Prevention of stuttering in preschool children. Filicheva T.B. et al. Fundamentals of speech therapy: Textbook. manual for pedagogical students. Institute for specialties “Pedagogy And if the disease appears

Stuttering. General characteristics.

Stuttering is one of the most severe speech defects. It is difficult to eliminate, traumatizes the child’s psyche, slows down the correct course of his upbringing, interferes with verbal communication, and complicates relationships with others, especially in children’s groups.

Externally, stuttering manifests itself in involuntary stops at the moment of utterance, as well as in forced repetitions of individual sounds and syllables.

These phenomena are caused by convulsions of certain organs of speech at the time of pronunciation (lips, tongue, soft palate, larynx, pectoral muscles, diaphragm, abdominal muscles).

In modern speech therapy, stuttering is defined as a violation of the tempo-rhythmic organization of speech, caused by a convulsive state of the muscles of the speech apparatus.

Stuttering occurs in most cases between the ages of 2 and 5 years. According to scientists, approximately 2% of the total number of children stutter. Moreover, stuttering occurs four times more often in boys than in girls.

Causes of stuttering.

Based on the etiological principle, there are 2 types of stuttering.

Most often, functional stuttering occurs when there are no organic lesions in the speech mechanisms of the central and peripheral nervous system. Functional stuttering occurs, as a rule, in children aged 2 to 5 years during the formation of developed generalized (contextual) phrasal speech; It is more common in excitable, nervous children. The causes of functional stuttering can be different:

Unbearable speech load. In such cases, overload of the child’s nervous system, combined with pronunciation difficulties, initially leads to random stops in speech and repetitions of individual speech sounds of words. In the future, there is confidence that this will always be the case. A pathological stimulus is created (fixation, self-hypnosis). Stuttering occurs.

In some children, this happens due to incorrect sound pronunciation (if we consider that stuttering appears from the age of 2, it becomes clear that this is a natural physiological phenomenon).

Stuttering can also occur as a result of extremely fast speech: the child is in a hurry, imitating someone around him or trying to express his thought faster, stumbles over some sounds and begins to stutter.

Often, stuttering appears in children against the background of general speech underdevelopment, when they lack a basic vocabulary and grammatical means to express thoughts.

The occurrence of stuttering is also facilitated by improper conditions for raising a child, physical punishment, and severe fear.

Stuttering can also occur as a result of imitation.

However, the above reasons do not cause stuttering in all children and not under all conditions. Predisposing factors play an important role: the painful state of the child’s nervous system, its reduced stability.

In rare cases, stuttering can be caused by organic lesions of the nervous system (with traumatic brain injuries, neuroinfections, etc.). This organic stuttering can occur at any age.

Manifestations of stuttering.

Stuttering occurs either suddenly or gradually. Periodically it either weakens or intensifies, which is generally characteristic of nervous diseases, and depends on changes in external and internal stimuli.

The state of speech is closely related to the general physical and emotional background. For example, stuttering usually intensifies during illness, overwork, or after the child has been punished. There is also a dependence on the weather, the time of year, living conditions, and nutrition.

The main external sign (symptom) of stuttering is convulsions in the respiratory, vocal or articulatory apparatus that occur during speech. The more often and longer the spasms, the more severe the stuttering.

There are 3 degrees of stuttering: weak, medium and strong. In mild cases, stuttering is barely noticeable and does not interfere with speech communication. In severe cases, as a result of prolonged convulsions, verbal communication becomes impossible. With a strong degree, concomitant movements appear (convulsive phenomena that occur in various groups of muscles of extra-speech muscles: the face, neck, torso, limbs. The movements are very diverse: closing the eyes, blinking, flaring the wings of the nose, lowering or throwing back the head, tension of the neck muscles, clenching fingers, stamping feet, various movements of the body.) Movements can be involuntary, that is, independent of the will of the speaker, and voluntary.

As stuttering develops, new speech tricks appear. The person who stutters begins to add stereotypical words or sounds to supposedly facilitate speech, for example: “a-a”, “uh”, “well”, “this”, etc. This phenomenon is called embolophrasia.

Another characteristic symptom of stuttering is fear of speech, a fear of certain sounds or words that stutterers find particularly difficult to pronounce. This phenomenon is called logophobia.

Symptoms of stuttering are very variable and changeable. The type of stuttering changes: sometimes it manifests itself in the repetition of sounds and syllables, sometimes in sudden stops, pauses, and the accompanying movements also change.

The state of stuttering is also constantly changing. These changes are associated with a wide variety of circumstances. So, for example, the same child, almost at the same time, can either stutter very badly or speak well. Alone with himself, with toys, a stuttering child, as a rule, speaks without hesitation. The presence of other interlocutors affects his speech in different ways: a conversation with close people with whom he feels calm usually does not cause much hesitation. Conversations with unfamiliar people, with adults whom he is afraid or embarrassed of, instantly causes an increase in stuttering.

