Development of phonemic processes in preschool children

Development of phonemic processes in preschool children

Good speech is the most important condition for the comprehensive, full development of children. The richer and more correct a child’s speech, the easier it is for him to express his thoughts, the wider his opportunities for understanding the surrounding reality, the more meaningful and fulfilling his relationships with peers and adults, the more active his mental development is.

A child’s full speech is an indispensable condition for his successful learning at school. Therefore, it is very important to eliminate all deficiencies in preschool age, before they turn into a persistent, complex defect. In addition, it is important to remember that it is during the preschool period that a child’s speech develops most intensively, and most importantly, it is the most flexible and pliable. Therefore, all types of speech disorders can be overcome more easily and quickly. The main structural components of speech are: sound composition, active and passive vocabularies and grammatical structure. Phonetics studies the sound composition of speech.

The theory and practice of speech therapy work convincingly prove that developed phonemic processes are an important factor in the successful development of the speech system as a whole. Violation of phonemic perception leads to the fact that the child does not perceive by ear (does not differentiate) speech sounds that are close in sound or similar in articulation, as a result of which his sound pronunciation is impaired. His vocabulary is not replenished with words that contain sounds that are difficult to distinguish. The child gradually begins to lag behind the age norm. For the same reason, the grammatical structure is not formed to the required extent. It is clear that with insufficient phonemic perception, many prepositions or unstressed endings of words remain “elusive” for the child. Only with systematic work on the development of phonemic processes, children perceive and distinguish the endings of words, prefixes, common suffixes, identify prepositions in a sentence, etc., which is so important when developing reading and writing skills. The ability to hear each individual sound in a word, to clearly separate it from the next one, to know what sounds the word consists of, that is, the ability to analyze the sound composition of a word, is the most important prerequisite for proper literacy learning.

One of the most important conditions for the effective development of reading and writing skills is a certain level of development of phonemic processes.

Phonemic processes include:

- phonemic hearing - the ability to auditory perception of speech, phonemes. Phonemic hearing is of utmost importance for mastering the sound side of a language; phonemic perception is formed on its basis.

- phonemic perception - the process of listening to certain phonemes, regardless of positional overtones.

- phonemic analysis - the mental process of identifying individual phonemes.

- phonemic synthesis - the mental process of combining parts into a whole.

- phonemic representations - sound images of phonemes perceived by a person earlier and currently not acting on his senses.

Signs of a violation of phonemic processes are:

— Violations of sound pronunciation (replacement and mixing of sounds).

— Violations of the sound structure of a word, which manifests itself in errors in sound analysis (omission of vowels and consonants, syllables; insertions of sounds; rearrangement of sounds, syllables).

— Impaired differentiation of sounds by ear that have acoustic-articulatory similarities, manifested in the replacement and mixing of sounds, and in writing in the mixing of sounds.

Overcoming violations of phonemic processes is one of the main directions of speech therapy work in the process of correcting various speech disorders.

The main tasks of the development of phonemic processes are the following:

— Learning the ability to identify sound in someone else’s and one’s own speech.

— Formation of phonemic representations based on phonemic perception, analysis and synthesis.

— Development of control and self-control skills in the pronunciation of sounds.

In the work on the development of phonemic processes, the following stages can be distinguished:

Stage I - recognition of non-speech sounds;

Stage II - distinguishing the height, strength, timbre of the voice on the material of identical sounds, words, phrases;

Stage III - distinguishing words that are similar in their sound composition;

Stage IV - differentiation of syllables;

Stage V - differentiation of phonemes;

Stage VI - development of skills in elementary sound analysis and synthesis.

Let us dwell in more detail on how the development of phonemic processes in children occurs at each of these stages.

At stage I, through special games and exercises, children develop the ability to recognize and distinguish non-speech sounds. These activities also contribute to the development of auditory attention and auditory memory (without which it is not possible to successfully teach a child to differentiate phonemes).

During stage II, preschoolers learn to distinguish the pitch, strength, and timbre of the voice, focusing on the same sounds, sound combinations and words.

Stage III is entirely built on games that can teach a child to distinguish words that are similar in sound composition.

At stage IV, children learn to distinguish syllables.

At stage V, children learn to distinguish phonemes of their native language. You should definitely start with differentiating vowel sounds.

The task of the last VI stage is to develop the child’s skills in sound analysis and synthesis.

This work is carried out in the following sequence:

1. Isolation (recognition) of a sound against the background of a word, i.e., determining the presence of a sound in a word.

2. Determination of the first and last sound in a word, as well as its place (beginning, middle, end of the word).

3. Development of complex forms of phonemic analysis and synthesis (determining the sequence, number and place of sounds in relation to other sounds in a word).

