How to detect dyslalia in children?

Dyslalia is a disorder of pronunciation. Children with this disorder omit sounds in words or mispronounce them. The omitted sounds are replaced by other more similar sounds. Nevertheless, the child may have a fairly good vocabulary and may not have difficulty composing sentences.

Dyslalia are of two types: functional and organic. In this blog I will talk only about functional dyslalia.

Organic dyslalia occurs when there is organic damage to the jaw, lip, sac, tongue. And in other cases it is a functional dislocation.

What causes functional dyslalia?

• Frequent illness of the child at an early age. (Especially during speech formation)
• Delayed speech.
• Non-verbal environment (does not have relationships with peers, frequent use of equipment, etc.)
• Stimulating the use of distorted sounds. (When a family member also speaks to the child in distorted sounds for the purpose of coloring.)
• Phonemic hearing impairment.

In functional dysplasia, the structure of the speech apparatus is normal, but the child does not develop motor skills of the articulatory organs in time.

There are three forms of dyslalia:

1. 1. When a child has impaired sensory perception of sound. The reason for this is the lack of phonemic hearing. Cannot distinguish by hearing what the difference is between sounds. Because of this, R-L can be replaced, D-T, Z, etc.
   2. When a child changes a tone to another tone because it is easier for him to pronounce. For example, the sounds- "g, q, k" are replaced by the following sounds - "d, t, t". At this time the child has a formative hearing, that is, he feels and understands the sound. Therefore, when working, we should use it as its strength.
   3. When a child distorts sounds. The often distorted tone of voice is close to the tone it should have used, so the speaker can still easily understand what he is saying.

Tips:

We must first consult a speech therapist in a timely manner. Talk to the child properly, without tongue twisting or distortion of sounds. Often do articulation exercises related to breathing, facial expressions, funny movement of the lips, language games. (I will post detailed information about this later) Use a mirror when we have phonemic hearing impairment on our face and try to pronounce words and sounds correctly with the help of a mirror. Talk to children with a slow tone of voice, control the tone and rhythm of the voice. When a child leaves out any sound during a conversation, use words containing that sound while playing. For example the words on d, on s. It would be good to compose lotto on these words / sounds and play. Sing using sounds that the child leaves or distorts. A microphone is a pretty good way to motivate a child to repeat words. Don't have a microphone? Take the paper, wrap it, decorate it, beautify it. He will also make a sound and it will be interesting for him.

Source - St. Mzia Putkaradze and Ketevan Vashakidze's book "Speech Therapy" (2014)