Republic of the Philippines

Leyte Normal University

Tacloban City

A Brief Intervention Resource for Speech Delay or Alalia

Submitted by:

Camposano, Shannen Lian

Cedro, Leslie

Estudillo, Rheza Mae

Gomba, Malie

Holanda, Andrea

Libres, Ella Millennia

I. Background, Cause and Scope

Speech is the process of producing specific sounds that convey meaning to the listener.
There are some barriers in some instances that the sounds are not conveyed easily to the listener,
one of the causes is speech difficulty or speech disorder. Eske (2019) refers speech disorder as to
any condition that affects a person's ability to produce sounds that create words. Speech disorders
affect a person's ability to form the sounds that allow them to communicate with other people.
They are not the same as language disorders. It prevents people from forming correct speech
sounds, while language disorders affect a person's ability to learn words or understand what others
say to them. However, both speech and language disorders can make it more difficult for a person
to express their thoughts and feelings to others. Speech is one of the main ways in which people
communicate their thoughts, feelings, and ideas with others. The act of speaking requires the
precise coordination of multiple body parts, including the head, neck, chest, and abdomen. One of
the many cases or condition of speech disorder is "speech delay."

A speech delay, known to professionals as alalia, refers to the phenomenon when a child
is not making normal attempts to verbally communicate. Alalia is manifested by the late
appearance of speech reactions, agrammatism, vocabulary poverty, syllable disorders, phonemic
processes and defects in sound pronunciation. A significant value for identifying the form of alalia
has the definition of the zone of brain damage. So, for example, when the fronto-parietal part is
injured, motor alalia can be diagnosed in the baby, if the temporal region is damaged, sensory
alalia can be diagnosed. Various forms of speech deficiency are characterized by completely
different clinics and opportunities for babies in the future. However, this division of the disease is
conditional, as in clinical practice there are combinations of manifestations of sensory and motor
speech alalia.

According to some specialist, there can be a number of factors causing this to happen, and
that’s why it’s critical for a speech language pathologist to be involved. The are many potential
reasons why a child would not be using age-appropriate communication. These can range
anywhere from the child being a “late bloomer", the child just takes a bit longer than average to
speak, to the child having brain damage. Impaired functioning of certain parts of the brain leads to
the birth of alalia in babies, which can manifest mild speech defects, moderate or severe disorders.
 In alalics, all speech components appear late. Grammatical structure and vocabulary,
pronunciation are formed in a peculiar, slow and disharmonious manner. By the end of the infancy
period, babies can have a vocabulary of nine to 100, but this does not determine the prognosis of
the disease. The dictionary is replenished very slowly and at each stage of development is rather
poor. Also, many researchers have noted a distortion of the syllable structure of the word. The
number of such distortions increases as speech develops and as the crumbs fatigue. There are two
types of agrammatism: impressive and expressive. In alalics with motor form, almost always
expressive agrammatism is revealed, and with sensory form - impressive agrammatism. The
grammatical structure of speech is formed late, disharmoniously and has no staging.

All forms of alalia are characterized by discord between the verbal and nonverbal structures
of mental activity. Oral speech tasks are performed by the child in accordance with the age period
without marked difficulties (meaning and sequence of plot images, graphic analogies, etc.). The
slowdown in the rate of speech formation is expressed by the late onset of certain pre-speech
stages. Simply put, the grunting, babbling, individual words and phrases in such crumbs are formed
with a lag, there is also a marked reduction of stages or a complete absence. In addition to
stretching the deadlines for working out the function, it has characteristic of prolonged
preservation of previously mastered stages of speech formation: egocentric speech, speech
substitution by gestures or loud non-verbal cries. Also, there is often a lack of vocabulary,
agrammatism and tongue-tied.

The primary manifestations of alalia, regardless of its form, become apparent in children
at the age of two, when the brain areas are somewhat developed, and the children try to pronounce
words. If you do not start treatment in time, this disease will continue to develop in adolescents.
Often, children with alalia have neurotic reactions that are a response to the presence of a speech
defect. In addition, children suffering from this pathology are characterized by increased fatigue,
reduced attention and decreased performance. They have a secondary delay in the development of
the psyche. At different periods of speech formation in motor alalia, there is a lack of smoothness
of speech and stuttering occurs.

Often, children, not understanding what the environment is talking about, begin to distance
themselves from them, distance themselves and become uncommunicative, which may be the
reason for incorrect diagnosis. Therefore, in the first turn, it is on the parents' shoulders that the
task of timely detection of the problem falls. And for this, parents need to learn the stages of speech
development of babies.

