Symptoms of motor and sensory alalia in a child: examination, treatment, homework. Alalia in children What type of speech is impaired with motor alalia

motor alalia- this is a systemic underdevelopment of expressive speech (active oral utterance) of a central organic nature, caused by damage to the speech zones of the cerebral cortex in the prenatal or early period of speech development. This violation is due to the unformed language operations of the process of generating speech utterances, with the relative preservation of semantic and sensorimotor operations.

Causes of motor alalia:

Birth trauma and asphyxia.

Intrauterine encephalitis and meningitis.

Unfavorable development conditions.

Fetal intoxication.

Congenital burden.

Intrauterine or early intravital brain injuries.

Diseases of early childhood with a burden on the brain.

Motor alalia is not just a temporary delay in speech development. The entire process of speech formation in this disorder takes place under conditions of a pathological state of the central nervous system. Separate manifestations of motor alalia outwardly turn out to be similar to the normal development of a child at an earlier stage.

Motor alalia is a complex syndrome, a complex of speech and non-speech symptoms, the relationship between which is ambiguous. In the structure of the speech defect in motor alalia, the leading ones are language disorders.

Symptoms of motor alalia:

Speech:

Children suffering from this form of alalia have sufficient pronunciation, but they are not able to use them. Violations are phonemic in nature, they have a disrupted operation of choosing a sound for the design of a speech statement. In the speech of motor alalics, literal paraphasias (replacement of a sound in a word with another one), perseveration (obsessive reproduction of sounds or words), and elision (loss of sounds) abound.

There are also violations of the semantic aspect of speech. In the passive vocabulary, these children have much more words than they use in active speech. There is a predominance of the subject vocabulary, while the verbal vocabulary is sharply limited, both in the understanding of verbs and in use in speech.

Children replace some words with others that are close in meaning and are part of the same associative field, for example, instead of the word table they say a chair, etc. Contamination can be observed in speech when a child combines syllables related to different words into one a word for example - trachet - the tractor plows.

Violation of the grammatical structure of speech is manifested in the incorrect agreement of words by number, gender, case, time. Children omit prepositions in speech. The majority of motor alaliks understand reversed speech at the nominative level (they know mostly the names of objects).

Non-speech:

Severe neurological disorders are observed:

Oral apraxia (motor disturbances of purposeful movements and actions of the facial muscles with a disorder of complex movements of the lips and tongue).

General motor clumsiness, in children with motor alalia, balance is disturbed.

Violation of fine motor skills.

Signs of minimal brain dysfunction.

Pronounced vegetative-vascular changes.

Psychopathological symptoms:

Speech negativism (unwillingness to speak) is very characteristic.

The mental development of children lags behind the norm to varying degrees.

· Unevenly formed higher mental functions (memory, attention, thinking, etc.).

Local lesions of the cerebral cortex also affect nearby speech zones.

· It is difficult to program one's actions, there is a decrease in the arbitrariness of actions.

Children are inhibited, but more often disinhibited and impulsive.

Poorly adapted to the conditions that surround them.

· There is a pronounced lack of formation of game actions.

Children are touchy, withdrawn and often aggressive.

Recently, speech therapists and neurologists diagnose motor alalia much more often than it is the case. Motor alalia is something like a common diagnosis of acute respiratory viral infections and acute respiratory infections, all non-speaking children are automatically recorded in motor alalia, although they are far from always such.

Many mothers are distrustful of the advice of relatives and friends to take the child to the doctor for speech delay, seeing the long silence of the baby. Other parents are sure that the first words of the baby are a sure sign of the correct development of speech, but this is an erroneous judgment. Brushing aside problems in this way, you may not notice alalia - a violation of the development of speech.

The nature of the disease

Alalia in children is a disease that occurs when the areas of the cerebral cortex responsible for speech are damaged, which leads to poor and incorrect formation of speech activity.

Alalia is accompanied by a violation of all components of speech at once - and lexical and grammatical. Violation of the speech centers could be due to damage during fetal development or in the early development of the child (up to three years).

Alalia has its prerequisites. Most likely, there was organic damage to the brain in one of its parts: Wernicke - the center responsible for the perception of speech, or Broca - the center responsible for speech motor skills.

Based on the source of damage, alalia is classified into two types: sensory and motor. Let's consider each type separately.

