Motor alalia in a child 1-2-3-4-5 years old. What is it, symptoms, where to start classes, signs, treatment, correctional work of a speech therapist

Motor alalia is a complete absence or partial speech underdevelopmentcaused by organic damage to the cortical centers of the brain responsible for speech. These changes are more likely to occur during the perinatal period or in the first year of a child's life.

The kid perfectly understands someone else's speech, but he cannot say anything on his own. This ailment is diagnosed more often in 1% of preschool children and up to 0.8% of school age. More often the disease is diagnosed in boys under 5 years of age than in girls.

Motor alalia is manifested in the form of a lag in the development of the motor skills of the articulatory apparatus. It is difficult for children with a similar pathology to lift their tongue up and keep it in this state for a long time, they cannot lick their lips.

Also, children with this ailment have other difficulties: they do not know how to tie shoelaces, fasten buttons without assistance. They cannot walk on a log, do not jump on one leg, often stumble and fall.

Disease types

For many years, the problem of classifying alalia in children has been studied. The disease is classified depending on the mechanisms, on the signs of manifestation and severity. Today, speech therapists use the Kovshikov method to classify alalia.

According to him, the following types of diseases are distinguished:

• expressive motor alalia;
• impressive touchscreen;
• mixed.

Depending on the area of ​​brain damage, the disease is divided into two types:

• afferent - the lower parietal parts of the brain are affected in the left hemisphere;
• efferent - Broca's centers in the posterior third of the frontal gyrus are affected.

Stages and degrees

There are several degrees of the disease, each characterized by its own deviations, all of which are described in the table below.

Degree	Peculiarities
Easy	This degree is quite easy to cure. It is enough just to limit yourself to classes with a speech therapist and doing home exercises and all deviations will go away. The child will learn to speak independently, take care of himself.
Heavy	At a given degree of the disease, gross lesions of the centers of speech are observed, therefore, therapy in most cases does not bring improvements.

Symptoms

The first signs of alalia can be noticed even in the first year of a baby's life, but more often parents simply do not pay any attention to them. A little later, when the time comes for the child to babble, walk and smile at his parents, he simply does not react to their appearance, since his cognitive activity is already significantly reduced. If such signs are observed, then an urgent need to consult a specialist.

More often, adults begin to sound the alarm in the second year of a child's life. It is during this period that the baby should already clearly speak the first words, put them into a phrase, a phonemic system is formed. If the child has not uttered a single word before the age of 2, then a speech therapist consultation is required. The earlier the diagnosis is made and treatment is started, the more favorable the prognosis.

Alaliks have everything they need in order to speak normally, but they simply do not have the opportunity to take advantage of their opportunities.

And this is expressed in:

• literary paraphasia, when one sound in a word is replaced by another;
• perseveration, when speech is scattered and incessant;
• elision, when individual sounds drop out of words;
• limited vocabulary, more often it concerns verbs and individual verbal forms;
• replacing words with similar ones;
• contamination when syllables of words are combined;
• incorrect agreement of words;
• loss of prepositions during conversation.

You can also determine the signs of alalia in a child by non-speech symptoms, manifested in the form of malfunctioning of the nervous system:

• there are violations of the motor function of the facial muscles;
• balance is disturbed;
• awkwardness when children often stumble and bump against obstacles;
• violations of spatial gnosis;
• brain dysfunction is minimal.

The psychopathological symptoms of alalia include:

• developmental delay;
• impulsivity in actions;
• increased anxiety and aggression;
• poor adaptation to the environment;
• decreased attention;
• excessive fatigue.

At the first signs of illness, an urgent need to visit a pediatrician and undergo a comprehensive examination.

Reasons for the appearance

Motor alalia in a child 1-5 years old may be the result of asphyxiation of the newborn, prematurity, or an injury sustained during childbirth. In rare cases, the diagnosis can be made with premature or prolonged labor.

Complications during childbearing and labor, as well as perinatal pathologies, can provoke the development of the disease.

Most often, the reasons for the development of such a violation are:

• infections (infection occurred while in the womb or during the passage of the birth canal);
• hypoxia;
• asphyxia;
• toxicosis;
• injury to the fetus during a fall of a pregnant woman or a blow to the abdomen;
• brain injury during gestation or childbirth;
• high risk of spontaneous abortion;
• some chronic ailments of the mother: failure of the heart and lungs, hypertension.

