgraphia only problems associated with insufficiently developed hand motor skills when writing.

Diagnostics

In Western countries, a child suspected of having dyslexia or dysgraphia may be referred to a school psychologist, neurologist, or regular pediatrician. In Russia, most specialists are not trained to work with such problems, but here you can also find psychologists, neuropsychologists and neurophysiologists who deal with this issue.

“It’s better to identify symptoms early. It’s good if the child is diagnosed by a neuropsychologist before going to school. Learning disorders are predictable. If we examine a person at the age of 6, we will be able to predict his problems at school,” says Irina Pasechnik.