II. Possible Effects on Child’s Academic Performance

One of the most gratifying things a parent can experience is beholding their child gleam in an
academic setting. When children excel in school, they often have a greater number of opportunities
during their transition into early adulthood. That is why parents do their best to give their children
every possible advantage. However, parents with children who are suffering alalia or speech delay
is quite different. Studies show that children diagnosed with speech delay are more likely to present
with behavioral and social emotional problems both in childhood and as adults. Decreased
receptive language, reading, and learning skills are common side effects for children that suffer
from a speech delay and do not receive adequate intervention. Similar studies suggest that children
with speech delays are more likely to have a difficult time communicating and bonding with peers,
which could have negative effects on their psychosocial health later in life.

It is also difficult for these children to communicate their thoughts in class because their speech
is extremely poor or absent: in place of words a child speaks an obscure sound complex, some
onomatopoeia. Instead of talking, a child actively uses facial expressions and gestures to express
him/herself. It is difficult for a child to find specific articulations because it is typical for the
children to replace the articulation of controversial sounds. The child also cannot copy a sound or
word after the teacher and repeat a phrase. Correct articulation in speech is difficult to bear in
mind. It is difficult for the child to change from one articulation to another or to start moving
articulation organs. Syllabic word structure in the children’s speech is brutally distorted (in this
case sound pronunciation is not of primary importance): replacement, omission of syllables and
contraction of the words to one syllable. There may be perseverations (abnormal involuntary
repetition of the same elements of the speech). Multiple articulation errors can indicate a
disordered phonological system which could impact spelling and reading. Noticeable differences
in speech production can have a negative impact on self-confidence, peer relationships, and
vocational/career opportunities.

Vocabulary is the best single indicator of a person’s overall level of intelligence (Sternberg &
Powell, 1983:878). It is one of the key indicators of students' success in school, on standardized
tests, and indeed, in life. The reason for this is simply that the knowledge anyone has about a topic
is based on the vocabulary of that information (Marzano & Pickering, 2005). Then again, a child
with alalia or speech delay has a vocabulary that is accumulated slowly and is not used in speech
practice for a long time. Nouns prevail in speech. Verbs are absent or are represented by naming
of several simple actions. Children do not know how to use synonyms, antonyms, generalizing
words. Conversely, children who enter school with limited vocabulary find reading difficult, resist
reading, learn fewer words, and consequently fall further behind (Lubliner and Smetana, 2009).

Grammar lays the groundwork for effective communication. It is also very important because
it helps enhance accuracy. This means grammar rules can help learners develop a habit of thinking
logically and clearly and will become more accurate when using language. However, a child
suffering alalia or speech delay’s grammatical structure of the speech is broken as children fail to
use prepositions and they may omit or distort word endings (in the Russian language, for example,
it concerns the cases system and singular and plural number). They cannot coordinate the words
in a phrase or sentence. Phrasal speech is missed, or the child uses a simple phrase with broken
grammar structure which often is a combination of words and gestures. Due to these situations,
their academic performance is comparatively low than the others because poor grammar skills can
show a lack of knowledge retention and affect in a negative manner the other skill sets, such as,
time management, listening ability, and critical thinking (Christensen, Barnes, & Rees, 2011).

III. Remedies/ Interventions

Speech-Delay also known as Alalia is a disorder of understanding speech and words

expressing thoughts, it is when a child is not making normal attempts to verbally communicate.
This includes lack of articulation, suffering from understanding meaning and sounds of words, and
other symptoms that leads to a child or person delayed to give a speech. The consequences of the
said disorder will remain for a long time or even for life if the treatment will not start in time. In
order to prevent worse case scenarios of this difficulty, these medical interventions must be
considered:

 Auditory screening (hearing test) is an important first step for a child who shows
delayed speech.
 If hearing loss is a factor, the child can be treated with hearing aids, be taught sign
language and/or undergo surgery to insert tubes in the ear.
  Physical or occupational therapy may be appropriate if a child has poor muscle tone
which inhibits the ability to speak.
 Parents can work at home with their children by reading stories, speaking clearly and
concisely when talking with their children, and playing word games like pointing out
animals on walks.
 If the correction of alalia is carried out correctly and at a sufficient level, if it is started
in a timely manner, then the speech skills are formed completely, the child’s mental
abilities also improve, he adapts better in the real world. Timely correction allows the
crumbs to further establish contacts with peers and adequately interact with adults.
 Speech therapy correction of various forms of alalia contributes to the expansion of
vocabulary and makes speech crumbs more literate. However, this type of treatment is
effective only in systematic studies.
 In severe cases, when there are gross lesions of the speech centers, therapy may be
ineffective.