Other serious ailments that affect the nervous system can also provoke the development of alalia: meningitis, encephalitis, somatic pathologies, head injury. Some scientists believe that alalia is a hereditary disease. Children with this pathology differ from mentally retarded babies. As soon as speech begins to recover, the mental retardation will disappear.

Diagnostics

Motor alalia in a child 2-5 years old is diagnosed by a speech therapist.

It can be quite difficult to make an accurate diagnosis, so it is recommended to undergo a comprehensive examination:

1. Anamnesis. The speech therapist initially collects all information about the parents of the baby and the child's communication with others. Alalia can be suspected if three characteristic symptoms are precisely established.
2. Differentiated examination. You should definitely visit a number of specialists. The otolaryngologist should check the hearing, the neuropsychiatrist should write an opinion on the child's mental state, and the psychologist should check if there is autism.
3. Dynamic diagnostics. During speech correction, the speech therapist must record if there is any improvement. Based on the data obtained, a speech therapist can correct a previously diagnosed diagnosis.

It is also often recommended to undergo such an examination:

1. MRI. With its help, it is possible to establish whether there are organic lesions in the brain. The cost of the examination is from 2500 rubles.
2. EEG. This diagnostic method helps to determine where in the brain the disorders have occurred and how they affect the child. The cost of the examination is from 500 rubles.

Prevention

To prevent motor alalia from developing in a baby, it is imperative to ensure the proper conditions for the correct course of pregnancy, childbirth, as well as the health and development of the child.

While carrying a baby, women are advised to carry out prevention:

• register with a gynecologist on time, undergo all recommended examinations in a timely manner and follow the doctor's recommendations;
• minimize the risk of contracting an infection, treat ailments in a timely manner;
• exclude all activities that can injure the fetus;
• avoid serious physical activity;
• stop drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking;
• choose a balanced diet;
• do exercises recommended for pregnant women.

For a child to develop correctly, it is necessary:

• regularly visit a family doctor, narrow specialists, if necessary;
• do all vaccinations in accordance with the age of the baby, but only if there are no contraindications;
• perform exercises for the correct development of the child, the complex is selected in accordance with age;
• protect the child from various injuries, especially the head;
• pay as much attention to the child as possible, communicate with him in an affectionate manner;
• maintain the correct psychological attitude in the family.

Correctional work

Motor alalia in a child who is already 2-5 years old should only be treated comprehensively. The specialist selects the therapy individually for each baby, taking into account his type of ailment and the degree of development.

You should not expect quick results, it will take a long and difficult work for the child to begin to cope with his speech defects. This disease is difficult for therapy, but every child has a chance to be cured.

There are several methods to cure alalia:

1. Taking medications. A speech therapist and neurologist may recommend that parents give their child nootropic or metabolic drugs. For example, Encephabol, which helps to improve all metabolic processes in the brain reduced by pathology, improves blood circulation, and reduces the level of blood viscosity. Pantogam is a metabolic cerebroprotector that is mildly acting on the child's body. This remedy improves energy metabolism in the brain and cells, has an anticonvulsant effect, reduces motor excitability, increases mental and physical performance. The doctor should prescribe the drug, he also selects the dosage and course.
2. Microcurrent reflexology. With the help of equipment that emits electrical impulses, the work of the individual parts of the brain that are most affected by the disease is stimulated. Such a procedure is completely painless, it is prescribed for children from 6 months.
3. Massage. With its help, it is possible to improve the work of the muscles of the speech apparatus.
4. Physiotherapy. A specialist can recommend a course of laser, magnetic or electrical stimulation, carried out on special equipment.

Good effectiveness in the treatment of alalia in children is given by classes with a speech therapist. He knows well what exercises to use in order to comprehensively develop the vocal apparatus. Exercises should stimulate speech activity, form a large vocabulary.