Alalia: types and signs

Motor

Broca's center is responsible for the correct development of speech. Violation of its functions leads to motor alalia. Due to overprotective parenting, the child is most susceptible to this condition: increased care is often associated with illness in infancy or problems during childbirth. The child becomes stubborn, capricious and irritable. Difficulties with self-service in such children are a clear external characteristic. They find it difficult to get dressed or tie shoelaces, tie a bow, and fasten buttons - tasks sometimes impossible for a child with impaired motor function. Movement coordination is also impaired: children cannot keep balance, jump on one leg, often fall and do not catch the musical rhythm in the dance. Other movement disorders are also noticeable.

Motor alalia often coexists with the lack of independence of the child, according to his age.

The development of speech with motor alalia is divided into several levels: from the child's inability to pronounce words to slight deviations in the ability to build a detailed phrase (see also:). Levels are classified based on the individual characteristics of the child.

A child with motor alalia understands the words that are spoken to him (we recommend reading:). Among the many pictures, he easily points to the one he was asked to show. Difficulties begin when understanding cases and quantity: the child cannot show by examples where the “picture hangs” and where the pictures “hang”. Thus, he perceives the word, not the form. Out of perception are also prepositions or prefixes. Specialized kindergartens and schools are designed to correct such defects, but ordinary schools are not suitable for children with this disease.

touch

Sensory alalia is a violation of speech understanding, which is associated with damage to the Wernicke center of the cerebral cortex. The child does not speak, because he does not understand the words, he is not able to associate them with objects (for more details, see the article:). In such situations, the child is often misdiagnosed with classifying him as a hard of hearing, with the absolute health of the hearing aid.

Sensory alalia is characterized by a phenomenon - echolalia. The child easily repeats the words just heard. For example, a question addressed to him, the child reproduces in the form of a repetition of this same question.

This type of disease is difficult to treat, despite the fact that children with sensory alalia are rare. Little progress in treatment is achieved by teaching such children in specialized schools.

A child with sensory alalia may seem hard of hearing, but the first examination by a specialist refutes this assumption.

How to spot something wrong?

Acquaintance with the norms of speech development will help to recognize the disease, although each individual case of alalia is individual. The average baby should master speech activity in the following order:

at two months, the child has a characteristic cooing;
in 3-4 - babbling;
6-8 months - the first words;
By one year, the child should be able to build whole phrases.

In the case of a limited vocabulary of a child under two years of age with a few words, you need to think about it. Parents who notice serious deviations from the norms should contact specialists for advice.

Underdeveloped speech is a characteristic feature of alalia. The pronunciation of only the first or only the last syllables (pa - in the word papa, ko - in the word milk), as well as the poor development of speech in general and the lack of positive dynamics, also belong here. These symptoms give a signal to parents to start an examination in order to cure their beloved child as soon as possible.

Treatment Methods

Medico-pedagogical methods

Positive results in the treatment of sensory and motor alalia are achieved only by complex methods in which psychologists, physicians and experienced teachers participate. Children with similar diseases are treated in specialized sanatoriums, hospitals, kindergartens and correctional centers.

Drug treatment, which contributes to the active and successful maturation of brain cells and connections, is accompanied by additional procedures that help correct violations of the brain centers: magnetotherapy, electrophoresis, IRT, and others. The combined development of gross and manual motor skills, as well as the development of memory, attention and thinking are important conditions for successful treatment.

The systemic nature of the disease itself determines the corresponding development of all speech skills.

With motor alalia, doctors help increase speech activity, form an active and passive vocabulary, and develop coherent speech. The logorhythmics included in the program, as well as speech therapy massage, is aimed at stimulating the development of speech skills (we recommend reading:).
With sensory alalia, the main achievements will be the distinction of words and word forms, the ability to compare them with actions and objects, the perception of speech phrases. Teachers actively form an understanding of the grammatical structure of speech. With the correct development of acoustic and phonemic perception, it is possible to improve the quality of speech and further independent speech activity (see also:).

Both forms of alalia are treated more successfully if the child is taught to write and read in parallel. This form helps to better remember what has been learned and improves control over oral speech.

Let us mention that timely diagnosis and diagnosis guarantee the maximum effectiveness of treatment. You should not postpone a visit to a specialist if you notice characteristic symptoms.

