Effective speech therapy to overcome speech delay in children

Ms. Ani was able to speak clearly at the age of 2 years, while Ibu Budi, who was the same age, could not be understood when speaking. Examples of conditions experienced by the children of Budi's mother often make parents wonder whether their children are late talking or not.

Delay in dialogue with children is related to difficulty in reading, writing, concentration and outreach. In children with delayed speech, a thorough review of development is very important because language problems can occur due to other reasons, such as hearing loss, autism, intellectual disabilities. , rare diseases such as Angelman syndrome.

Language is divided into two, namely receptive language which is the capacity to understand, and expressive language, namely the ability to express thoughts, feelings and ideas. Whereas speaking is a verbal product of language. Besides verbal language, it is also called nonverbal language, such as sign language, the use of images or other media.

Receptive speech disorder occurs if the child cannot understand other people's words, while expressive speech disorder occurs if he seems to understand what people are saying but cannot answer it.

Identify children's speech delays

To identify whether there is a delay in the child's speech, of course it is necessary to first know the stages of the child's normal development. The following general guidelines:

One year old babies can:
Search and view sound sources
React when the name is mentioned
Say goodbye to say goodbye
If you point at something, the child turns in the direction he was going
Talk alternately, listen as you speak
Say "pa-pa" or "ma-ma"
Say at least 1 word
Between 1 and 2 years, babies can:
Follow the simple instructions
Determine a number of body parts according to instructions
Pointing to the object that made him interested to show you
Learn 1 new word every week at the age of 18-24 months
At the age of 2 years, children can:
Follow simple verbal commands
Being able to say 50-100 words
Able to make a sentence of at least 2 words
Most words can be understood by others

It is important to know when additional care should be given to children who appear to have speech problems. Common symptoms of delayed speech are:

Don't ramble on or say at least three words until you are 15 months old
Do not speak or be able to say at least 25 words until the age of 2 years
Can not make simple sentences, do not understand simple commands at the age of 3 years
Difficult to understand instructions
Poor pronunciation and articulation of words
It's hard to tie words
Cannot make complete sentence

Speech therapy to overcome speech delay in children

Speech-language therapy overcomes a child's speech delay and its effectiveness depends on the cause of the underlying problem. Speech therapy has been effective for children with speech difficulties, but it is not effective enough to overcome speech difficulties. Here are the types of speech therapy that children can do:

1. Speech therapy for children who are slow to talk

Basically, this therapy is made to stimulate children to talk. The therapist will try in various ways, for example by inviting children to play, by introducing picture cards or sign language.

2. Therapy for apraxic children

Apraxia is difficulty pronouncing certain syllables. Children know the words they mean but cannot pronounce them correctly. Intensive care is needed to help treat apraxia. Therapists can help children understand auditory, visual, or touch responses. For example, training children to talk in front of a mirror or record his voice.

3. Therapy for stuttering

In the case of stuttering, the therapist will try to teach children to speak more slowly and clearly, because talking too fast often increases stuttering.

The success or failure of a child who delays talking and communicating is usually very dependent on the type of disorder and its cause. In general, better results will be achieved if early detection and intervention are carried out.

Experts agree that there is no specific age standard for diagnosing language disorders. Parents' worries are one of the first indications to immediately control a child.