School children with speech disorders - Статья

Department of Speech Pathology and Therapy Poland, Lublin Medical University Zielona Gyra University School children with speech disorders Ewa М. Skorek Ph.D., Faculty of Pedagogy, Sociology and Heath Science Poland, Zbigniew Tarkowski Professor Annotation Students with communication difficulty manifested by widely understood speech disorders are in a particularly difficult situation at school since speech constitutes a major medium ofclassroom interaction perceived as a tool for exchanging values and information. All physical, emotional and social aspects of human existence depend on communication skills in social interactions. It is estimated that approximately 30% of pre-school and elementary school children suffer from some forms of speech disorders. Their difficult psychological and social situation results from problems which on the one hand disturb the process ofinteraction with teachers and on the other and on the other create an unfavorable socio-metric situation or disturbance in the sphere of social relations. What is more they disturb the sphere of emotions and feelings which may be partly conditioned by the above mentioned unfavorable social situation. Additionally they hinder the process of entering interactions with peers. Limited options the communication with the environment create a communicative barrier which negatively affects the feeling of security and trust to other people in children. The paper reviews various approaches to the problem. Key words: children with speech disorders, peerrelations, the attitude ofteachers, learning difficulty. Introduction Children with speech disorders are exposed to numerous factors which operate in the school environment and hinder their performance of the roles of students and friends. These factors can be classified into four groups: disturbed emotional and personal sphere as well as social behavior, poor peer relations and unfavorable attitude of teachers towards children with speech disorders, poor school results. These problems may be primary relative to the speech disorder, may occur as its result, may have common basis or may also condition one another. 1. Disturbance in the emotional and personal sphere as well as social behavior of children with speech disorders speech disorder child emotional Inappropriate peerrelations of children with speech disorders may result from disturbance in the emotional and personal sphere. Speech development is strictly connected with the development of all aspects of consciousness and personality [60]. While talking about the relation between speech and personality development, it has to be remembered that there exist close structural and dynamic links between various areas of the cerebral cortex functionally responsible for speech processes and lower levels of the central nervous system because of which the general emotional stateof the child directly affects speech functions. Hence disturbance in the emotional and motivational sphere may result in speech disorders or may be caused by them. For instance, on the one hand verbal insufficiency may discourage children from contacts with peers, on the other hand secondary reduction in verbal activity may occur in result emotional conflicts [17, 25]. Depression, feelings of discouragement, low self esteem due to the inability to maintain contacts with the environment, hypersensitivity to the reactions of the environments or shyness caused by the disorder are observed in children with aphasia [6]. In the case of children who previously were able to use speech, speech disorder amplifies negative emotional reactions and in consequence may lead to lowering the motivation to speak or even selective mutism. Children with alalia, who are aware of their ‘otherness’ and who have a lot of negative experience, have low self-esteem, are irritable, shy, uncertain and taciturn. This can be accompanied by motor inhibition or hyperactivity. Some of these children are malicious, aggressive towards younger or weaker children, but there are still others who tend to avoid contacts with the environment. The feeling of being defenseless in contacts with other people is caused by the inability to communicate, which in turn frequently triggerssuch features as oversensitivity, inclination to crying, acts of anger or gloominess. Children with alalia tend to experience labile moods or even ‘wildness in contacts with people and passive perception’ [36, p. 14]. SLI children lack confidence during conversations, fairly rarely initiate verbal contacts. They give up communication if they are not understood immediately [32]. For many stuttering children their disorder is also a source of negative experience. Inability to share their thoughts and awareness of the negative impression their speech makes on the interlocutors results in despondency and despair. Constant thinking about their disability often results in low selfesteem. Fear of speaking increases the muscle tension and the occurrence of cont