Some children who stutter experience impaired motor skills (awkwardness, clumsiness in movements, poor coordination, excessive muscle tension).

The need to overcome stuttering in preschool age.

It is now generally accepted that stuttering should be eliminated as soon as it occurs. In the initial stage, this defect is usually mild. But a slight stutter, barely noticeable at first, can intensify over time. The more time passes from the moment stuttering begins, the more often it turns into a severe, persistent defect and entails changes in the child’s psyche. In addition, stuttering deprives the child of normal communication conditions and often interferes with his successful studies. Therefore, it is important to eliminate this speech defect even before entering school. There are inpatient and semi-inpatient facilities where groups are organized for children who stutter.

It has been theoretically and practically proven that the full effect in the fight against stuttering can be achieved only if a comprehensive method is used.

The complex impact on a person who stutters consists of the following areas:

1. Medical influence (drug strengthening of the nervous system and various types of physiotherapy), helping to normalize the functions of the child’s nervous system and creating a favorable background for psychotherapy, for active speech therapy work

2. Psychotherapeutic influence (carried out throughout the entire speech therapy work), which consists of constantly convincing the child that he can and should speak without stuttering; pay attention to successes in this direction, always in the presence of peers, teachers or parents.

Speech therapy intervention carried out over a long, regular, systematic course of classes. The main goal of the classes is to develop the skills of correct, stutter-free speech, starting with its easiest forms that do not cause stuttering, and ending with complex ones, in any living conditions.
Speech therapy rhythm. It consists of a system of various exercises and games with movements accompanied by music and in combination with children’s speech. Such exercises and games contribute to the development of general and speech motor skills, develop coordination of movements, the ability to control oneself, engage in activities when given a signal, and cultivate a sense of rhythm. They are also designed to relieve general stiffness and tension. Much attention is paid to the development of attention in children.
The influence of others on the personality of a stuttering child, on his relationship with the environment and on his emotional-volitional sphere. Carried out throughout the entire period of correctional and educational work. Teachers, educators, and parents must instill in the child self-confidence, awareness of his usefulness, a healthy view of the speech defect, and the desire to get rid of it.

Prevention of stuttering in children.

In order to protect a child from stuttering, a lot of preventive work is needed on the part of the adults around him in the family, nursery, and kindergarten.

From a very early age, active imitation of the speech of adults comes to the fore in the development of a child’s speech. But, being a powerful factor in the development of speech, imitation at the same time poses certain dangers.

First of all, it is necessary that the speech of others be unhurried, smooth, correct and distinct. The correct speech of adults will cause the same correct, unhurried speech in a child. The child should speak with his mouth wide enough, not very loudly, not loudly, and slowly. It is harmful to speak while inhaling, choking and suffocating.

Speedy speech should not be allowed. Early, too hasty speech of a child often indicates increased excitability and weakening of his nervous system. Subsequently, it can lead to stuttering.

Stuttering can also arise from imitation. Constantly communicating with adults or peers who stutter, the child begins to reproduce the same hesitations in his own speech. Therefore, you should protect your child from contact with people who stutter.

A healthy nervous system is very important for normal speech development. In children, the nervous system is still in the development stage; it is very fragile and cannot withstand strong overloads. Therefore, from the first days of a child’s life, it is necessary to take special care of her: to protect the baby from mental and physical trauma, violent manifestations of anger or joy, from being among nervous, restless children.

An unfavorable family environment also has a negative impact on children’s speech. Scandals and conflicts between adults, intimidation of a child, beatings, excessively strict punishments, frequent tugging can cause stuttering in nervous and impressionable children.

You cannot overload a child’s speech, force it without taking into account age-related capabilities, striving for premature development. It must be remembered that in early preschool age a child’s speech capabilities are limited: his pronunciation is not yet sufficiently developed, his vocabulary is poor, and he does not have sufficient command of the grammatical means of the language. And adults sometimes demand too much from the child, forcing them to pronounce complex phrases, unfamiliar and incomprehensible words, and memorize too many poems that are complex in content and form.

It should be taken into account that a child will be able to pronounce all sounds correctly only after 4 years of age, when his articulatory apparatus has developed and strengthened. Until then, he cannot be forced to pronounce individual words and phrases that are difficult both in sound and in meaning. Otherwise, a discrepancy arises between an underdeveloped speech apparatus and excessive speech load. In addition, this overloads the baby’s nervous system, depletes his speech capabilities, tires his speech mechanisms and often leads to stuttering.

The other extreme is no less harmful for a child, when adults in the family do not read to him, do not ask him to retell what he has read, do not learn poems with him, talk very little and do not correct him when he speaks incorrectly. In such cases, the child is noticeably behind in his development. Moreover, his thinking abilities exceed his speech capabilities. The baby does not have enough basic vocabulary and grammatical means to express his own thoughts. As a result, at the moment of speaking, long pauses, stops, and hesitations appear in the child’s speech, which can later develop into persistent stuttering.

