Symptoms of alalia in children, home treatment methods

Alalia is a severe speech disorder caused by damage to the centers of the brain that are responsible for the perception and reproduction of speech.
How quickly a child develops normal speech depends on the form and degree of the disorder and the timeliness of the start of correction. For example, with motor alalia the prognosis is favorable if the disease is recognized in time. With sensorimotor and sensory forms, it is difficult to give any definite prognosis. It all depends on how early the parents turned to a neurologist and speech therapist for help. The final diagnosis is made at 3-4 years of age; the child’s chart usually states: general speech underdevelopment. However, the disease develops during prenatal development and early childhood, so it is very important to carefully monitor the child’s development from infancy.

Main types and symptoms of the disease

Symptoms of alalia in a child may vary. It all depends on the type of pathology and the degree of its progression. If you notice several warning signs in your baby, be sure to consult your doctor. Doctors identify several types of alalia in children, each of which has its own characteristics, degree of development and mechanism of action. According to V. A. Kovshikov’s system, the disease is:

• Sensory;
• Motor;
• Mixed.

Let us consider in more detail the symptoms and features of each type of pathology. This information will definitely be useful to young parents.

Sensory alalia

If your baby has already reached the age of 3 years, but his speech is not sufficiently developed, you should immediately consult a doctor. Sensory alalia is a dangerous disease that affects the part of the cerebral cortex responsible for the correct analysis of speech. With such a pathology, the child cannot correctly compare a visual image and its sound designation. Simply put, the baby hears you perfectly, but cannot understand. This type of disease is additionally accompanied by the following symptoms:

• The child exhibits speech disinhibition. He talks constantly, but those around him do not understand what he is talking about;
• Intellectual underdevelopment develops;
• Poor speech perception by ear;
• Substitution of some letters in simple phrases;
• Pronunciation of two or three words as one;
• Excessive activity and impulsiveness, combined with isolation and depression;
• The child cannot mentally connect the image of an object and its name.

Motor alalia

The second type of pathology of the speech apparatus in children is motor alalia. With this pathology, the development of Broca's center and the pathways of this area are disrupted. This leads to the fact that the child’s speech develops very slowly, and it is difficult for the baby to fully master speech skills. Unlike sensory alalia, with motor alalia the baby understands well what adults are telling him.

The main signs and symptoms of this type of pathology are:

• Very late development of speech in a child. The baby can pronounce his first words only after reaching the age of 4 years;
• Incorrect grammatical construction of the sentence. In a conversation, the child uses words in the wrong case, gender, and number. The child confuses words that sound similar;
• The vocabulary is very limited;
• There is poor coordination of movements;
• The child is very inattentive, hyperactive or, conversely, inactive;
• The baby often refuses to talk and becomes aggressive and withdrawn.

Treatment for alalia is necessary as the progression of this disease can make your child mentally retarded.

Mixed alalia

The symptoms and treatment of mixed alalia are very serious. With this pathology, the entire sensorimotor area of ​​the cerebral cortex is affected. Sick children not only do not understand what their parents say, but they also cannot speak. 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 treatment to be as effective as possible, try to identify the disease at the earliest stage of development.

Pathogenesis

In conditions of damage to the central part of the speech-hearing analyzer, with preserved hearing, the child does not understand the meaning of words. This disorder of the processes of synthesis and analysis of sound signals is auditory agnosia. In this condition, the baby hears words, but does not understand the meaning.

A malfunction of the speech perception mechanism provokes an inability to form sound patterns, perceive whole words, and also recognize, distinguish and remember them.

Due to defective auditory reactions in the child, the transmission of impulses to the speech-motor and speech-visual analyzers is blocked. The result of this is the inability to compare the sound of words with actions or objects. This phenomenon is called closing acupopathy.

What causes alalia in a child?

The reasons for the development of alalia in children may be different. It all depends on at what stage of development of the child’s body this pathology arose. The disease can affect the fetus even at the stage of intrauterine development. In this case, alalia in children occurs due to:

• Infection with intrauterine infection;
• Hypoxia;
• Severe toxicosis, viral or chronic diseases of the expectant mother;
• Mechanical injuries to the fetus that led to the threat of miscarriage.

A normal pregnancy does not guarantee the birth of a healthy baby. The causes of alalia in a newborn baby can be:

Premature birth; Umbilical cord asphyxia; Intracranial injuries due to improper use of medical instruments during childbirth.