Self-study with a child

The extraordinary plasticity of the child's brain and its ability to quickly adapt in most even the most severe cases, provides a complete cure for the disease. The ability of individual healthy brain cells to take over the functions of non-working areas makes a cure possible.

The best thing that a parent of a child with alalia can do on their own is to develop the baby's fine motor skills, which are directly related to the activity of the speech areas of the brain.

Each child with alalia is treated under the careful supervision of doctors, and the technique in each individual case will be individual. At home, parents can also provide all possible assistance in the treatment of their beloved baby.

It has long been known to both doctors and parents that the development of fine motor skills is directly related to speech activity. The more often parents work with children's fingers, helping to make them dexterous and skillful, the faster and better the baby's speech will develop.
Finger massage in a playful way will be of great benefit to the body.
Finger games and gymnastics will help stimulate the development of fine motor skills. Simple activities - for example, sorting cereals and legumes, folding puzzles and mosaics, stringing beads will contribute to the active work of the brain and the training of little fingers.

Today you can find a large number of videos with training and activities for alalia, which parents can apply at home. It is necessary to use all possible ways to cure the child as quickly as possible.

Your child should have started talking a long time ago, but is stubbornly silent? This alarming symptom should not be ignored. The cause of speech impairment in a child may be sensory or motor alalia.

Such a disease, as a rule, develops against the background of insufficient development of the speech center in the baby's cerebral cortex. In order for the doctor to prescribe an effective treatment for alalia in a baby, it is very important to recognize the pathology at an early stage.

Speech alalia is diagnosed in about 1% of preschoolers and 0.2-0.6% of school-age children, in boys its development is observed 2 times more often. A child with alalia needs psychological, medical and pedagogical influence, which must necessarily be of a complex nature, include drug therapy, as well as the development of mental functions, coherent speech, lexico-grammatical and phonetic-phonemic processes.

What it is?

Alalia is a speech disorder in children, the mechanism of which is based on pathologies and insufficient development of the speech centers of the cerebral cortex. Pathological changes usually occur during fetal development or early childhood (up to three years), so it is difficult to diagnose them.

The disease is characterized by insufficient development or complete absence of speech.

Causes

The following factors lead to the disease:

intrauterine hypoxia.
Intrauterine TORCH infection.
Constant threats of miscarriage.
Toxicosis.
Injury during pregnancy.
Chronic somatic disease of a pregnant woman - low or high blood pressure, pulmonary,.

Most often, alalia is provoked by complicated childbirth, perinatal pathology. In some situations, the disease develops in the case of asphyxia of the newborn, intracranial injury of the infant during rapid or early delivery, as well as when using different tools.

Alalia symptoms

Violation of the functioning of certain parts of the brain leads to the emergence of alalia in babies, which can be manifested by mild speech defects, moderate or severe impairments (the child does not speak until ten, sometimes up to twelve years old, or his speech is limited to a rather poor vocabulary and is characterized by agrammaticity, despite prolonged training ).

Let's consider each form in more detail.

Motor alalia in children

Motor alalia in children is manifested in their inability to clearly pronounce words. But in the vast majority of cases, children with this form of the disease are not able to speak at all. They are just silent. Although here the perception of extraneous speech may not be violated.

Motor alalia is the inability of a child to repeat the pronunciation of a sound, syllable or word. The child understands all the words, can show their meaning with gestures. But the pronunciation is missing. The reason is a violation of the connection between the brain speech centers and the organs of the speech apparatus.

An even more severe form of the disorder is sensorimotor alalia. In this condition, the child does not understand extraneous speech, does not have the ability to recognize it and cannot speak. Sensorimotor alalia occurs in approximately 3.7% of all cases of diseases.

Sensory alalia in children

Sensory alalia in children is manifested in the fact that the baby does not perceive extraneous speech. At the same time, he has speech disinhibition. It is difficult to interrupt the speech flow of such a baby and make him hear what you are saying to him.

The reason for sensory alalia is the weakness of the speech analyzer in the cerebral hemispheres. The nerve impulse to it may reach in a weak form or not reach at all. Damage to the nerve pathways of signal transmission is observed.

mixed alalia

The symptoms and treatment of mixed alalia are very serious. With this pathology, the entire sensorimotor region of the cerebral cortex is affected. Sick children not only do not understand what their parents say, but also cannot talk. This form of pathology is the most difficult to treat, and even an integrated approach does not guarantee a positive prognosis.