Children should not be overloaded with excessive impressions that cause them emotional stress. Unfortunately, some adults often take their children to the cinema, circus, theater, and allow them to watch TV for a long time. Meanwhile, visiting cinemas for preschool children is not recommended at all. Firstly, because there are almost no special feature films for children of this age, and secondly, an hour and a half session is very tiring for children. Excited and tired, overloaded with impressions after visiting the cinema, theater, circus, the child cannot resist asking questions and making statements. At the same time, he swallows sounds and syllables, stammers, repeats sounds or words, jumps from one thought to another, speaks hastily. Hesitations appear in his speech, which can become entrenched and turn into stuttering. Therefore, when visiting theaters, it is necessary to remember the age capabilities of the child, the impressionability of the child, the vulnerability of his nervous system, and familiarize himself with the content of the play in advance.

Sometimes stuttering occurs in children as a result of a feeling of fear. Having found out the cause of fear, we must try to either eliminate it, or show the child that in what he considers mysterious and scary, in fact there is nothing mysterious and scary. Irony, ridicule, reprimands, punishment will not help, but will further increase the feeling of fear.

Children who are better with their left hand than their right require special attention. There are often cases when, because these children are forcibly forced to do everything with their right hand, they develop a stutter. If a left-handed child has a predisposition to stuttering: nervous excitability, accelerated speech, unjustified repetition of sounds at the time of speech, speech while inhaling, it is impossible to retrain him at all. If everything is fine with speech and the child does not have a weakened nervous system, retraining is acceptable and should be started as early as possible. This must be done gradually, carefully, but at the same time monitor the child’s speech and stop immediately at the slightest sign of stuttering.

In order to protect a child from stuttering, a lot of preventive work is needed on the part of the adults around him in the family, nursery, and kindergarten.

Children should not be allowed to speak quickly. Early, too hasty speech of a child often indicates increased excitability and weakening of his nervous system. Subsequently, it can lead to stuttering.

You cannot overload a child’s speech, force it without taking into account age-related capabilities, striving for premature development. It must be remembered that in early preschool age a child’s speech capabilities are limited: his pronunciation is not yet sufficiently developed, his vocabulary is poor, and he does not have sufficient command of the grammatical means of the language. And adults sometimes demand too much from a child, forcing him to pronounce complex phrases, unfamiliar and incomprehensible words, and memorize too many poems that are complex in content and form.

It should be borne in mind that a child will be able to correctly pronounce all the sounds of speech only after four years, when his articulatory apparatus has developed and strengthened. Until then, he cannot be forced to pronounce individual words and phrases that are difficult both in sound and in meaning. Otherwise, a discrepancy arises between an underdeveloped speech apparatus and excessive speech load. In addition, this overloads the baby’s nervous system, depletes his speech capabilities, tires his speech mechanisms and often leads to stuttering.

The other extreme is no less harmful for a child, when adults in the family do not read to him, do not ask him to retell what he has read, do not learn poems with him, talk very little and do not correct him when he speaks incorrectly. In such cases, the child is noticeably behind in his speech development. Moreover, his thinking abilities exceed his speech capabilities. The baby does not have enough basic vocabulary and grammatical means to express his own thoughts. As a result, at the moment of speaking, long pauses, stops, and hesitations appear in the child’s speech, which can later develop into persistent stuttering.

Children should not be overloaded with excessive impressions that cause them emotional stress. Unfortunately, some parents and grandparents often take their children to the cinema, theater, circus, and allow them to watch TV for a long time. Meanwhile, visiting cinemas for preschool children is not recommended at all. Firstly, because there are almost no special feature films for children of this age, and secondly, an hour and a half session is very tiring for kids.

Excited and tired, overloaded with impressions after visiting the cinema, theater, circus, the child cannot resist asking questions and making statements. At the same time, he swallows sounds and syllables, stammers, repeats sounds or words, jumps from one thought to another, speaks hastily. Hesitations appear in his speech, which can become entrenched and turn into stuttering.

The above does not mean that visiting the theater and circus should be completely excluded. But this must be done very carefully, familiarizing yourself with the content of the play in advance, constantly remembering the child’s age capabilities, the child’s impressionability, and the vulnerability of his nervous system.