Most often, pathology of speech development in a child occurs between the ages of 1 and 3 years. In this case, the provoking factor of the disease may be:

• Meningitis, encephalitis;
• All kinds of somatic diseases;
• Head injuries;
• Severe viral diseases;
• Rickets;
• Operations performed under anesthesia.

Some children with alalia have a congenital predisposition to this pathology. If one of the parents suffered from such an illness in childhood, the chances of having a baby with alalia increase significantly in the family. In order for a baby to grow healthy and develop normally, he needs proper care, care, and attention from his parents. Despite being constantly busy at work, do not forget to talk to your baby - tell him interesting stories, take an interest in his affairs, read fairy tales before bed. In order to detect pathology in time and begin treatment for alalia, you need to regularly visit doctors and undergo a routine medical examination.

Complications

Fuzzy perception of sounds gives rise to the problem of incorrect pronunciation. Because of this, difficulties arise in forming statements. If therapy is not started in a timely manner, preschool children experience insufficient development of speech skills. During school years, against this background, other problems arise:

• inability to learn to write (dysgraphia) and read (dyslexia);
• the ability to apply spelling rules when writing or speaking is impaired.

Alaliki do not understand the speech of other people, this causes difficulties in communication and the formation of mental retardation. Gradually, personality disorders arise, control over emotional and volitional reactions is lost, and behavioral problems appear.

Methods for diagnosing alalia

If you notice alarming symptoms of alalia in your child, you should immediately seek help from a doctor. The baby will need consultation from several specialists at once - a pediatrician, speech therapist, psychologist, neurologist and otolaryngologist. Such doctors will be able to conduct an examination, study the peculiarities of speech development in the baby, and make the correct diagnosis. The specialist must carefully examine the condition of not only the child, but also the mother during pregnancy. The diagnosis of alalia can be finally confirmed only after a complete examination:

• X-ray of the head;
• MRI, EEG;
• Echoencephalography.

All these diagnostic methods are absolutely painless. You won't have to wait long for results. Each type of alalia has its own characteristics, so diagnostic methods may differ slightly. For example, sensory pathology can easily be confused with hearing loss. If the baby does not understand what you are telling him or does not respond to your voice, the first thing you need to do is audiometry or otoscopy.

Stages of speech therapy assistance

Regardless of the form of alalia and the structure of the defect, speech therapy work to overcome this disorder consists of four stages:

1. Preparatory. At this stage, the speech therapist forms the prerequisites for speech activity. The specialist creates situations that encourage the child to communicate. It also forms his understanding of the importance of speech in a person’s life. At the preparatory stage, work is carried out to develop the tempo-rhythmic aspect of speech and higher mental functions.
2. At the second stage, initial speech skills are formed. They work to expand and clarify the vocabulary, teach the child to relate a word to an object. The speech therapist teaches the child to recognize words by their sound design and corrects sound pronunciation. In addition, they give exercises to generalize and classify objects.
3. The goal of the third stage is the formation of a statement as the main speech unit. The speech therapist focuses on correcting grammatical structure and teaching the child how to structure a statement.
4. At the fourth stage, the concept of the communicative and cognitive functions of speech is formed. The speech therapist gives more tasks for the formation of coherent speech - this is its planning, developing self-control skills. The specialist teaches alalik to choose speech means to form a statement.

The speech therapist selects exercises for each stage in accordance with the form of alalia. Taking into account the peculiarities of the structure of the defect, the specialist will be able to organize the work in such a way that it is possible to achieve high results and maximally correct deficiencies in speech development.

How to get rid of pathology?

Treatment of alalia in a child must be comprehensive. The doctor chooses the treatment method depending on the type of pathology and the degree of its development. You should not expect that your baby will be able to quickly cope with speech defects. Alalia is difficult to treat, but there is a chance of complete recovery. There are several ways to treat pathology, namely:

• Taking medications. A neurologist or speech therapist may prescribe metabolic and nootropic drugs (Cortexin, Neuroxon, etc.). The use of such medications without prior consultation with a doctor is strictly prohibited.
• Developmental classes with a speech therapist. This technique is considered the most effective. To improve the development of a child’s speech apparatus, you need not only to take him to classes with a specialist, but also to train his speech at home. Performing simple exercises will significantly increase your vocabulary, improve your baby’s coherent speech, and teach him to understand simple expressions.
• Microcurrent reflexology. Using special equipment that emits electrical impulses, the affected area of ​​the cerebral cortex is stimulated. This procedure will not cause any discomfort to the sick child and is allowed from 6 months.
• Therapeutic massage – improves the functioning of the muscles of the speech apparatus.
• Physiotherapy – procedures using special medical equipment (laser, magnetic, electrical stimulation).