When working on these stages of development of phonemic processes, the principle of gradualism should be used. The result largely depends on how much you can turn boring work into an exciting game. Conducting classes in a playful way, children’s interest in learning activities increases, and positive dynamics in the development of phonemic processes is observed.

Literature:

1. T. A. Tkachenko Speech therapy notebook “Development of phonemic perception and sound analysis skills”, St. Petersburg 2000

2. Filicheva T. B. et al. Fundamentals of speech therapy: Textbook. manual for pedagogical students. Institute for specialties “Pedagogy and psychology (preschool)” / T. B. Filicheva, N. A. Cheveleva, G. V. Chirkina, M.: Education, 1989

3. T. B. Filicheva, N. A. Cheveleva “Speech therapy work in a special kindergarten”, M.: Education, 1987.

4. L. S. Volkova, S. N. Shakhovskoy “Speech Therapy”, Moscow 1998

Phonemic analysis and synthesis in ontogenesis

A. N. Gvozdev believes that the function of the child’s auditory analyzer is formed early, much earlier than the speech motor analyzer. Already in the second week of life, the child, hearing the sounds of a voice, stops sucking; stops crying when people start talking to him. He early distinguishes the sounds of the human voice and responds to this stimulus, depending on the intonation, either with a smile or a cry.

From 6 months, by imitation, he pronounces individual phonemes, syllables, imitating tone, tempo, rhythm, melody and intonation.

By the age of 2, children begin to distinguish quasi-homonym words (paronyms). By this age, the formation of phonemic hearing ends, as evidenced by the child’s phonemic discrimination of all the sounds of his native language. He is able to distinguish words by sound that differ by one phoneme.

In the process of early speech development, expressive and impressive speech are closely related: on the one hand, speech development stimulates auditory perception, on the other hand, it clarifies one’s own pronunciation.

WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE DEVELOPED?

Without understanding the sound features of the speech of others, it will be difficult for a child to learn to speak. With developed phonemic hearing, the baby realizes that he is pronouncing the word incorrectly and tries to independently achieve the correct pronunciation. If the difference between similar sounds is not caught, stable substitutions “beetle - kuk”, “shishka - detective” are formed. The worse the phonemic hearing is developed, the more pronounced the speech problems. In such cases, they say that children feel like they have porridge in their mouth.

If a problem is not solved in preschool age, many new, much more serious ones arise from it. The child has difficulty reading, writing, and learning other languages. He has difficulty merging syllables, isolating individual sounds, he writes endings incorrectly, and much more. Schoolchildren begin to fall seriously behind in their school curriculum.

PROBABLE CAUSES

The development of phonemic hearing is influenced by the upbringing environment, the example of speech in the family, the state of the peripheral nervous system, etc.

Among the most likely causes of the violation are the following:

• pedagogical neglect;
• hearing loss;
• head injuries, hearing and speech pathologies;
• hyperactivity;
• weakening of the body, serious or frequent illnesses, especially at an early age;
• diseases of the thyroid gland and digestive organs;
• neurological disorders.

To identify the exact cause, it is necessary to consult an ENT specialist, neurologist and speech therapist as early as possible. Sometimes, in addition to the development of phonemic hearing, drug or surgical treatment is required: cutting the hypoglossal ligament, taking central nervous system stimulants.

Phonemic hearing is very important for the development of correct speech. It is necessary not to miss the moment and pay due attention to it at the age of 4–6, so that the child learns easily at school and does not face ridicule from his peers. It is better if the method of hearing development is developed individually, taking into account all the characteristics of the baby.

HOW TO CHECK PHONEMIC HEARING?

The easiest way is to consult a specialist. A speech therapist deals with issues of phonemic hearing impairment. The initial consultation is carried out at 3 years. At this age, it becomes clear whether the baby needs any help or whether development occurs according to age. At 5 years old, a child should already be able to clearly understand sounds and speak correctly (with the exception of the sound “r”). If this is not the case, special correction classes are needed.

Parents themselves can check their child’s phonemic hearing using a small test:

1. Invite the child to choose a picture with a picture of a bear (they give two options, with a picture of a bear, and bowls - plates).
2. Ask to stamp your foot when you hear the syllable sa. The adult says at the same pace: wa-ta-za-za-sa-ka-za.
3. Ask your child what is the difference between cancer and varnish?
4. Ask to come up with words for the vowel sounds “A”, “O”, “E”, “I”, “U”.