Sometimes stuttering occurs in children as a result of a feeling of fear. However, an adult does not always manage to notice the child’s hidden anxiety and restlessness in time, much less unravel their cause. Observing the child's behavior can help with this. We cannot ignore cases when the baby is afraid to sleep alone in the room, is afraid of the dark, or cannot be left alone in the room. Having found out the cause of fear, you need to try to either eliminate it (for example, leave a night light in the bedroom until the child falls asleep, do not tell scary fairy tales or exciting stories at night), or show the child that what he considers mysterious and scary is actually In fact, there is nothing mysterious or scary. Irony, ridicule, as well as reprimands and punishment, will not help in this case, but, on the contrary, will further increase the feeling of fear. Carefully, tactfully and carefully you need to teach your child to overcome his fear. The baby is afraid to be alone in the room - go around all the corners with him, look under the sofa, other furniture, show him that there is no one there and there is no one to be afraid of. If a child is afraid of a dog or cat, go with him to the animals, offer to feed them from your hands, etc.

Children who are better with their left hand than their right require special attention. There are often cases when, because these children are forcibly forced to do everything with their right hand, they develop a stutter. If a left-handed child has a predisposition to stuttering: nervous excitability, accelerated speech, unjustified repetition of sounds at the time of speech, speech while inhaling, it is impossible to retrain him at all. If everything is fine with speech and the child does not have a weakened nervous system, retraining is acceptable and should be started as early as possible. This must be done very gradually, carefully, gently, lovingly, without coercion and especially without threats or punishment. But at the same time, it is necessary to very carefully monitor the child’s speech and at the slightest manifestation of stuttering, immediately invite him to use his left hand again. The greatest success is achieved when the child relearns without outside interference, voluntarily, to be “like everyone else.”

Control questions

1. What is the prevalence of stuttering?

2. How is stuttering divided according to etiology? Which of these types of stuttering is the most severe defect?

3. Why is the prognosis for organic stuttering always worse than for functional stuttering?

4. Why is complex intervention necessary to eliminate stuttering?

5. Why does stuttering need to be eliminated in preschool age?

6. Is it possible to prevent stuttering? Justify your conclusion.

7. Why does stuttering, as a rule, weaken significantly or completely disappear at the moment of pronouncing a memorized text?

8. What is logophobia? How does this phenomenon affect the effectiveness of stuttering elimination?

9. How can routine processes be used in kindergarten to eliminate stuttering in children?

10. When, for what purpose and by whom is a “silence regime” organized and carried out with children who stutter?

Test tasks

1. Using the materials of this manual and special literature, draw up a detailed plan for a speech therapy examination of a stuttering preschooler.

2. Conduct a speech therapy examination of a stuttering child yourself. Make a speech map for it.

4. Write the abstract of a report for parents on the topic “How to prevent stuttering in children.”

5. Focusing on the scheme of speech therapy assistance for children, draw up a separate diagram of special institutions through two departments - education and health care, where stuttering is eliminated in children of early, preschool and school age.

6. Using special literature, draw up a summary of a speech therapy session to eliminate stuttering in preschoolers.

7. Make a plan for holding a meeting with parents of children who stutter.

8. Create a plan for a music lesson with preschoolers who stutter.

9. Visit a child who stutters at home. Find out how the family treats the baby’s defect, the child himself, what the situation is in the family, whether the parents comply with the necessary requirements for successfully overcoming stuttering. Have an appropriate conversation.

10. Observe the speech of a stuttering preschooler, his behavior, manner of speaking, and behavior during conversations with adults and peers. Take detailed notes. Then conduct a similar observation with an adult who stutters. Compare the results obtained. Draw conclusions.

Literature

1. Volkova G. A. Correctional work with stuttering preschool children using a system of games // Pedagogical ways to eliminate speech disorders in children. - L., 1976. - P. 26 - 58.

2. Volkova G. A. Game activity in eliminating stuttering in preschool children. - M., 1983.

3. Training and education of stuttering preschoolers: Program. - M. 1983.

4. Pravdina O.V. Speech therapy. - M., 1969. - P. 53 - 54, 151 - !72.

5. Seliverstov V.I. Modern comprehensive method of overcoming stuttering // Speech disorders in children and adolescents / Ed. S. S. Lyapidevsky. - M., 1969.

6. Cheveleva N. A. Correction of speech in stuttering preschoolers. - M., 1965;

7. Cheveleva N. A. Stuttering in children // Fundamentals of the theory and practice of speech therapy. M., 1968. - P. 229 - 271.

Chapter IX. Speech tempo disorders: characteristics of speech tempo and its disorders in children

One of the expressive means of oral speech is its tempo. By slowing down the pace of his statement, a person emphasizes the importance, the special significance of what he is communicating. And vice versa, by speeding up the pronunciation of certain phrases, we often thereby express the secondary importance of what is being communicated. However, the pronunciation does not lose its correctness and intelligibility. Thus, the normal rate of speech is characterized by slowing down and speeding up. These fluctuations in the speed of utterances will depend on the speed of pronunciation of phonemes, words, phrases and on the frequency and duration of pauses between words and sentences.

It is considered normal to have a speech rate at which from 9 to 14 phonemes are pronounced in one second. A necessary condition for a normal speech rate is the correct ratio of the main processes occurring in the cerebral cortex - excitation and inhibition.

