Dysarthria in children is a neurological disease, the essence of which is expressed in severe speech impairment, namely: the replacement of some sounds by others, the violation of articulation, changes in intonation and the pace of speech. In addition, these children are often observed and violations of motor skills - both small and large, as well as difficulties with chewing and swallowing movements. Children with any degree and form of this disease are extremely difficult to master written speech, they distort words in every possible way, make mistakes in using prepositions and constructing syntactic links in sentences. Dysarthria in children requires treatment and an individual pedagogical approach, so schoolchildren with this diagnosis are taught in specialized schools separately from other children.
How to treat dysarthria?
Medical and corrective work with dysarthria should be comprehensive, in it, of course, the parents of the sick child should be interested, since the dysarthria is mainly treated in the home. In addition, dysarthria in children requires parallel medication, which is prescribed by a neurologist, and constant work with a speech therapist.
Consider the methods for treating dysarthria in more detail.
Massage with dysarthria
Massage of facial muscles should be done daily. Basic movements with massage:
- stroking and easy tingling of the muscles of the lower jaw, lips, cheeks;
- convergence of the lips with your fingers, both horizontally and vertically;
- massage the soft palate, but no more than 2 minutes a day with the cushions of the middle and index fingers in the direction of the forward-backward.
Active exercises in dysarthria
A good effect is also given by independent studies in dysarthria, when a child stands in front of a mirror and tries to reproduce the movements of the lips and the tongue that he observed while talking with adults.
Other methods of speech gymnastics are as follows:
- opening and closing of the mouth;
- pulling out from the mouth of the child a bitten gauze dressing;
- keeping the mouth open and semi-open;
- stretching lips "proboscis";
- bared teeth;
- the child grabs a lollipop with his lips, and the adult takes it out. The smaller the diameter of the candy, the more difficult the child to perform the exercise;
- also candy can alternately lubricate the corners of the mouth, and the child should lick the sweet trace.
Logopedic work with dysarthria
The task of the speech therapist is to produce and automate the pronunciation of sounds in dysarthria. This is done gradually, starting with simple sounds for articulation and gradually shifting to more difficult ones. Previously studied sounds are permanently fixed.
Development of motor skills
It is also necessary to develop large and fine motor skills, which is closely related to speech functions. To do this, you can use finger exercises, sorting out and sorting small items, picking up designers and puzzles.
Wiped dysarthria - treatment
The erased dysarthria is the so-called mild form, the symptoms of which are not as pronounced as in other forms, so the diagnosis can only be made when the child reaches the age of five after a thorough examination.
When revealing an erased dysarthria, corrective work is carried out in two directions:
- medical examination and treatment;
- logopedic exercises.
Treatment of an erased dysarthria includes massage, physiotherapy, physiotherapy and, of course, individually selected medication.
While the methods for treating dysarthria have not been developed yet and are far from perfect, against the background of it, the child begins to better perceive and assimilate oral and written speech and, as a result, is fully capable of switching to education in the general education school, while being under the supervision of specialists.