The disease may appear gradually. If at 1.5 -2 years the lack of coherent speech in a child does not cause strong concerns among parents, then the same defect at 3-4 years should alert you. Pathology has a direct effect on the cerebral cortex. For the treatment to be as effective as possible, try to identify the disease at an early stage of development.

Treatment of alalia in children

Therapy for this disorder is based on the results of tests and the degree of manifestation of symptoms, and therefore will be developed for each small patient individually. The most favorable age for the treatment of alalia is 4 years, it is during this period that the child shows the greatest interest in the world around him.

Common treatments include:

Carrying out therapeutic speech therapy facial massages. This treatment helps to tone and relax the muscles of the face, which can reduce some of the symptoms;
Courses with a speech therapist, which is often combined with taking medications. Classes with a doctor will be effective in all forms of the disease. The treatment regimen is drawn up for each child separately - the general state of health, age and degree of disorder are taken into account. The task of a speech therapist is to develop speech ability, teach how to pronounce words and build phrases correctly, and also increase vocabulary. Taking medication is aimed at improving the nutrition of the brain (full supply of vitamins and nutrients to it);
Physiotherapy, the purpose of which is to influence certain areas of the brain with electrical impulses. This method of treatment is not harmful to health and is completely painless, so it can be performed on babies under the age of one year.

If timely, and most importantly, well-chosen treatment is carried out, the child will get rid of all the symptoms of the disease or learn to control them. But the main thing is that he will be able to study in a comprehensive school and adapt in society.

The support of parents plays an important role in therapy, since it is important for a child to know that his successes in treatment do not go unnoticed by the closest people, this will give an additional incentive for a speedy recovery, which contributes to treatment even better.

Alalia correction

Correction of alalia is carried out simultaneously with drug therapy, which is aimed at stimulating the maturation of brain structures, as well as physiotherapy (magnetotherapy, laser therapy, hydrotherapy, electrophoresis, electropuncture). With alalia, it is very important to work on the development of motor skills - manual and general, as well as mental functions (attention, memory, thinking).

Given the fact that the violation is systemic in nature, alalia correction classes include work on all aspects of speech. In particular, with motor alalia in children, they stimulate speech activity, work on sound pronunciation, the formation of a dictionary, the development of coherent speech, and the grammatical design of the statement. Speech therapy classes with alalia necessarily include speech therapy massage and logorhythmics.

With sensory alalia, the task is to master the distinction between non-speech and speech sounds, the differentiation of words, their correlation with specific objects and actions, the understanding of phrases and speech instructions, the grammatical structure of speech. As the vocabulary accumulates, the formation of subtle acoustic differentiations and phonemic perception, it becomes possible to develop the child's own speech.

Classes in the clinic

Alalia can be cured in specialized clinics. This method is one of the most effective, since children are taught according to a specially developed method:

development of cognitive function;
formation of morphological and sound analysis;
restoration of the semantic aspects of speech, and so on.

In such clinics, you can get advice from a speech therapist, neurologist, psychoneurologist, psychiatrist. They will be able to give advice on the treatment, nutrition and diet of the child during the illness. In this case, nutrition should be fractional and correct; the child needs to eat more vegetables and fruits, as well as lean meats: chicken, turkey, rabbit, beef.

Forecast

In most cases, corrective work with children with alalia brings excellent results: speech and its perception are gradually restored, the intellectual lag ceases to be noticeable. However, it is possible to predict successful treatment only by correlating:

the severity of the pathology;
state of speech;
how early the disease was diagnosed;

Children with sensory alalia heal faster than those with motor alalia.

Prevention

In order for your child to be healthy, prevention must begin before he is born. The expectant mother must be very careful and follow all the recommendations of doctors in order to avoid serious injuries during pregnancy and childbirth.

It is worth following these tips:

drink medicines and vitamins prescribed by the attending physician;
frequent visits to the gynecologist during pregnancy;
be attentive to your health and the health of the baby;
if the term of childbirth has passed, then in no case should stimulation be postponed.

But that's not all, because after the birth of a child, it is necessary to create favorable conditions for its development. Follow these simple rules, and your child will not lag behind other children in development, and you will not have any reason to worry.

