SPEECH HANDICAPPED CHILDREN
A speech
handicapped child is one whose speech deviates so far from the speech of other
people, that it calls the attention to itself, interferes with communication or
causes discomfort or distress to the speaker or listener.
Speech
may be considered defective when it is not easily audible to the listener.
Speech is defective if it is vocally unpleasant and inappropriate to the
individual in regard to his mental and chronological age, sex and physical
development.
Types of speech disorders
1. Disorders
of articulation: It includes distortion, omission, addition or substitution of
speech sounds and mispronunciation of entire word or words.
2. Disorders
of phonation: It is characterized by marked deviation in loudness quality,
pitch or intensity of sound.
3. Delayed
speech: It may be due to hearing loss, mental retardation, cerebral dysfunction,
emotional disturbances, and environmental deprivation. Very often, children do
not speak at the usual age due to lack of motivation.
4. Stuttering
and stammering: In stuttering the child has hesitations in the flow of speech
prolongations and receptions of sounds, words, or phrases frequently
accompanied by facial grimaces, rapid eye blinking, irregularities of
breathing, and muscle tension. In stammering, the child is unable to produce
any sound for a brief spell and then suddenly sound come out in a violent flow.
Causes of speech Impairment
1. Organic
causes: Include palatal anomalies, dental irregularities paralysis and tumours
of the larynx, deformation of jaw and lips, brain damage
2. Functional
causes: Imitation of the speech faults of an adult member of the family or
playmate may lead to anomalous speech. Children learn to speak in a fallacious
manner, if they hear faulty vocabularies.
3. Psychological
causes: Recent investigations has attributed to children’s reactions to
environment, particularly to parents as one of the major reasons for speech
impairments. Some psychologists are of the opinion that speech defects are the
outcome of distrusted feeling or emotions, faulty language habits arising from
social pressure.
4. Loss of
hearing
5. Influence
of social environment
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