Communication Disorders in Early Language Development - Essay Example

New Ideas and Techniques in Intervention with Children with Communication Disorders in Early Language Development Communication is a key to interact with each other and speech and language are tools that we use to interact or convey our thoughts and emotions. If we take a look at the language, it can be defined as a set of rules, shared by the individuals who are communicating to convey their thoughts and emotions. On the other hand speech is defined as talking and is a way in which a language can be expressed. The first three years of life is considered to be the most intensive period of speech and language development for humans. However those children who are not able to develop language during this period are considered to have some communication disorders. In other words the developing brain is best able to absorb any language, during the initial three years of their life. Some of the main reasons of speech and language disorders include hearing loss, neurological disorders, brain injury, mental retardation, drug abuse, physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate, and vocal abuse or misuse. However, in many cases the real cause is unknown (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, 2004). As the years pass by the ability to learn a language will be more difficult, and perhaps less efficient or effective, if these critical periods pass without early exposure to a language (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 2001). This research paper focuses mainly on the new ideas and techniques in intervention with children with communication disorders in early language development. Communication disorder is a common term that encompasses various problems in language, speech, and hearing. To be more specific, speech and language problems comprise expression or verbalization problems, voice disorders, fluency problems which include stuttering, aphasia which is generally caused because of brain injury, and hearing problems. Today there are several interventions designed particularly for each of the above mentioned problems and the best treatment is prevention and early intervention (Sanchez, 1991). There are also several other communication disorders that result from other conditions such as learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, or cleft lip or cleft palate. Therefore, it becomes very important to understand the need of each and every child before the treatment begins. Speech and language disorders in general can have an impact on the way a child talk, understand, analyze or process information. Speech disorders include the clarity, voice quality, and fluency of a child's spoken words. Language disorders include a child's ability to hold meaningful conversations, understand others, problem solve, read and comprehend, and express thoughts through spoken or written words (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005). Early intervention for the treatment of apraxia is intended to teach effective communication strategies and improve volitional control of the oral musculature. During the course of the treatment exercises mainly focuses on teaching sound sequencing, programming sound patterns, and improving rhythm in speech. It is only with the advent of computed tomography (CT) scan and MRI several medical conditions can be detected easily including the ability to identify small subcortical lesions as causes of aphasia. Successful treatment of aphasia depends on the knowledge of a child's cognitive and linguistic strengths and weaknesses obtained from the formal testing batteries. While the traditional treatment strategies focused on syndrome-specific approaches, where treatment is based upon the diagnosed aphasia syndrome, recent strategies promote getting a message across by any means, through language, gestures, drawing, or any other expressive method (Melfi, 2006). A child with speech or language delays may exhibit a number of characteristics including the inability to follow directions, slow and incomprehensible speech, and pronounced difficulties in syntax and articulation. Syntax refers to the order of words in a sentence, and articulation refers to the manner in which sounds are formed. Articulation disorders are characterized by the substitution of one sound for another or the omission or distortion of certain sounds. It is important to have specific intervention for this problem. Stuttering or problem with the fluency is another disorder of speech flow. It is a disorder that most often appears between the ages of 3 and 4 years and may progress from a sporadic to a chronic problem. In fact there are many adults who continue to have stuttering. Though it may be possible that stuttering may spontaneously disappear by early adolescence, but speech and language therapy should be considered at an early stage itself. There are several individual who have lacked these interventions and as a result introvert in nature. It is also important to diagnose the problems and the cause for these communication problems before the intervention is planed. For instance, in a child with hearing problem, they may appear to strain to hear, and ask for repetition. Detection and diagnosis of hearing impairment have become very sophisticated in the modern day. As a result it is now possible to detect the presence of hearing loss and evaluate its severity even in a newborn child (Children with Communication Disorders,1990). Speech-language pathologists play an important role and they work with diagnostic and educational evaluation teams to provide comprehensive language and speech assessments for children. Speech-language pathologists also integrate students' communication goals with academic and social goals. It is important to note that an early intervention of speech-language pathology services can help children to improve their communication skills. Additionally, they also help to enhance the memory retraining, cognitive reorganization, language enhancement, and efforts to improve abstract thinking. As a result of this intervention, children with communication disorder can be comparatively successful and can have good interaction with other children. In fact these services can help children overcome their disabilities, achieve pride and self-esteem, and can be as successful as others (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005). Therefore, it can be said that early intervention is important for children with communication impairment and can help prevent behavior problems related to frustration. This can also assists the child in keeping up with appropriate developmental milestones comparable with the other children without the problem in communication. If the communication disorder is detected at a very early stage then these intervention can allow the child more time to develop communication skills before he/she