- gross underdevelopment or complete absence of speech caused by organic lesions of the cortical speech centers of the brain that occurred in utero or in the first 3 years of a child's life. With alalia, late appearance of speech reactions, poverty of vocabulary, agrammatisms, violation of syllabic structure, sound pronunciation and phonemic processes are noted. A child with alalia needs a neurological and speech therapy examination. Psychological, medical and pedagogical impact in alalia includes drug therapy, development of mental functions, lexical-grammatical and phonetic-phonemic processes, coherent speech.

General information

Alalia is a deep immaturity of the speech function, due to organic damage to the speech zones of the cerebral cortex. With alalia, speech underdevelopment is systemic, that is, there is a violation of all its components - phonetic-phonemic and lexical-grammatical. Unlike aphasia, in which there is a loss of previously existing speech, alalia is characterized by the initial absence or severe limitation of expressive or impressive speech. Thus, they speak of alalia if organic damage to the speech centers occurred in the prenatal, intranatal or early (up to 3 years) period of the child's development.

Alalia is diagnosed in about 1% of preschoolers and 0.6-0.2% of school-age children; at the same time, this speech disorder occurs 2 times more often in boys. Alalia is a clinical diagnosis, which in speech therapy corresponds to the speech conclusion of OHP (general underdevelopment of speech).

Causes of alalia

The factors leading to alalia are diverse and can affect different periods of early ontogenesis. So, in the antenatal period, fetal hypoxia, intrauterine infection (TORCH-syndrome), the threat of spontaneous abortion, toxicosis, falls of a pregnant woman with fetal trauma, chronic somatic diseases of the expectant mother (arterial hypotension or hypertension, heart or lung failure).

Complications of childbirth and perinatal pathology serve as a natural result of a burdened course of pregnancy. Alalia may be the result of newborn asphyxia, prematurity, intracranial birth trauma during premature, transient or protracted labor, the use of instrumental obstetric aids.

Among the etiopathogenetic factors of alalia that affect the first years of a child's life, encephalitis, meningitis, TBI, somatic diseases leading to CNS depletion (hypotrophy) should be distinguished. Some researchers point to a hereditary, family predisposition to alalia. Frequent and prolonged diseases of children in the first years of life (ARVI, pneumonia, endocrinopathy, rickets, etc.), operations under general anesthesia, unfavorable social conditions (pedagogical neglect, hospitalism syndrome, lack of speech contacts) exacerbate the effect of the leading causes of alalia.

As a rule, in the anamnesis of children with alalia, the participation of not one, but a whole complex of factors leading to minimal brain dysfunction - MMD can be traced.

Organic damage to the brain causes a slowdown in the maturation of nerve cells, which remain at the stage of young immature neuroblasts. This is accompanied by a decrease in the excitability of neurons, the inertia of the main nervous processes, and the functional exhaustion of brain cells. Lesions of the cerebral cortex in alalia are not pronounced, but multiple and bilateral in nature, which limits the independent compensatory possibilities of speech development.

Alalia classification

Over the years of studying the problem, many classifications of alalia have been proposed depending on the mechanisms, manifestations and severity of speech underdevelopment. Currently, speech therapy uses the classification of alalia according to V.A. Kovshikov, according to which they distinguish:

expressive(motor) alalia
impressive(sensory) alalia
mixed(sensory-motor or motor-sensory alalia with a predominance of impaired development of impressive or expressive speech)

The origin of the motor form of alalia is based on an early organic lesion of the cortical section of the motor speech analyzer. In this case, the child does not develop his own speech, but the understanding of someone else's speech remains intact. Depending on the damaged area, afferent motor and efferent motor alalia are distinguished. With afferent motor alalia, there is a lesion of the postcentral gyrus (lower parietal sections of the left hemisphere), which is accompanied by kinesthetic articulatory apraxia. Efferent motor alalia occurs when the premotor cortex (Broca's center, posterior third of the inferior frontal gyrus) is affected and is expressed in kinetic articulatory apraxia.

Forecast and prevention of alalia

The key to the success of correctional work with alalia is its early (from 3-4 years old) onset, complex nature, systemic impact on all components of speech, the formation of speech processes in unity with the development of mental functions. With motor alalia, the speech prognosis is more favorable; with sensory and sensorimotor alalia - indefinite. To a large extent, the degree of organic brain damage affects the prognosis. In the process of schooling, children with alalia may develop writing disorders (dysgraphia and dyslexia).

