Do you know what such famous people like Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Napoleon, Bruce Willis have in common? The fact is that they all stuttered in childhood. However, by exerting efforts, they were able to overcome speech problems and achieve great success. Stuttering in children usually occurs at the age of three to five years, when speech develops at the most active pace, but at the same time this function is not yet fully developed. In boys, the violation is much more common (three to four times) than in girls. This can be explained by their lesser emotional stability. How to treat stuttering in children? What are the causes of this ailment? How can parents help their children get rid of a speech problem? Read about it in the article.
General concepts
Stuttering is a violation of pace, rhythm, smooth breathing, speech and voice, caused by convulsions of the muscles of the tongue, larynx or lips. It can occur suddenly and then intensify. In speech, forced stops, the repetition of individual sounds, syllables are noted. Convulsions can be tonic (i.e., manifested in stretching sounds, long pauses, general stiffness, tension) and clonic when the child repeats individual syllables, sounds (often at the beginning of a word). There is also a combination of both types of seizures - a tonic-clonic stutter. In preschool children, the problem may not manifest itself for a long time and arise only in a stressful situation. Let's talk more about the etiology of the disorder.
Causes of stuttering in children
- Physiological. The disease can be triggered by a pathology of the nervous system associated with a hereditary predisposition, birth trauma and the like. Sometimes stuttering appears against the background of organic disorders of the subcortical brain departments. The problem may be associated with diseases of the larynx, pharynx, nose or with a disorder of the nervous system as a result of measles, rickets, typhoid, and whooping cough.
- Psychological. The causes of stuttering in children can be covered in their state of mind. Often, speech impairment occurs as a result of a sudden severe psychoemotional shock. Such stuttering is called neurotic, or logoneurosis. When a child is agitated, his speech works slower than the brain. As a rule, the appearance of the problem is preceded by neurotic reactions associated with a variety of childhood fears: fear of losing parents, darkness, loud noises, punishment, loneliness and so on. Stuttering in a 4-year-old child can be caused by inappropriate behavior of animals (the most common situation when children are afraid of a suddenly barking dog).
- Social. If the parents did not work enough to form the baby’s speech, then he may develop tongue twistering, pronouncing words on the exhale, and violation of sound pronunciation. Stuttering in a 3-year-old child can occur if it is overloaded with speech material that is not appropriate for age. In older children, the problem sometimes appears in the case of the simultaneous study of several languages. Also, the severity of the parents can be the cause of the ailment.
Provocative factors
Attacks of stuttering usually worsen during illness, with overwork, in case of school or family troubles. Even the weather and diet can affect the manifestation of speech disorders. For example, it has been observed that excess protein foods in a children's menu exacerbate the problem. Quite often, stuttering in children provokes infections. Chronic diseases, as a rule, do not cause this ailment, but they can exacerbate existing disorders. For example, in a child with adenoid growths, nasal breathing is difficult, and because of this there are problems with speech.
Treatment options
People began to fight stuttering a long time ago. The Greek orator Demosthenes suffered from this ailment. He made complicated speeches during the noise of the waves, spoke with pebbles in his mouth, and thus tried to overcome the problem. The worldwide fame of Demosthenes confirms that he succeeded. In the 19th century, speech impairment began to be treated surgically: the muscles of the tongue were partially removed. I must say that such a radical way did not help everyone. Stuttering is not an ailment that can only be removed with a scalpel.
To date, there are as many options for eliminating a defect as there are theories that explain its origin. Both traditional methods (drug therapy, respiratory gymnastics, physiotherapeutic procedures), and non-traditional (hypnosis, acupuncture), and author's methods are used.
General recommendations
- Schedule. Treatment for stuttering in a child will be ineffective if you do not follow a clear regimen. Children three to six years old should sleep ten to twelve hours at night and two hours in the afternoon, children from seven years and older - eight to nine hours at night and one and a half hours in the afternoon. Before going to bed, you need to exclude watching TV.
- The psychological situation. The child is hurt by constant jerking and remarks. You can not quarrel or behave too noisy in the presence of the baby. It is also forbidden to show him your worries about speech problems. Treatment of stuttering in a child is not an easy process, it is necessary to be patient, do not rush the baby during the answers, praise him more often, thereby causing positive emotions.
