HOW TO CHECK PHONEMIC HEARING?
The easiest way is to consult a specialist. A speech therapist deals with issues of phonemic hearing impairment. The initial consultation is carried out at 3 years. At this age, it becomes clear whether the baby needs any help or whether development occurs according to age. At 5 years old, a child should already be able to clearly understand sounds and speak correctly (with the exception of the sound “r”). If this is not the case, special correction classes are needed.
Parents themselves can check their child’s phonemic hearing using a small test:
- Invite the child to choose a picture with a picture of a bear (they give two options, with a picture of a bear, and bowls - plates).
- Ask to stamp your foot when you hear the syllable sa. The adult says at the same pace: wa-ta-za-za-sa-ka-za.
- Ask your child what is the difference between cancer and varnish?
- Ask to come up with words for the vowel sounds “A”, “O”, “E”, “I”, “U”.
Modern methods of testing hearing in children
Diagnosis of hearing impairment in pediatric practice includes anamnesis, objective instrumental and behavioral techniques. Only a comprehensive examination can give correct results.
In the maternity hospital, a visual examination and screening study using the evoked otoacoustic emission (or OAE) method are performed. A record of the results is made in the infant's chart.
At the outpatient stage, the scope of research depends on the age of the baby, the presence of complaints and the technical equipment of the institution. Typically, a hearing test includes:
- Questioning of parents (history, complaints, risk factors);
- visual examination of the child;
- instrumental diagnostic methods according to age;
- methods of behavioral audiometry.
When they talk about testing a child’s hearing using a device, they mean standard methods: screening by recording short-latency auditory potentials (SLAP), OAE, impedance audiometry.
CVSP provides information about the conduction of impulses to the level of the cochlea, brainstem, and cerebral cortex (More details about the structure of the hearing organ). Potentials are recorded directly from the surface of the skin, and hearing acuity is assessed by the reaction to a sound stimulus. The method is convenient for children of any age. The study can be carried out while you are asleep or awake.
The evoked otoacoustic emission method allows you to assess the condition of the cochlea. Normally, nerve cells vibrate in response to a sound stimulus. In sensorineural hearing loss, there is no otoacoustic emission. The method makes it possible to differentiate cochlear lesions from retrocochlear pathology and is convenient for children from the neonatal period.
Impedance audiometry studies the conduction of sound through the outer and middle ear, as well as the mobility of the eardrum. The method is based on the principle of echolocation.
Behavioral audiometry is used in children of any age. It is based on an assessment of the reaction to a sound stimulus. There are:
- unconditional reflex audiometry;
- conditioned reflex audiometry;
- gaming audiometry;
- children's play audiometry.
SIGNS OF VIOLATION
First of all, undeveloped phonemic hearing is indicated by a lack of understanding of the addressed speech, complete or partial. For example, if a child cannot complete simple tasks, he often asks questions or understands requests incorrectly. The second alarming sign is speech defects. The speech-auditory and speech-motor analyzers are closely related and have a significant influence on each other.
At 4 years old, a child normally speaks in phrases, uses prepositions, and is able to ask questions. By 5–6 years, all sounds except “R” are pronounced correctly, and endings are used correctly. In addition, a preschooler can easily name the first sound in a word and choose other words for it. There are 3 signs of phonemic hearing impairment (at 5 years):
- defects in sound pronunciation (for example, replacing hard sounds with soft ones);
- skipping sounds in words, rearranging them, using unnecessary sounds (fairy tale - sazka, umbrella - zotnik, butter - maslo);
- slight difference between similar sounds in oral speech and in writing s-sh, z-zh, d-t, etc. (zhuk - zuk, doctor - toctor, drying - shushka).
In schoolchildren, phonemic hearing disorders manifest themselves in slow reading and difficulty merging syllables. There are invariably errors in writing, the child hears incorrectly and writes the same way (double consonants, voiceless words at the end, unstressed vowels).
WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE DEVELOPED?
