Children who have speech disorder may not learn or master language milestones as other children.
Few years ago I had a patient who had speech disorder, on first meeting he was quite curious to know how the guitar is being played, he also wanted to know how to accompany his voice with it so I gave him the guitar and taught him the placement of the G Major chord, he was able to try it out though his hands were not firm on it, I also taught him the placement of his hands to make the E Minor. He was able to interchange both chords but not conveniently. He sang and played though it felt like noise to everyone around but he enjoyed it and did not feel like returning home with his parents. In the atmosphere of music, he could vocalize.
This experience made me realize the need to teach few simple and helpful ways of working on a speech disorder.
👉 First is to allow your young one listen to music, it helps boosts cognitive functioning, put it on at different times of the day.
A particular study done in 2010 revealed that Children who listened to music closed the developmental gap faster than those who had no music therapy. Those with speech delays moved faster toward correcting speech or improving communication skills at all ages, from toddlers with speech delays to older children. The balanced rhythm of the music helps the child match the words to the beat, providing more measure than normal speech, and therefore helping the child learn how language works trouble-free.
👉 Possibly get a mouth organ to help in breath production and by mouth organ I mean the harmonica or a recorder.
👉 Engage in vocalization of vow and consonant sounds alike, I did a video exemplifying this on my Instagram page, be sure to check it out @mercykaynimi or @escape_global
👉 Engage in the turn-taking technique singing simple and familiar songs with short lyrics. For example, Twinkle Twinkle Little star. I exemplified that too in the video I made on my Instagram page.
The child will be able to pick the words of the shorter song better and will more readily repeat them to the beat.
👉Playing an instrument, such as an acoustic guitar, it also helps the cognitive development of children just like the story of the patient I shared earlier in this post.
👉 Make sure also that everything you are teaching is age appropriate and more importantly be grateful for every process, don’t compare your journey with another.
You are doing very well and I’m rooting for you!
Do let me know in the comment box if this post was helpful.
Need counsel? Need help or have questions? Feel free to drop them here or if for confidentiality’s sake you don’t want to, kindly write to me; mercykayt@gmail.com.
Thank You.
ESCAPE GLOBAL 