Treatment of stammering in the child. Causes of stuttering in children

Do you know what common people like famous people like Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Napoleon, Bruce Willis? The fact is that they all stammered as a child. However, having made efforts, they were able to overcome speech problems and achieve great success. Stammering in children usually appears at the age of three to five years, when speech develops at the most active rates, but this function is not yet developed enough. In boys, the disorder occurs more often (three to four times) than the girls. This can be explained by their less emotional stability. How to treat stammering in children? What are the causes of this ailment? How can parents help a child get rid of a speech problem? Read about this in the article.

General concepts

Stuttering is a violation of the pace, rhythm, smooth breathing, speech and voice, caused by cramps of the muscles of the tongue, larynx or lips. It can occur suddenly, and then intensify. The speech notes forced stops, the repetition of individual sounds, syllables. Seizures can be tonic (ie, manifested in stretching sounds, long pauses, general stiffness, tension) and clonic when the child repeats individual syllables, sounds (often at the beginning of the word). There is also a combination of both kinds of seizures - a tone-clonic stammering. In pre-school children, the problem may not appear for a long time and arise only in a stressful situation. Let's talk in more detail about the etiology of the disorder.

Causes of stuttering in children

1. Physiological. The disease can be triggered by the pathology of the nervous system associated with hereditary predisposition, birth trauma and the like. Sometimes stuttering appears against the background of organic disturbance of the subcortical brain departments. The problem can be associated with diseases of the larynx, pharynx, nose, or with a disorder of the nervous system as a result of the transfer of measles, rickets, typhus, pertussis.
2. Psychological. The causes of stuttering in children can be hidden in their mental state. Often, a violation of speech happens due to a sudden strong psycho-emotional shock. Such stammering is called neurotic, or logoneurosis. When a child is nervous, his speech is slower than the brain. As a rule, the appearance of the problem is preceded by neurotic reactions associated with various childhood fears: fear of losing parents, darkness, loud sounds, punishment, loneliness and so on. Stuttering in a child of 4 years can be caused by inadequate behavior of animals (the most common situation is when children are frightened of a suddenly barking dog).
3. Social. If the parents worked on the formation of the speech of the baby is not enough, then he can develop an ear, the utterance of words on exhalation, the violation of sound. Stuttering in a child of 3 years can arise if it is overloaded with speech material that is not age-appropriate. In older children, the problem sometimes appears in the case of simultaneous learning of several languages. Also, the cause of the ailment can become excessive severity of parents.

The provoking factors

Attacks of stammering usually intensify during illness, during overwork, in case of school or family troubles. Even the weather and diet can influence the manifestation of speech disorders. For example, it is noticed that the excess in the children's menu of protein foods aggravates the problem. Quite often stammering in children is provoked by infections. Chronic diseases, as a rule, do not cause this ailment, but they can strengthen existing violations. For example, a child with adenoid growths has difficulty nasal breathing, and because of this, there are problems with speech.

Treatment Options

People began to struggle with stammering for a long time. This affliction suffered the Greek orator Demosthenes. He read complex sounds at the noise of the waves, spoke, holding the pebbles in his mouth, and thus tried to overcome the problem. World fame Demosthenes confirms that he succeeded. In the 19th century, speech disorders began to be treated surgically: a man was partially removed by the muscles of the tongue. I must say that such a radical way was not helped by everyone. Stammering is not the disease that can be eliminated only with the help of a scalpel.

To date, there are so many options for eliminating a defect, as well as theories explaining its origin. In the course are the traditional methods (medical therapy, respiratory gymnastics, physiotherapeutic procedures), and non-traditional (hypnosis, acupuncture), and authoring techniques.