- Daily communication. You should talk to the child slowly, kindly, calmly. The kid must hear the correct speech, as he adopts and assimilates what sounds in his environment. When stuttering in children is pronounced, you need to talk to them in a chant. It is categorically impossible to force kids to repeat difficult words several times.
- Health status. Parents must take care of strengthening the overall health of the child, relieving nervous tension, and overwork. To do this, it is recommended to carry out tempering procedures: wiping, playing in the fresh air, air baths, gymnastics and the like.
Specialists help
The treatment of stuttering in a child should be carried out jointly by a speech therapist, pediatrician and psychologist (psychotherapist). The task of the pediatrician is to eliminate concomitant pathologies, strengthen the body, make the prevention of colds, especially those that affect the vocal cords and ears, cure chronic ailments or bring them to the stage of prolonged remission. The baby should be prescribed physiotherapeutic procedures: visiting the pool, massage, electric sleep.
The function of the psychologist (psychotherapist) is to help the child cope with the problem by teaching him the correct behavior in society. So, the doctor must teach the baby to feel comfortable in any situation, not to be afraid of communicating with peers and adults, to help realize that he is no different from his peers and is not inferior. Usually classes with children with stuttering are held together with parents - their presence helps children cope with excitement.
The task of speech therapy treatment is to free the child’s speech from tension, eliminate the incorrect pronunciation of sounds, syllables, teach clear articulation and smooth, rhythmic, expressive speech. The kid first performs exercises together with a speech therapist, and then in oral stories and everyday conversations with others, he consolidates the acquired skills. As the degree of speech independence increases, the complexity of tasks increases.
Breathing exercises
This traditional method of treating speech disorders allows you to make your baby's voice more free and natural. Exercises train the diaphragm, increase the mobility of the vocal cords, which allows them to tightly compress during a conversation. Treatment can be supplemented with relaxation.
Acupressure
The course of therapy is selected depending on the degree of defect. During the procedure, the specialist acts on the points located on the face, legs, chest and back. The first results can be noticed after the first course, but here you should take into account the age of the child and the form of the disease. To restore the nervous regulation of speech, classes should be carried out systematically.
Computer programs
Often the treatment of stuttering in a child is carried out through special computer programs that allow you to synchronize the speech and auditory centers. The kid speaks the words into the microphone, while the program automatically delays his speech for a split second. As a result, the child with a delay hears his own voice and tries to adapt to it. In this way, speech becomes smooth and continuous. Using the program, you can play various situations that arise during communication, for example, discontent, objection. Children pronounce words into the microphone, and the computer evaluates how well they performed the task and gives a hint about what needs to be improved.
Drug treatment
In the complex of the general course, such therapy is auxiliary. In some cases, children are prescribed tranquilizers, anticonvulsants, and drugs that help neutralize the blocking action of those substances that prevent the nerve centers from functioning normally. Nootropic anxiolytic drugs can also be used. If necessary, treatment is supplemented by the use of soothing tinctures and decoctions of herbs, for example, motherwort decoction is used.
Forecast
Initial stuttering (which occurred at an early age, when speech is still just beginning to develop actively) can often be eliminated without a trace in a few months. The duration of treatment will depend on what underlies the speech impairment: the neurotic component or pathology of the nervous system. If neurosis occurs, the defect may return in the event of any stressful situation, but, as a rule, it can be quickly eliminated after a course of therapy. With physiological disorders, the treatment process is longer, but also more consistent. In this case, the disease does not have such a spasmodic course as with a neurosis, therefore, therapy is carried out slowly, but surely, without disruption. The duration of treatment can reach two years.
Most of all problems are caused by a fixed stutter, that is, one that has been observed for more than two to three months. It is important to comprehensively approach therapy, select options, focusing on the personal characteristics of the baby. It will require long work and patience of both the child and parents. Not all children are given easy treatment. In kindergartens and schools, workers should consider the characteristics of children with stuttering. Advise educators or teachers in advance about your child’s problem, say that it cannot be customized during the response. Also, such children should not test the ability to read at speed - this can aggravate the situation. As already mentioned, eliminating a speech defect is often a long and complex process. Parents, doctors and educators must join forces, the only way to achieve a positive result!