enters formal education. Early Intervention in specific communication disorders Cleft Palate: It was only in 1960s the first study of the pre-surgery and pre-linguistic speech characteristics of babies with cleft palate was carried out. Early intervention for the child with cleft palate aims to increase: consonant inventory, particularly pressure consonants; vocabulary; and oral airflow. Intervention techniques for infants and toddlers with cleft palate include several approaches based on the age and the level of linguistic. It also depends on the profile of communicative strengths and weaknesses of the child. Modern day techniques combine early language intervention methods together with speech production strategies to facilitate place of articulation and oral airflow. Possibly early intervention and surgery can result in less of an impact of clefting on communication skills of children with cleft palate (Hardin-Jones, et al. 2006). Hearing problem: Hearing aids such as amplification and sensory aids are in general used as intervention measures for sensorineural hearing impairment. As of now research is still on in the areas of selection and fitting of hearing aids on infants and young children. It is important for them to use these aids because they are in the crucial age of language and speech development. Research is needed to determine appropriate hearing aid selection and fitting strategies for infants. It is also difficult for children between the ages of 1-3 to keep these hearing aids safely because they tend to pull it out (Rockville, 1999). An instrument which is used to improve a person's residual hearing is technically known as an assistive listening device (ALD). Other than ALDs, telecommunications devices are used to assist children with severe hearing problems by making use of other abilities, such as sight and touch. Additionally with the advancement in computer technology and medicine, a wide range of hightech ALDs and telecommunication devices that assist children with severe hearing impairments have been developed enabling them to participate more effectively in the classroom and interact with other normal children (Hasselbring and Glaser, N.D.). Today, computer technology have led to the creation of specialized devices-called augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. These devices make it possible for children with no speech, or with poor speech, to conquer their communication problems. While the augmentative devices are designed to support or enhance the speaking capability of a person, the alternative devices are used to replace speech as a means of communication. For instance in children with difficulty in vocabulary, AAC systems have been developed to allow communication through word selection devices or even devices using pictures and graphics. These devices make it very easy for children with communication disorders to effectively communicate their feelings and emotions. Additionally, in order to assist children with disabilities in delivering a message, various speech and print output devices have been developed. New technology also includes many communication devices that have integrated either synthetic or digital speech output. Synthetic speech is artificially generated by the computer, while digital speech is an actual recording of human speech stored in the memory of the device (Hasselbring and Glaser, N.D.). Stuttering: This is one of the most difficult of speech disorders. Even today the cause for this is not identified. A person with stuttering knows what they want to say, but has difficulty saying it. It is important to note that the longer the condition is left untreated, the longer and difficult it becomes to treat it. The Lidcombe program was developed as an early intervention program for children with stuttering. It involves parents being taught to give the child positive feedback at various times during the day when the child is speaking fluently. The researchers found that in the study group stuttering decreased by 77 per cent in the treated group and 43 per cent in the untreated group. Besides, the treated stuttered on about 1.5 per cent of their spoken syllables on average when compared to 3.9 per cent for the untreated group. The results of this study cane to the conclusion that early intervention is the way to help a child struggling to speak (Lavelle, 2005). Conclusion Early intervention plays an important role in children with communication disorder. It is important for parents to identify if there children have any communication problem and seek help. These interventions for children with communication disorder involve efforts particularly from the parents, audiologists, psychologists, social workers, teachers, guidance counselors, physicians and nurses. Children benefit a lot and can develop to be normal individuals if the communication problem is treated at a very early stage especially before going for formal education. References American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, (2005) Helping Children With Communication Disorders in the Schools Reading Rockets, Washington, D.C., Retrieved on 4 December 2007 from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/5128 Children with Communication Disorders.(1990). From the ERIC database Children with Communication Disorders. ERIC Digest #E470 (Revised #419). Retrieved on 3 December 2007 from http://ericae.net/edo/ED321504.htm Hardin-Jones, M., Chapman, K., & Scherer, N. J. (2006, June 13). Early intervention in children with cleft palate. The ASHA Leader, 11(8), 8-9, 32. Hasselbring, T.S. and Glaser, C.H.W. (N.D.) Use of Computer Technology to Help Students with Special Needs, Retrieved on 4 December 2007 from http://www.futureofchildren.org Lavelle, P. (2005) Early intervention for stuttering, Retrieved on 5 December 2007 from http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/s1470314.htm Melfi, R.S. (2006) Communication Disorders, Retrieved on 9 December 2007 from http://www.emedicine.com/pmr/topic153.htm National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, (2004) Speech and Language Impairments, Retrieved on 4 December 2007 from http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs11txt.htm National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, (2001) Speech and Language Developmental Milestones, Retrieved on 5 December 2007 from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/speechandlanguage.asp Rockville, M. (1998) Characterization of Auditory Performance and Intervention Strategies Following Neonatal Hearing Screening, Second Workshop of the NIDCD Working Group on Early Identification of Hearing Impairment. Retrieved on 4 December 2007 from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/funding/programs/hb/idwrkshp.asp Sanchez B., (1991) Communication Disorders, Retrieved on 9 December 2007 from http://psychologytoday.com/conditions/commdisorder.html#Treatment Read More