The prevention of alalia in children includes the provision of conditions for the favorable course of pregnancy and childbirth, the early physical development of the child. Corrective work to overcome alalia helps prevent the occurrence of secondary intellectual insufficiency.

Children under the age of one year voice their demands with an indistinct set of sounds. Over time, they gradually learn words and express themselves more clearly and clearly. However, it happens that in due time the child does not begin to speak.

He is either silent at all, or utters separate combinations of sounds that have no connection with each other.

The reason for this turn of events may be due to the underdevelopment of speech for one reason or another. What causes alalia and what are its symptoms, we will consider further.

What is alalia

, which is characterized by the absence of speech in a child as a result of its underdevelopment, or its complete absence.

This condition is provoked by pathologies in the speech centers of the brain. Changes in these centers most often occur during the period of intrauterine formation of the body or in early childhood - in under 36 months old.

Children with pathology of speech development can have a fairly high level of development, however, can't speak or use an extremely small vocabulary to express emotions.

Difficulty in diagnosing alalia is the inability to accurately determine the symptoms in the early stages. As a rule, the diagnosis is made when the child should have spoken, but does not.

Most often, alalia is diagnosed in preschoolers, as well as in children of primary school age. It was also noted that pathology is more common among boys than among girls.

It often happens that parents confuse this disease with deafness or dumbness. Symptoms of pathologies are similar, but they are completely different diseases. You can check the baby in infancy by addressing him with different voice intensities. By following the reaction of the child, we can conclude whether he is able to respond to the voice. Children over the age of one year can be asked to submit a certain item, a toy. So you can understand whether the child understands the speech.

Causes of pathology

can be very different:

Mechanical impact on the fetus during gestation or during childbirth;
Complications of pregnancy as a result of severe toxicosis, as well as as a result of chronic diseases that a pregnant woman had;
Pathological course of pregnancy with the threat of miscarriage;
Complications during labor: rapid or prolonged labor;
Infection of the mother or fetus during childbirth;
hereditary predisposition;
Injuries during childbirth;
Asphyxia.

Alalia can also occur with improper use of medical instruments during childbirth. Also, a disease that depletes the nervous system can provoke a violation of the development of speech centers. Frequent colds and viral diseases, adverse conditions can cause the disease.

Types of disease

In a normal state, the speech centers of the brain are responsible for two forms of speech: impressive (understanding what is heard, building images) and expressive (the ability to express thoughts in words). Depending on the type of disturbance in the speech center, there are three types of alalia: sensory, motor and mixed.

. This type is characterized by a violation of the perception of speech by a speech analyzer. The child hears words, however, cannot connect the names of objects and images. In other words, the person does not understand the speech addressed to him. Children with this type of pathology do not respond to speech addressed to them and do not respond if they are called out. In some cases, in conjunction with this type of violation, intellectual underdevelopment is observed.
. Violation in the formation of expressive speech. The child understands the words addressed to him, but has difficulty in forming his own speech. Such children are characterized by late development of speech - by the age of five, a small vocabulary and dispersion of attention. Motor alalia is more treatable than the other two forms.
mixed - sensory-motor alalia. In other words, total alalia. Occurs when the speech centers of the brain are completely incapacitated. The child not only cannot speak, but also does not distinguish the speech of other people. Absolutely all children with this type of pathology lag behind in intellectual development.

Sensory alalia: symptoms

refers to severe types of speech pathologies. As a rule, the child hears spoken speech, but does not understand it. Meaningful speech in such children is absent. They can make sounds in a chaotic manner. There is also a disinhibition of speech, that is, it is difficult to silence the baby.

Patients with sensory alalia may experience an exacerbated reaction to surrounding sounds - hyperacusis.

The speech of sensory alalics consists in the obsessive repetition of sounds and their combinations, as well as in echolalia- repetition of the words heard.

Children with sensory alalia are characterized by increased “talkativeness”: they pronounce a lot of sounds, but their speech does not have a semantic load.

With a mild form of sensory alalia, children are able to distinguish certain intonations and phrases. Some of these children learn to lip-read spoken words as they grow older.

A severe form of the disease "sensory alalia" is characterized by a complete inability to distinguish between human speech. Alalics with this form of pathology have increased excitability and an inability to maintain attention for a long time. A severe form of pathology provokes underdevelopment of memory and mental health disorders.