Classes with a speech therapist are highly effective. The specialist knows well what exercises need to be performed for the comprehensive development of the speech apparatus. They should stimulate speech activity and contribute to the formation of a large vocabulary in the child. Regular visits to a speech therapist will allow your baby to develop logorhythmics and coherent phrasal speech in the shortest possible time.

In order for a child to quickly get rid of pathology and catch up with his peers in speech development, it is very important to simultaneously use all treatment methods recommended by the doctor.

Forecast

Full recovery is possible only with proper planning of complex treatment and strict adherence to the recommendations of a speech pathologist. Gradually, articulation is normalized, the level of mental development corresponds to the age norm. If correction is not started in a timely manner, the symptoms worsen, dysarthria, stuttering, neuroses and nervous tics appear. In such situations, speech therapy work is ineffective.

There is no prevention for sensorimotor alalia. But it is possible to minimize the negative impact of factors that provoke pathology. Timely treatment can restore the affected brain cells. In advanced cases, it is possible to finally form the speech apparatus only by the age of 8-9 years. Therefore, if you suspect a speech disorder, you should contact a specialist and undergo an examination.

Home therapy

Do you want your child to get rid of the disease as quickly as possible? Then you need to make every effort for his recovery. Do not ignore alalia treatment at home, because it is very often the most effective. Take advantage of the effective advice of speech therapists to develop an individual system of home activities with a child with alalia.

• The baby should perceive your speech by ear. Name the object and ask the baby to show it. If he gets it wrong, show him the correct option and repeat the exercise. At the same time, he must pronounce the name of the object out loud (at least with errors). For classes you will need various toys, figurines and other items. The more names your baby learns, the faster his vocabulary will expand.
• If your child has already learned quite a few words, work on their pronunciation.
• Try to talk to your sick child as much as possible. Parents' speech should be clear, correct and not too fast. If the baby suffers from sensory alalia, the words must be accompanied by a demonstration of corresponding pictures.
• Show your child the letters. And then say words starting with these letters. Ask your child to show the letter with which the word begins and pronounce the whole word.

Buy your child several books with bright illustrations and get him interested in reading. Tell interesting stories and show what the main characters look like. Educational computer games can also help. You can suggest playing color identification games, “Define the color”, “Collect a picture”. With the obligatory pronunciation of the resulting objects in the picture.

Prevention of alalia

A young mother should take care of the health of her baby even before his birth. It has been proven that pathology can affect the cerebral cortex of children even at the stage of intrauterine development. It is important for a pregnant woman to strictly follow all the recommendations of the gynecologist, to be extremely careful, to avoid falls and injury to the fetus.

Be sure to follow the following medical advice to protect your child as much as possible from a dangerous illness.

• During pregnancy, regularly visit doctors, conduct examinations, and take all necessary tests.
• Take care of your health and take care of the well-being and harmonious development of your baby.
• If a doctor prescribes additional vitamins and medications for a pregnant woman, his advice must be followed strictly.
• Labor must begin exactly on time. If there is a significant delay, you need to insist on drug induction of labor.

After the birth of the baby, you need to create the most comfortable and favorable conditions for its harmonious development. If you strictly follow all the above rules, you will have no reason to worry about your baby’s health.

Diagnosing alalia at an early stage will make the treatment of the pathology as effective as possible. That is why parents should closely monitor the development of speech in their child, and immediately consult a doctor if they detect the slightest deviation from the norm. A child can get rid of a sensory type of illness much faster than a motor type. If doctors in a regular clinic cannot determine the exact cause of improper speech development in a child, contact a paid private clinic. Most often, such medical institutions have innovative equipment for diagnosing alalia. There is no need to try to save your time and money if you want your baby to grow up to be a full-fledged individual.

Reasons for appearance

Motor alalia in a child 1-5 years old can be a consequence of asphyxia of the newborn, prematurity or trauma received during childbirth. In rare cases, the diagnosis may be made during premature or prolonged labor.

The development of the disease can be triggered by complications during pregnancy and labor, as well as perinatal pathologies.

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

• infections (infection occurred while in the womb or during the passage of the birth canal);
• hypoxia;

• asphyxia;
• toxicosis;
• injury to the fetus when a pregnant woman falls or gets hit in the abdominal area;
• brain injury during pregnancy or childbirth;
• high risk of spontaneous abortion;
• some chronic ailments of the mother: heart and lung failure, hypertension.

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