THE INFLUENCE OF GROUP SPEECH-LANGUAGE THERAPY PREVENTION IN KINDERGARTEN ON VOCABULARY AND VISUAL PERCEPTION

Introduction:
Due to the growing number of children with impaired communication ability or specific learning disabilities, the prevention at the kindergartens is very important. Speech-language therapy prevention focuses globally on motor, emotional, social and language skills. The target group is predominantly children in the last year of pre-school education (five and six-year-olds). They are preparing to enter primary school, and the last year of pre-school education is more demanding as their performance is regularly evaluated. The teachers must select activities that will develop individual areas.

Methodology:
The aim of the paper is to evaluate the impact of group speech-language prevention on the areas of lexical-semantic language level and visual perception. The impact of prevention was monitored in a group of 6 children aged 5 and 6 years. At the start of the program, all children were assessed, and then completed a five-month preventive program. After completing the program, the children were again re-assessed and the results were compared. The second objective of the contribution is to show the possibility of incorporating the program into the normal kindergarten regime. Typical children were included in the program and we assumed that the results of their tests would match the age average.

Results:
Nearly all children showed at least moderate difficulties in the areas surveyed. After completing the preventive program, most children approached the age standard. Some children have performed above-average performance in output diagnostics, but in some areas children's performances are still below average (mostly problems with identifying and creating homonyms and synonyms).

Conclusion:
We note the positive transfer of the preventive program not only in lexicon, semantics and visual perception, but also in terms of attention, work autonomy and increased self-esteem. Even after the preventive program, children have a desire to work and would welcome a continuation.