EXAMPLES OF EXERCISES

Games for the development of phonemic hearing are numerous and varied. Some examples of exercises:

1. "Confusion". Task: clap your hands when pronouncing the word correctly. The child is shown a picture, for example, of a saucepan. First, the adult loudly and clearly pronounces the correct name (introduces it to the baby). Then he begins to deliberately distort: ​​tastryulya, sastryulya, bastrulya, dastryulya. About halfway through, “pan” is pronounced correctly, and this point is indicated by a clap. Then the picture and word change.
2. "Extra sound." Task: eliminate the extra syllable (word). An adult clearly pronounces: ta-ta-ta-da-ta, sa-za-sa-sa-sa, cat-cat-that-cat.
3. "The sound got lost." Task: Understand what is wrong in the sentence and correct it. Example: in the spring, the lights (flowers) bloomed, oak trees (teeth) grew in the mouth, the puppy lives in a bun (kennel), the mother braided her kidney (daughter’s) braid.
4. "Where is the sound?". Game for schoolchildren. Task: place the chip correctly on the card with the word. For example, an adult calls the sound “U”, and puts a card with the word “Dinner” in front of the child. The correct location of the chip is the first letter.

To develop phonemic awareness and hearing, it is useful for children to read age-appropriate books, speak competently and clearly in their presence, and use different intonations and volume of speech. Special attention should be paid to active cognition of the surrounding world, training visual, auditory, tactile and other analyzers.

SIGNS OF VIOLATION

First of all, undeveloped phonemic hearing is indicated by a lack of understanding of the addressed speech, complete or partial. For example, if a child cannot complete simple tasks, he often asks questions or understands requests incorrectly. The second alarming sign is speech defects. The speech-auditory and speech-motor analyzers are closely related and have a significant influence on each other.

At 4 years old, a child normally speaks in phrases, uses prepositions, and is able to ask questions. By 5–6 years, all sounds except “R” are pronounced correctly, and endings are used correctly. In addition, a preschooler can easily name the first sound in a word and choose other words for it. There are 3 signs of phonemic hearing impairment (at 5 years):

• defects in sound pronunciation (for example, replacing hard sounds with soft ones);
• skipping sounds in words, rearranging them, using unnecessary sounds (fairy tale - sazka, umbrella - zotnik, butter - maslo);
• slight difference between similar sounds in oral speech and in writing s-sh, z-zh, d-t, etc. (zhuk - zuk, doctor - toctor, drying - shushka).

In schoolchildren, phonemic hearing disorders manifest themselves in slow reading and difficulty merging syllables. There are invariably errors in writing, the child hears incorrectly and writes the same way (double consonants, voiceless words at the end, unstressed vowels).

AT WHAT AGE SHOULD I START CLASSES?

The process of developing phonemic hearing in children is individual. It happens that a child begins to perfectly catch sounds and speak at 1.5–2 years. But more often, active formation occurs at the age of 4 years and continues until 5–6 years. At the same time, the most sensitive and significant period of development remains the first years of life.

If up to 2 years of age you talk to your child correctly, without babying, read poems that he understands, and learn simple phrases, then the risk of phonemic hearing disorders decreases significantly. In other words, classes can be conducted from a very early preschool age. There are a lot of exercises and games for the development of phonemic hearing in children 1 year old, 2-3 years old and older. In each case, tasks are selected that correspond to the child’s capabilities.

Important. The optimal time for the development of phonemic hearing is preschool age. Further solving existing problems will become increasingly difficult, and after 9 years it will be almost impossible.

conclusions

Thus, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. The function of the child’s auditory analyzer is formed early, much earlier than the speech motor analyzer.
2. Phonemic hearing consists of the ability to generalize different sounds into separate groups, to combine sounds, taking as a basis some essential features and ignoring other, random features.
3. The process of speech perception is divided into two stages: prephonemic and phonemic.
4. N. Kh. Shvachkin identifies 12 phonemic series according to the order of formation in children.
5. Of all types of analysis of speech flow (dividing sentences into words, words into syllables, syllables into sounds), the most difficult is the phonemic analysis of words.
6. Practical ideas about the sound composition of a language are formed on the basis of phonemic analysis and perception. Memory and attention play a significant role in this process.

Korchagina Larisa, teacher-speech therapist (St. Petersburg)

Stages of speech perception

N.H. Shvachkin divides the process of speech perception into 2 stages:

- prephonemic (from birth to 1 year);

- phonemic (after one year, respectively).

Prephonemic stage. The child does not distinguish between phonemes and the sound-syllable structure of a word. At this stage, the child’s sound complex has several meanings. In other words, up to 1 year of age, the semantic load is carried not by the phoneme, but by the intonation, rhythm, and general sound pattern of the word. Moreover, up to 6 months, intonation plays a leading role, and at the 6th month, rhythm takes on a semantic orientation.

Phonemic stage. “Phonological development occurs rapidly, constantly ahead of the child’s articulatory capabilities, which serves as the basis for improving pronunciation.” Until this moment, the child recognized words by sound pattern, and from that moment he began to distinguish phonemes. First, contrasting ones, then complex ones, and lastly distinguishes between acoustically similar ones.