Most children do not immediately master a normal speech rate. Many preschoolers speak too quickly. This is explained by the fact that their inhibitory processes and control over their own speech are still weak. Often, imperfect speech tempo occurs as a result of imitation of others. The child sometimes speaks very quickly, sometimes too slowly, even within the same phrase. But in most cases, such phenomena disappear with age.

However, for various reasons, which will be discussed below, children may experience a pathological disturbance in the rate of speech: either excessive acceleration - tachylalia, or excessive slowing - bradylalia.

In this article, parents will find practical tips and recommendations on how to behave if their child begins to stutter. How to help a child if he has hesitations in speech? How to prevent relapses of stuttering? How to reduce stressful moments?

Parents are ready to cheerfully sing along to the musketeers’ song “...Bye-bye-bye-swaying the feathers on their hats...”, but as soon as their baby says: “Bye-bye-I want to poop,” it will cause panic in the whole family. Where does stuttering begin? How does it manifest? What are the risk factors and how should it be prevented?

I will try to pay attention to all this, as well as what actions parents should take if their child suddenly begins to stutter, in this article.

Stuttering is a violation of the tempo, rhythm and fluency of speech caused by convulsions in various parts of the speech apparatus.
When a child stutters, forced stops or repetitions of individual sounds and syllables occur in a child’s speech. Stuttering most often occurs in children between the ages of two and five years.

Risk factors for stuttering:

1. Children with anxious character traits. These children are usually attached to their mother, whiny, and irritable. Often such babies sleep restlessly and have poor appetite. They may react by stuttering to a change in environment (going to kindergarten, moving, long absence of the mother).

2. Children with early speech development (first words and phrases per year); and then with a very rapid pace of vocabulary growth (at 2 -2.5 they already speak in expanded phrases). Stuttering can appear from shortness of breath while pronouncing a long phrase and the desire to say everything at once, while a child’s tongue and lungs cannot yet cope with such a volume of speech information.

3. Children with delayed speech development. They begin to develop words around the age of two. Phrasal speech after three. The speech of such children is often slurred, with poor sound pronunciation. Their stuttering may be caused by motor disinhibition.

4. Children who have relatives who stutter are more likely than others to be susceptible to this illness. You should also be careful if there are left-handers in the family. In such children, stuttering may be a consequence of a reduced ability to adapt to the outside world in the central nervous system (CNS).

5. Children with bilingualism in the family also have a risk factor for stuttering.

Of course, it is not at all necessary that a bilingual, anxious or left-handed child will start to stutter. But increased parental control over such children will help them avoid unnecessary difficulties if they arise.

How should parents behave if their child has a risk factor for stuttering:

Observe routine moments (sleep, nutrition, walks - in accordance with the child’s age).
Avoid emotional overload (frequently visiting places where large numbers of people gather); excessive physical exertion (at the first signs of fatigue, allow the child to rest, do not press on him).
Monitor a favorable emotional climate in the family. Do not allow yourself to scream or swear in the presence of your baby.
Try to ensure that the demands placed on the child by different family members do not contradict each other.
If a child has fears (darkness, loneliness, closed space), do not teach him or her to be brave under any circumstances. Don't provoke fears by showing movies or intimidation. If fear arises, allow the child to sleep in dim light, stay near him for a while when falling asleep. If the fear does not go away for a long time, you should contact a neuropsychiatrist.

It is very important for parents to control their own speech - after all, for the baby it is a role model.

Parents' speech should be:
Smooth, slow, emotionally expressive. Do not rush or raise your voice when communicating with your child.
Do not use onomatopoeia or distorted pronunciations of words in your speech. Your speech should be clear and correct.
When communicating with your baby, try not to use complex speech patterns or long constructions. Communicate using phrases that are easy to understand.
Do not put pressure on your child, urging him to respond faster to your words.
Under no circumstances should you scold or reproach your child for an incorrect answer.

The first signs of stuttering

The child suddenly becomes silent and refuses to speak. This state can last from two hours to a day, after which the baby begins to speak again, but with a stutter.
The child begins to insert extra sounds (a, and) before some words.
The child repeats the first syllables or whole words at the beginning of a phrase.
The child is suddenly forced to stop in the middle of a word or phrase.
The child has difficulty (stupor) starting to speak.

Behavior of parents of a child with speech hesitations:

Reduce the amount of incoming information as much as possible (exclude mass entertainment events, books and films that are not age appropriate).
If a child has problems with sound pronunciation, direct efforts to eliminate them (perhaps the root of stuttering lies in the difficulty of pronouncing sounds correctly).
If a child who has started to stutter prefers to use his left hand, then there is no need to retrain him. You can only offer to use your right hand in an unobtrusive manner (put cutlery on the right, hold out pencils to your right hand). It is impossible to prohibit the use of the left hand.
If a child’s stuttering is provoked by the stuttering of someone close to him, reduce their communication (or even better, interrupt it for a while).
If stuttering occurs in a child from a bilingual family, one language should be removed from use. Until the moment when the child’s speech norms of one language settle down. Usually this happens by 5-6 years.

