Speech Development In Special Needs Children
Speech development comes naturally among children. The moment they reach a certain age of their lives, they learn to speak with or without anyone formally teaching them. This is the remarkable design of human beings. We are born to speak and we will at the right time.
However, not all children achieve this on the ?right time?. Some experience speech difficulties that hinder their growth as a human being. Speech is the most crucial factor that affects communication, learning and even social life. Failure to master speech at the right time contributes to learning difficulties and the child?s social life may be put in jeopardy.
Speech Development In Children
Because speech is highly important, it needs to be developed in children ? special needs children are not exceptions. If the child has been assessed to have speech, language or hearing disorder, parents should seek the support of special needs children workers. It is necessary that a child with speech defect be given the support that he needs.
To further nurture and develop speech among children, parents and teachers should consider the following pointers:
Always talk to the child. Constant talking helps the child learn to speak well. It also encourages critical thinking and reasoning among children. Talk to them like you would with an adult. Don?t use baby words and sounds. This will just hinder the child?s speech development. Constant talking is synonymous to practice. It is just like practicing your child to speak and think logically.
Always read with the child. Regular reading encourages comprehension and reasoning among children. It also introduces new vocabulary words to the child, thereby, increasing his own ?word bank?. There are custom designed reading schemes suited for children with special needs. There are books designed for children who need speech therapy activities.
Involve the child in social activities. Encourage the child to initiate conversation with other children. This breaks the social communication barrier that the child may be experiencing. Interactive activities are advisable for children with speech problems. One activity can be shared reading.
Don?t pressure the child to learn how to speak well. With special needs children, it is a given fact that they find speech difficult. Don?t put too much pressure on them. The more you push them into speech therapies, the more that they will not be able to learn. The technique is to let them enjoy the speech therapy activities.
It is better to prevent speech difficulty at an early age. Parents and teachers should be more attentive in dealing with children to identify any speech problem that they may be experiencing.
With seventeen children's books currently in print, and with sixteen new books to be published in 2007, Marie Dunleavy is an accomplished children's books author. Her books and associated resources were originally developed for a differently abled child in her own family but are now used for children with special needs in classrooms in U.K. and Ireland. For more information about the resources, please visit Speech Therapy Books
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