Regardless of what form of the disease the child has, the speech therapist uses 4 stages of treatment in his work:

1. Preparatory. At this stage, the specialist forms the prerequisites for the child's further correct development of speech. The speech therapist creates such situations to encourage the baby to communicate. He also forms the concept that speech is important for every person. At this stage, work is carried out to develop the tempo-rhythmic side of speech and mental functions.
2. Second phase helps to form the initial skills of speech. Work is being carried out to help expand the vocabulary, there is active assistance in the correlation of words with objects. The specialist teaches the baby to recognize words by their sound, and is engaged in correcting the pronunciation of sounds. Exercises are also used to help classify and generalize objects.
3. In the third stage utterances are formed as the main unit of speech. The speech therapist helps to correct the grammatical structure, teaches the child to correctly construct their utterances.
4. Stage 4 concepts of the cognitive function of speech are formed. Exercises are selected that allow you to form a coherent speech, plan it and develop the skills of self-control.

Exercises for each stage are selected individually in accordance with the form of the disease. The features of the defect are taken into account. The work is organized in such a way as to achieve the best results and to correct speech as much as possible.

Motor alalia in a child 2-4 years old when working with a speech therapist has a number of special areas, in addition to the basic principles and stages:

• all motor functions are brought back to normal, every task performed by the child is controlled;
• the emotional and volitional sphere develops;
• the psychological speech base is developing;
• verbal and logical thinking develops, speech regulation is in progress;
• undergoes a detailed correction of the pronunciation of sounds and overcoming oral apraxia;
• phonemic processes develop, where the emphasis is on the perception of speech;
• the expressive aspects of speech develop.

In addition to a speech therapist, a defectologist must necessarily work with a child, because violations can also be in the emotional and volitional sphere. The defectologist gives more bias to mental functions and personality traits.

Parents must necessarily deal with the child at home. Together with a speech therapist, a home program for working with a child is created.

1. The baby must be able to perceive the speech of an adult. He needs to name the object, and the child must find it and show it. If it showed incorrectly, you need to correct it, show the correct version and ask to repeat the name of the item. For such activities, you can use the child's favorite toys, each time it is imperative to increase the number of objects, adding previously unfamiliar to him. The more subjects he learns, the faster his vocabulary will replenish.
2. If the baby has learned a lot of words, then you should definitely work on their correct pronunciation.
3. You need to talk with Alalik as much as possible. An adult's speech should be clear, correct and not fast. If the child has sensory alalia, then each word is best accompanied by a corresponding picture.
4. Show the kid letters, and then pick up words starting with it. Asking the child to show the letter at which the word begins, let him pronounce the word clearly.

It is imperative to buy your child books with bright pictures. Consider them, show them and say who is depicted. You can pick up special computer games where the child can develop his speech.

At home, you can give your baby a speech therapy massage, which stimulates the speech zones.

The sequence of massage movements can be as follows:

• stroking the frontal region, starting from the center and moving to the temples, movements around the temples should be performed clockwise;
• the hollows of the eyes are ironed in the same way, the movements should not bring discomfort, everything should be done gently and softly;
• the cheeks are stroked in a circular motion;
• after you need to go to massage the space between the eyebrows;
• the nose, lips and even tongue are rubbed.

After a face massage, you can move on to your arms, chest, back. No sudden and painful movements, the child should be completely relaxed. Before the massage, be sure to treat your hands with an antiseptic; you do not need to use any oils, so as not to cause an allergic reaction.

Classes with a speech therapist and at home will help to quickly develop logo rhythm and coherent speech with phrases. Performing simple exercises will significantly increase your vocabulary, improve speech, and teach your baby to understand the simplest expressions.

Possible complications

Motor alalia in a child 1-5 years old can provoke serious violations of written speech. Also, children with a similar diagnosis who do not receive proper treatment may experience stuttering, which occurs more often during the formation of speaking skills.

If a diagnosis is made in a timely manner and a comprehensive therapy is selected, including taking medications, working with a speech therapist, a speech pathologist and working with parents at home, then the prognosis will be favorable.

The degree of brain damage is also important, the neurologist must find out exactly how affected he is in order to choose a therapy. With minor injuries, the diagnosis of alalia can be completely excluded by the age of 5 years.

Motor alalia, which was diagnosed in a child under 1 year old, can be effectively and without any problems cured. Parents just need to be attentive to their baby, strictly follow the pediatrician's recommendations, visit a speech therapist, if necessary, and other narrow specialists.

The baby gets rid of a sensory ailment faster than a motor one, so painstaking and long-term work is needed.

Article design: Vladimir the Great

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