How to prevent stuttering from becoming embedded in your child’s speech:

1. In case of “acute” occurrence of stuttering (usually after a fright), favorable conditions should be created for the child as soon as possible to improve the emotional state. This may be a change in the environment in which the injury occurred to another.
2. Intensively monitor the regime - perhaps lengthen sleep and limit the flow of new stimulating information.
3. Parents should try not to outwardly show their concern about the child’s speech. Under no circumstances should you scold your child or force him to pronounce words correctly. Teasing and ridicule are unacceptable.
4. The speech of those around a child who has begun to stutter should be quiet and calm. Try to talk less with your child for a while (sometimes it is even recommended to introduce a silent mode).
5. Offer the child quiet, calm games - drawing, modeling, design - that do not require verbal contact.
6. Form proper breathing in your child (deep inhalation and slow exhalation). The following games are suitable for this:

Blowing soap bubbles and balloons.
Blow cotton balls, paper snowflakes off the table, hammer cotton balls into the goal.
Playing children's wind instruments.
Moving light toys through the water while swimming (who is faster).

7. Logorhythmic games, marching, clapping to music, dancing, and singing are very beneficial. Teach your child small rhymes with a short line and a clear rhythm of construction. For example, this:

Carousel
Barely, barely, barely, barely
the carousel started spinning (the child walks slowly in a circle, reciting the verse)
And then around, around,
And run, run, run. (runs in a circle)
Hush, hush, don't rush.
Stop the carousel. (slower and slower)
One and two, one and two -
the game is over. (walks and stops)

He should carry out all the activities offered to the child with pleasure in a playful way. You should not force a child with speech hesitations to do anything.

If you correctly build communication with a child who has begun to stutter, then, most likely, stuttering will not become a permanent disorder, but will disappear without a trace from your child’s speech.

Irina Gurova
Consultation for parents “Preventing stuttering in children”

It is unlikely that any adult does not know what stuttering is, since this disorder always attracts attention. In addition, stuttering is now a very common phenomenon (approximately 3% of all children stutter).

This complex speech disorder is painful in most cases, because speech is constantly interrupted by sudden pauses, stretches, and repetitions of sounds, syllables, and sometimes words that are independent of the speaker. The speaker has difficulty conveying the message, and the interlocutor experiences tension while listening to his speech.

There are many reasons for the appearance of stuttering, but we will focus only on those cases where the parents themselves are to blame, wittingly or unwittingly.

Stuttering occurs in children most often between the ages of 2 and 5 years, and parents are responsible for the timely elimination of this disorder, and sometimes even for its occurrence.

One of the most common causes of stuttering in children is. Of course, parents should take care of the child’s speech development, but they should never forget about his capabilities and age. Unfortunately, often adults, wanting to speed up the child’s speech development, read a lot of poems and stories to children, and memorize what they read with them. At the same time, the poems and stories chosen are sometimes complex, sometimes inaccessible to understanding and pronunciation. Here is one example from the article by N. A. Cheveleva “For parents about children’s stuttering.”

Young parents brought their three-year-old child for consultation, who, according to them, suddenly began to stutter for no apparent reason. Both mother and father vied with each other to convince him that they had a wonderful, calm environment at home, the child was provided with everything, no one ever scared him, they treated him kindly and gently. The boy is growing up cheerful, cheerful, and healthy. But the problem is that he suddenly started stuttering and is very worried about it himself. From a conversation with the baby, it turned out that he has pronunciation deficiencies: he still cannot pronounce all the sounds of speech correctly. After being asked to recite a poem, the child suddenly begins, choking, to mutter something unintelligible. At first it was not even clear what language the baby was babbling in. It turns out that these were the words “Anchara” by A.S. Pushkin, distorted beyond recognition. It is clear that, no matter how developed a child is, it is very difficult for him, a three-year-old baby, to pronounce, much less understand: “The nature of the thirsty steppes gave birth to him on the day of wrath...”, “And rushes away, already pernicious,” “To neighbors in alien limits,” etc. And the baby’s parents smiled proudly, happily, not suspecting that they themselves had become the cause of their son’s stuttering. They really, with the best intentions, tried to develop the child’s speech and tried to educate him on Russian classical literature. But aren’t there enough poems available for his age in our children’s literature?

It must be remembered that in early childhood the child’s speech capabilities are limited: sound pronunciation is not sufficiently formed, the vocabulary is not yet rich, he does not have sufficient command of the grammatical means of the language. And adults demand too much from a child, overloading his speech, forcing him to pronounce complex phrases, unfamiliar and incomprehensible words, requiring endless memorization.