To achieve maximum effectiveness for the treatment of alalia, complex therapy is applied,
which includes three components:

a. speech therapy classes;

b. speech therapy massage (effect on the articulation muscles to normalize the tone of the
speech muscles, which facilitates the pronunciation of sounds); and
c. micro current reflexology, the purpose of which is to activate the areas of the cerebral
cortex responsible for the desire to speak, diction, vocabulary, etc.

With alalia of any form, it is important to begin work with the development of general and fine
motor skills, the formation of cognitive mental functions, such as memory, mental activity,
attention.

IV. Insights and Reflections

Speaking is considered a milestone in a child’s growth. It does not only help maintain social
relationships but also the privilege of being able to voice feelings and express multitude of opinions
on certain aspects. The power of speaking spontaneously gives a person the confidence and
numerous opportunities both academically and occupationally. However, not everyone is blessed
with that kind of gift. There are children and even adults who are facing speech delays. Now, what
would it be like if that certain milestone expected from you is being delayed?

Speech delay or Alalia is the most common type of developmental delay. One out of 5
children will learn to talk or use words later than other children their age. Simple speech delays
are sometimes temporary. They may resolve on their own or with a little extra help from family.
It is important to encourage children to talk with gestures or sounds and to spend lots of time
playing, reading, and talking. A parent couldn’t change their child’s biological foundation, but
they can provide unique and rich verbal environment to stimulate speech and language
development. It is really evident and proven that the ones who actively engage their child towards
early age language development can definitely make a difference. However, in some cases, the
child will need more help from a trained professional, a speech and language therapist, to learn to
communicate. Sometimes delays may be a warning sign of a more serious problem that could
include hearing loss or even developmental delay in other areas.

This difficulty should be known to everyone. It is undeniable that some would them as
defected and incapacitated. We should fight that stigma. Let us not put them on the outside, and
form an environment of exclusion. Avoid creating an ‘us vs them’ mentality, where “they” are
difficult, “they” are different. When we create sides, we look at children with a cost/benefit lens.
What value is this child bringing to relationships with the other children and educators? How do
other children benefit from having a child experiencing disability in the space? How does this
benefit outweigh the challenges, the changes that have to be made to practices? When we view a
child as one of “those” children, we are impacting on their basic human right to an education and
relationships at the same standard as other children. We need to stop thinking about children as
providing benefit to others, and reframe. Children with a disability have the same rights as all
children and all children have the right to access education settings and be supported in
relationships and learning opportunities. As educators one way we can enact those rights is by
using inclusive language and by breaking the barriers that exempts them in the society because
disability does not mean inability. Disability is just a way of getting some extremity, some kind of
very difficult situation, that throws and interesting light on people.
References
Aleksandrova, P. (2007) Speech disorders in children. Retrieved June 8, 2019 from,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed

Cipura, J. (2012). Best Practices for Improving the Vocabularies of Students Who Live in Poverty.
St. John Fisher College Fisher Digital Publications, p.4. Retrieved June 10, 2019, from
https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1205&context=education_ETD_ma
sters

Daller, J. (2015). How does vocabulary knowledge affect academic achievement among the
students?. University of Reading 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2019 from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279748560_How_does_vocabulary_knowledge
_affect_academic_achievement_among_HE_students

Dharshini, P. (2017). Why is Grammar Important in Communication?. Retrieved June 10, 2019
from, https://www.bodhih.com/grammar-important-communication/

Eske,J. (2019) What are speech disorders. Retrieved June 8, 2019 from,
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles

Gover, E. (2016). What the Research Shows: Vocabulary’s Impact on Achievement. Retrived
June 10, 2019 from, http://blog.flocabulary.com/what-the-research-shows-vocabularys-
impact-on-student-achievement/

Kutsina, E & Tarasova, S. (2013). Author's Approach to the Problem of Correctional Speech
Therapy with Children Suffering from Alalia. World Academy of Science, Engineering
and Technology International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences Vol:7,
No:2, p.461. Retrived June 10, 2019, from https://waset.org/publications/12132/author-s-
approach-to-the-problem-of-correctional-speech-therapy-with-children-suffering-from-
alalia

Mann, D. (2010). Speech Delay in Kids Linked to Later Emotional Problems. Retrieved June 10,
2019, from https://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20100628/speech-delay-in-kids-
linked-to-later-emotional-problems#1
Nordin, E. (2012). Does proper grammar still matter?. Retrieved June 10, 2019, from
https://cirt.gcu.edu/blogs/thoughts-on-teaching/doespropergrammarstillmatter3f