Without understanding the sound features of the speech of others, it will be difficult for a child to learn to speak. With developed phonemic hearing, the baby realizes that he is pronouncing the word incorrectly and tries to independently achieve the correct pronunciation. If the difference between similar sounds is not caught, stable substitutions “beetle - kuk”, “shishka - detective” are formed. The worse the phonemic hearing is developed, the more pronounced the speech problems. In such cases, they say that children feel like they have porridge in their mouth.
If a problem is not solved in preschool age, many new, much more serious ones arise from it. The child has difficulty reading, writing, and learning other languages. He has difficulty merging syllables, isolating individual sounds, he writes endings incorrectly, and much more. Schoolchildren begin to fall seriously behind in their school curriculum.
DEVELOPMENT METHODS
It is possible to develop phonemic awareness only gradually. First, the child learns to recognize sounds that are not similar to each other, then learns about correct and incorrect pronunciation, and begins to find errors in familiar words. Next, the ability to conduct phonemic analysis, isolate sounds in parts of a word (beginning, middle, end), and select a rhyme is formed. At the final stage, already at school, the child can determine the quantitative sound composition of a word. He develops the ability to use test words and understand the rules.
The method of developing phonemic hearing is based on developing the ability to navigate the sound side of a word. Training is carried out in the form of a game and includes the following exercises:
- articulatory gymnastics aimed at improving the mobility of the tongue, lips, etc.;
- breathing exercises that allow you to correctly direct the air stream (for example, exercise “Candle”, “Feather”);
- education of intonation expressiveness of speech;
- developing the ability to control the power of the voice;
- classes on the correct pronunciation of all sounds;
- sound analysis of words (selection of similar and different-sounding words, identification of soft and hard sounds, ringing, murmuring, hissing, etc.);
- games with words (for example, choose a word that begins with a certain sound).
In this case, it is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of the child, the upbringing environment, structural defects of the speech apparatus (short hyoid ligament, small and narrow tongue, open bite, etc.). Also, when developing phonemic hearing, one should take into account the sequence of distinguishing sounds - first vowels, then noisy and sonorant consonants, hard and soft, labial - lingual, deaf - voiced, hissing - whistling.
AT WHAT AGE SHOULD I START CLASSES?
The process of developing phonemic hearing in children is individual. It happens that a child begins to perfectly catch sounds and speak at 1.5–2 years. But more often, active formation occurs at the age of 4 years and continues until 5–6 years. At the same time, the most sensitive and significant period of development remains the first years of life.
If up to 2 years of age you talk to your child correctly, without babying, read poems that he understands, and learn simple phrases, then the risk of phonemic hearing disorders decreases significantly. In other words, classes can be conducted from a very early preschool age. There are a lot of exercises and games for the development of phonemic hearing in children 1 year old, 2-3 years old and older. In each case, tasks are selected that correspond to the child’s capabilities.
Important. The optimal time for the development of phonemic hearing is preschool age. Further solving existing problems will become increasingly difficult, and after 9 years it will be almost impossible.
PROBABLE CAUSES
The development of phonemic hearing is influenced by the upbringing environment, the example of speech in the family, the state of the peripheral nervous system, etc.
Among the most likely causes of the violation are the following:
- pedagogical neglect;
- hearing loss;
- head injuries, hearing and speech pathologies;
- hyperactivity;
- weakening of the body, serious or frequent illnesses, especially at an early age;
- diseases of the thyroid gland and digestive organs;
- neurological disorders.
To identify the exact cause, it is necessary to consult an ENT specialist, neurologist and speech therapist as early as possible. Sometimes, in addition to the development of phonemic hearing, drug or surgical treatment is required: cutting the hypoglossal ligament, taking central nervous system stimulants.
Phonemic hearing is very important for the development of correct speech. It is necessary not to miss the moment and pay due attention to it at the age of 4–6, so that the child learns easily at school and does not face ridicule from his peers. It is better if the method of hearing development is developed individually, taking into account all the characteristics of the baby.