No less dangerous for children and impression overload that cause emotional stress in the child. Parents need to keep in mind that stuttering often occurs after visiting the circus, cinema, theater, or watching TV for a long time. Why does this happen? After attending tedious entertainment events that last at least one and a half to two hours, the child becomes excited. He gets a lot of impressions and many questions arise. Talking about his impressions, asking adults, he, not having sufficient command of speech, chokes, swallows sounds, finds many words and expressions with difficulty, jumps from one thought to another, stops, and again begins to speak hastily. In such cases, hesitations appear in the baby’s speech, which can become entrenched and develop into persistent stuttering.

Everything that has been said does not mean that there is no need to develop the child at all or to completely exclude any visits to the theater or circus. But this must be done carefully, constantly remembering the baby’s age, impressionability and slight vulnerability of his nervous system.

The cause of stuttering may be the other extreme in relation to the child. Some parents practically do not develop speech child or do not pay enough attention to its development. They talk very little to the child, do not read fairy tales to him, do not memorize poetry, and do not pay attention to his pronunciation. In such cases, parents believe that the child’s speech should develop on its own. This point of view is found very often (“When he grows up, he will speak properly”). But in fact, if you don’t specifically develop a child’s speech, don’t contribute to its formation, then he won’t develop his first words and then his first phrases on time; he won't be able to ask you questions. A delay in speech development is manifested not only in the late appearance of words and phrases, but also in a very poor vocabulary, a violation of the grammatical structure of speech, and incorrect pronunciation of sounds. In this case, the child’s thinking abilities may exceed his speech capabilities. The child lacks a basic vocabulary and grammatical means to express his own thoughts. Therefore, at the moment of speaking, the baby experiences long pauses, stops, and hesitations, which later turn into persistent stuttering.

To avoid this, parents need to take care of the child’s timely speech development. It is necessary to read books to him (of course, children's books, appropriate for his age, then talk about their content: ask questions, help answer them in case of difficulties, look at the illustrations with the child. It is useful to ask children to retell fairy tales and short stories. In this case, it is necessary to suggest words , ask leading questions. Various board games develop children's speech well: lotto, dominoes with pictures, which allow them to remember new words and pronounce them in a playful way. It is useful to teach the child to talk about what he is doing at the moment, what is shown in the pictures what he sees on the street, etc.

Negatively affects children's speech and unfavorable family environment. Scandals and conflicts, frequent severe punishments, including physical ones, and constant teasing cause stuttering in nervous and impressionable children. Intimidation of a child, for example, by unkind fairy-tale characters (“If you behave badly, I’ll give it to Baba Yaga,” force him to be in a state of constant nervous tension and restless anticipation - after all, the child believes the adult. All this is fertile ground for the appearance of stuttering. To the unfavorable factors include disturbances in sleep and eating patterns due to the fault of adults, insufficient awareness of family members that the baby should live and be raised, if possible, in calm conditions.

The cause of stuttering, of course, can be psychotrauma. But many are exposed to psychological trauma, and stuttering develops only in a certain part of children. Here is an example from the book by L. Ya. Missulovin “Stuttering and its Elimination,” which shows us the individual significance of psychotraumatization.

In Gena T., as a result of debilitating diseases in early childhood (dyspepsia at 9 months), speech developed with a delay: the boy began to speak phrases in the 3rd year of life. By the age of 5, he had impaired pronunciation and an accelerated rate of speech. Gena was an excitable, impressionable, restless child, afraid of the dark, and suffered from bedwetting. His brother Vova, who was 2 years younger, had psychophysical and speech development without deviations from the norm, he was calm.

At the age of 5, Gena, together with his parents and brother, vacationed in the summer at the dacha. The owner of the house in which they rented a room kept a goat. The parents, knowing the character of their eldest son, warned the boy not to come close to the goat, because it was “butting.” And the owner, seeing that Gena was afraid of the goat, once told him: “If you don’t listen to your mother, I’ll let Masha attack you, she’ll gore you.”

A few days later, when Gena and Vova were playing in the yard with their father, the goat came out of the unlocked barn and, bending its head, ran towards the children. Gena saw the goat, turned pale and silently grabbed his father’s hand. Vova also saw a goat, but did not find any signs of fear, and, watching his father drive it away with his foot, he laughed merrily.

This incident did not make any impression on his younger brother, but for Gena it was a source of severe psychological trauma, as a result of which the child, after a short-term loss of speech, developed a stutter.

In the above example, the older boy’s stuttering arose as a result of mental trauma (producing cause), which had a pronounced individual significance for him, due to the preliminary fixation of the boy’s attention on the object of possible troubles for him. In addition, the boy's medical history included predisposing factors– delayed speech development, impaired sound pronunciation, accelerated rate of speech and the indicated character traits.