Motor alalia: symptoms

The first manifestations of motor alalia can be seen in infancy. The baby does not roar(monotonous sounds are heard in babbling), and by the onset of the year does not pronounce individual syllables. Such children begin to pronounce words only by the age of five. Their speech is extremely poor. Children with motor alalia get confused in the declension of words, have difficulty in forming sentences. Patients often have a loud voice. Correct pronunciation is typical in the case of soft consonant sounds.

Motor alalia is characterized by phonetic changes in words with a similar letter set. Similar-sounding syllables act as if interchangeable for the child. The kid hears the words, but interprets them incorrectly, as a result of which he cannot correctly understand the question and answer it.

If a child has “tangled” letters (“vekta” instead of “branch”), this does not mean that the baby has a “motor alalia” pathology. You should be wary if, by the time the child enters the first grade of the school, he still steadfastly pronounces distorted words. In this case, you need to contact a speech therapist.

With a mild form of motor alalia, the child most often expresses phrases in the nominative case, and also does not agree on the endings of words. In general, his speech is understandable, despite the incorrect grammatical structure of speech.

A severe form of motor alalia is accompanied by the formation of individual sounds instead of full speech. Such children are most often hyperactive and unable to pay attention. Alalics are also characterized by mental retardation and inability to perform fine motor functions.

Diagnosis

To conduct a survey on the subject of improper development of speech centers, the following specialists are visited:

Pediatrician;
Neurologist;
Otolaryngologist;
Psychologist;
In some cases, a neurosurgeon.

Differential examination of the baby helps to exclude other diseases with similar symptoms. To examine the brain, one of the following methods is used: X-ray examination, EEG, MRI. Otoscopy and audiometry are performed to rule out hearing loss.

During the examination, the mother is also asked about the course of pregnancy, her condition during the bearing of the child.

Treatment

Alalia in children is subject to treatment by complex methods: medical treatment, pedagogical and psychological assistance is necessary.

Medical treatment

Treatment with medications includes taking drugs that stimulate the development of the structures of the central nervous system. Children are prescribed neotropic drugs as monotherapy.

The dosage and duration of the course is determined by the attending physician individually for each sick child. As a rule, the duration of taking neotropic stimulants is carried out for three months, and then repeated after a short break.

So far, there is no reliable evidence of the effectiveness of drug treatment in the case of children's alalia.

In addition to drug treatment, children's diet is corrected. A special role in recovery is played by the presence of all the necessary nutrients. With the help of vitamin-mineral complexes, immunity is strengthened and general strengthening therapy is carried out.

Physiotherapy for alalia

Physiotherapy courses give positive results in the treatment of general speech underdevelopment. Hydrotherapy, which has a tonic, relaxing and restorative effect, is considered effective.

Electrotherapy also makes sense, the action of which is aimed at stimulating the brain centers with weak electrical impulses. The procedure consists in influencing certain points on the body responsible for the neurohumoral transmission of reflexes.

Classes with a teacher

Drug treatment does not make sense without parallel classes of a sick child with a speech therapist. Pedagogical correction consists of the following methods:

The development of the articulatory apparatus by repeating sounds and developing the correct pronunciation;
Formation of connections between words and images. With the help of pictures, the teacher teaches the child to understand the meaning of what was said and to use the endings of words correctly. Especially relevant therapy for sensory alalia.
Learning new words and phrases while developing fine motor skills. Children learn to sculpt from plasticine and draw, while voicing what is happening;
Speech therapy massage is aimed at the development of the muscular system of the mouth and the formation of the correct pronunciation of sounds. Children learn to fold their lips correctly during pronunciation, draw sounds, hold their tongue against the palate.

Adaptation in society

Children who have been diagnosed with sensory alalia or motor alalia need socialization, as communication with people helps develop the speech centers of the brain, and also forms the ability to maintain attention and control emotions.

There are special schools where children with similar deviations are trained. There are also separate sanatoriums and groups of extra-curricular activities where specialists work with alaliki.

Alalia is a serious developmental disorder, therefore, the emergence of speech functions in a child must be monitored from the first months of life. Failure to provide timely assistance to a child with alalia can lead to disability.

Treatment of disorders of speech centers is a long process. Only systematic exercises in combination with physiotherapy and drug treatment will give a positive result.