Abstract:

Neurodevelopmental disorders of speech communication represent a wide heterogeneous group of difficulties in the development of communication in children, which are connected by the neurogenic basis of developmental deficit, permeating the development of children's speech and language abilities. In the long term and seriously, they affect the possibilities of education of these children, depending on the severity and nature of the disorder, which is always associated with overcoming a deficit in the psycho-motor development of the child. [1, 2, 4] The rehabilitation program for children with neurodevelopmental disorders in the range of 4 weeks, which is organized by the Elementary and Special School of the General University Hospital (GNH) in Prague and the Department of Phoniatrics. The research study focuses on a group of children who are in a crucial period before the start of compulsory schooling and meet the following criteria: Diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder of a specific type (specific language impairment (SLI) + symptomatology of chilhood speech apraxia (CAS) of severe degree deficit. The cognitive development of the child is evaluated by a clinical psychologist without detecting a serious cognitive deficit, non-verbal intellectual abilities are evaluated within a broader norm. Postponement of the start of school attendance due to a serious neurodevelopmental disorder, children are on average 6.5 years old and attend a preparatory year of school before the start of compulsory school attendance.

The above-mentioned group of children requires a specifically focused educational program, including motor stimulation of speech and perceptual phonological procedures in the preschool and school educational program. In our research study, the program was enriched by a targeted set of procedures aimed at developing compensation for unstable and deficient phonological and articulatory abilities of children through the visual pathway, with intensive involvement of the development of partial lexical elements and phoneme pre-reading on grapheme. The study was carried out in two stages, in two groups of children who met the above criteria. In the first part of the study, 10 children were evaluated in the non-targeted program (period 11-12 2023) and in the second part of the study (01-02 2024), 10 children were evaluated in the above-mentioned targeting part of the educational program. The program was implemented with a qualified primary education teacher and a qualified clinical speech therapist. The evaluation was carried out on the basis of the analysis of audio recordings, which are part of a comprehensive examination by a set for diagnostic evaluation of speech in the Czech language. The assessed criteria were the development of articulational, perceptual-motor patterns and intelligibility of speech. The presented results in the basic quantitative categories point to an increase in the dynamics of the development of speech abilities of children in the second group of the research study and a high degree of the need to focus the educational program in this group of children with neurodevelopmental disorders on the development of compensation of unstable and deficient phonological and articulatory abilities of children by the visual pathway, with the intensive involvement of the development of partial lexical elements in the educational process.

Keywords:

Neurodevelopmental disorders of speech communication, developmental dysphasia, developmental speech dyspraxia, primary education, postponement of the start of compulsory school attendance.