General recommendations

1. Schedule. Treatment of stammering in the child will be ineffective if you do not follow a clear regime. Children three to six years old must sleep ten to twelve hours a night and two hours a day, children from seven years of age and older - eight to nine hours a night and an hour and a half an afternoon. Before going to bed, you need to exclude watching TV.
2. Psychological situation. The child is traumatized by constant jerking and remarks. You can not quarrel or too noisily behave in the presence of the baby. It is also forbidden to show him his excitement about problems with speech. Treatment of stammering in the child - the process is difficult, you need to be patient, not to hurry the baby during the answers, more often to praise him, thereby causing positive emotions.
3. Daily communication. It is necessary to talk with the child slowly, affectionately, calmly. The kid should hear the correct speech, as he takes over and assimilates what sounds in his environment. When stammering in children is pronounced, talking with them must be singed out. Causing the kids to repeat several times difficult words categorically impossible.
4. Health status. Parents are obliged to take care of strengthening the child's general health, relieving nervous tension, overwork. For this it is recommended to carry out hardening procedures: wiping, playing in the fresh air, air baths, gymnastics and the like.

Help of specialists

Treatment of stammering in a child should be conducted jointly by a speech therapist, a pediatrician and a psychologist (psychotherapist). The pediatrician's task is to eliminate the accompanying pathologies, to strengthen the body, to prevent the catarrhal diseases, especially those that affect the vocal cords and ears, to cure chronic ailments or bring them to the stage of long-term remission. The kid should be prescribed physiotherapy procedures: swimming pool, massage, electrosleep.

The function of a psychologist (psychotherapist) is to help a child cope with the problem by teaching him the right behavior in society. So, the doctor should 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 peers and is not incomplete. Usually, classes with children with stuttering are carried out together with parents - their presence helps children to cope with excitement.

The task of speech therapy is to release the child's speech from tension, to eliminate the incorrect pronunciation of sounds, syllables, to teach clear articulation and smooth, rhythmic, expressive speech. The baby first with a speech therapist performs the exercises, and then in oral stories and everyday conversations with others fixes the acquired skills. As the degree of speech independence increases, the complexity of tasks increases.

Breathing exercises

This traditional way of treating speech disorders allows you to make the child's voice more free and natural. Exercises train the diaphragm, increase the mobility of the vocal cords, which makes it possible for them to tightly contract during a conversation. Treatment can be supplemented by relaxation.

Acupressure

The course of therapy is selected depending on the degree of the defect. During the procedure, the specialist exercises an effect on the points located on the face, legs, chest and back. The first results can be noticed after the first course, but here you must take into account the age of the child and the form of the disease. To restore the nervous regulation of speech, classes should be conducted systematically.

Computer programs

Often, stuttering in a child is carried out by means of special computer programs that allow synchronizing speech and auditory centers. The kid speaks the words into the microphone, while the program automatically delays his speech for a fraction of a second. As a result, the child with a delay hears his own voice and tries to adapt to it. Thus, speech acquires smoothness and continuity. With the help of the program, you can play different situations that arise during communication, for example, discontent, objection. Children pronounce words in the microphone, and the computer evaluates how well they have coped with the task, and gives a hint about what needs to be improved.

Medication

In the complex of the general course, such therapy is auxiliary. Children in some cases are prescribed tranquilizers, anticonvulsant drugs, drugs that help neutralize the blocking effect of those substances that prevent nerve centers from functioning normally. Nootropic anxiolytic drugs may also be used. If necessary, the treatment is complemented by the reception of soothing infusions and decoctions of herbs, for example, decoction of the motherwort is used.

Forecast

Initial stuttering (which occurred at an early age, when speech is only just beginning to develop actively) can often be eliminated without a trace in a few months. The duration of treatment will depend on what lies at the heart of speech impairment: the neurotic component or the pathology of the nervous system. If there is a neurosis, the defect can return in the case 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 ailment does not have such an abrupt current as in neurosis, so the therapy is carried out slowly but surely, without failures. The duration of treatment can be up to two years.

The biggest problem is the stuttering stuttering, that is, that which has been observed for more than two or three months. It is important to approach the therapy in a comprehensive way, to choose the options, focusing on the personal characteristics of the baby. It will take a lot of work and patience for the child and the parents. Not all children get treatment easily. In kindergartens and schools, workers should take into account the characteristics of children with stuttering. In advance, warn teachers or teachers about the problem of your child, say that it can not be adjusted during the response. Also, these children should not check the ability to read for speed - this can exacerbate the situation. As already mentioned, eliminating a speech defect is often a long and complex process. Parents, doctors and educators should unite their efforts, only so you can achieve a positive result!