Many parents should consider whether they are fixating their attention on certain objects as if they were objects of possible trouble, when in fact they are not. In the case of such additional unjustified fixation, children have additional reasons for concern, and perhaps fears (“Don’t go near the vacuum cleaner - it will suck you in”, “Don’t go near the window - the Snow Queen will take it away”, etc.)

Stuttering can also occur as a result imitation. When communicating with children and adults who stutter, the child may begin to reproduce the same disorders in his own speech. In this case, of course, the emerging features in the child’s speech cannot at first be called a real stutter. But we must keep in mind that stuttering by imitation can become firmly entrenched in speech. The basis of stuttering that arises from imitation is love, admiration, and respect for the person whom the child imitates. Usually such people in the family are parents, older brothers and sisters.

It is usually believed that stuttering occurs as a result of fright. However, fear often only provokes stuttering, which, due to the listed factors, can occur without it.

So, we have listed and revealed the most common causes of stuttering, knowledge of which can help many of you prevent the occurrence of this speech disorder in children.

1. Missulovin L. Ya. Stuttering and its elimination. – St. Petersburg. : SLP LLC, 1997.

2. Reznichenko T.S. So that the child does not stutter. A book for parents. – M.: “Publishing house GNOM and D”, 2000.

3. Reader. Speech therapy. Stuttering. – M.: V. Sekachev, EKSMO-Press Publishing House, 2001.

4. Tsyntarny V.V. The joy of speaking correctly. – M.: ZAO Publishing House CENTER-Polygraph, 2002. – 111 p.

Prevention of stuttering in preschool children

Impaired fluency of speech, when hesitation, repetition and prolongation of syllables and sounds are accompanied by muscle tension (convulsions of the speech apparatus) is called stuttering.

Neurosis (a special condition of the nervous system), which manifests itself in the form of a speech disorder, is called logoneurosis.

Stuttering can occur suddenly, immediately after psychological trauma (fear, conflict, unexpected change in lifestyle) or increase gradually, sometimes over several months. Hesitations in a child’s speech may either decrease or intensify. Gradually, a person who stutters develops certain psychological characteristics: shyness, isolation, fear of speech, and various tricks.

Causes of stuttering

1. Suffered damage to the central nervous system, such as birth trauma, threatened miscarriage, asphyxia (suffocation).

2. Early speech development or, conversely, delay.

3. Anxiety, fear, mental overload, mood swings, excessive impressionability and vulnerability.

4. Psychological trauma: birth of a younger child, moving, parental divorce, conflict, fear.

5. Genetic predisposition.

6. Children raised in a bilingual family (i.e., the family uses 2 languages simultaneously as a spoken language).

For children aged 1 to 6-7 years, parents' speech is a model.

General rules for parents' speech behavior

an adult’s speech should be quite smooth, emotionally expressive, moderate in tempo, and clear;

avoid speaking to children in their babbling language, do not distort your pronunciation;

do not overload the conversation with your child with words that are difficult for him;

phrases by design should be quite simple and understandable;

A child should not be punished for errors in speech, imitated or corrected in an irritated manner.

Preschool children, especially those with anxious character traits, easily develop fears. These fears can arise as a result of intimidation, reading books, watching films with frightening content. Children are often afraid to be left alone in a room or to walk down a dark corridor.

You should not “teach” children to be brave or insist that the child must be in the dark before falling asleep, because this can intensify fears and fix them.

Early speech development and delayed speech development

For a child with early speech development, adult speech plays a particularly important role in the organization of their speech motor automatisms. The speech of adults should be calm and unhurried, with clear pronunciation of words and sentences. For such children, games with rhythmic pronunciation of individual words and short phrases are useful. It is very important to pay attention to the process of developing speech breathing in them.

Attention!

Cases of early speech development should not be assessed only as a positive phenomenon, you need to know that:

It is dangerous to “overload” such a child with verbal communication: introduce new words and speech patterns into everyday speech, encourage speech activity, demonstrate the child’s “speech successes” to others, etc. On the contrary, it is necessary to reduce the intensity of incoming information as much as possible.

The selection of books should be limited and strictly age appropriate.

Mass entertainment events, which can lead to mental overload, are contraindicated for such children.

Children with delayed speech development often, when thoroughly examined by a psychoneurologist, reveal certain symptoms of cerebrasthenic syndrome (increased intracranial pressure, motor disinhibition, decreased attention).

Treatment for stuttering

Stuttering is a disorder that affects not only speech, but also the child’s personality, motor skills, nervous system, and the body as a whole. Effective treatment is possible with the participation of several specialists: a neurologist, a psychologist, a speech therapist.

The principles of stuttering treatment are:

1. Consultation with a neurologist. If necessary, drug therapy is prescribed.

2. Consultation with a psychologist to determine ways to solve psychological problems.

3. Consultation with a speech therapist. After a thorough examination, the speech therapist determines the main areas of work with your child to overcome stuttering.