Speech disorder is a term commonly used to refer to children whose development of speech is late. For example, the age of a child has been 9 years, but mastery of the language is still very minimal compared to children of his age. In the opinion of a number of experts, speech disorders are not synonymous with intelligence. So, do not immediately judge a child whose language development is disturbed and then we say he is a child who is underdeveloped or low intelligence. In fact, according to research, most children who experience speech disorders, they have a normal level of intelligence. This speech disorder is generally experienced by 5-10% of preschool children and is more likely to be experienced by boys. Indeed, in certain cases, this speech disorder has a certain influence on impaired writing ability. Therefore, it is our duty to detect as early as possible the presence of speech disorders in our children.
Speech disorders can be caused by many things. Among other things by hearing. In some cases, hearing problems are related to delay in talking. If the child has hearing difficulties, he will also experience obstacles in understanding, imitating, and using language. One of the causes of a child's hearing loss is due to an ear infection. Another cause is the developmental barrier in the brain that controls oral-motor abilities. There are cases of speech delay caused by problems in the oral-motor area in the brain so that this condition causes inefficiency of relationships in the brain region responsible for producing speech. As a result, the child has difficulty using his lips, tongue, and even his jaw to produce a certain word sound.
Hereditary problems can also be a factor. Hereditary problems have not been studied so far in correlation with the etiology of auditory barriers. However, a number of facts also show that in some cases where a child experiences delays in speaking, a similar case was found in the previous generation or in his family. Thus, tentative conclusions only indicate the possibility of hereditary problems as one of the influencing factors.
Learning problems and communication with parents can also be a cause. The problem of communication and interaction with parents unwittingly has an important role in making children have high speaking and speaking skills. Many parents do not realize that the way they communicate with the child also makes children not have a lot of vocabulary, is less encouraged to think logically, analyze, or draw conclusions from even very simple sentences.
Often lazy parents invite their children to talk at length and only speak one or two words whose contents are very short instructions or answers. In addition, children who have never been given the opportunity to express themselves early on (more become passive listeners). because parents are too pushy and "insert" all instructions, their own views or their own desires without giving their children the opportunity to give feedback, it is also a factor that influences the ability to speak, use sentences, and speak.
What also needs to be aware of is the television factor. Toddlers who watch television programs tend to be passive listeners, only accept without having to digest and process the incoming information. Not to mention the shows that aired contained scenes that were often not understood by children and were actually traumatic (because watching scenes of fighting, violence, sexual or unexpected events gave a deep impression due to strong egocentrism in children and because of cognitive abilities that were still undeveloped). As a result, in a certain period of time where the brain should get a lot of stimulation from the environment / parents to then provide feedback again, but because the more stimulating is television (which does not require any response from the audience), then the brain cells that dealing with language and speech problems will hamper its development.
What do parents need to do? The first thing we have to do is change parenting. For example, increasing stimulation so that the child is motivated to talk, invite dialogue, question and answer, and others. If these steps have not yet succeeded, it's time for us to involve experts, such as pediatricians. The doctor will examine it thoroughly, to find out whether the delay is caused by problems with the hearing device, or in areas of the brain that regulate the hearing mechanism, and the brain that produces speech. Psychological examination is also needed to understand other functions related to speech and language, such as the level of intelligence and the level of social emotional development of children. Psychological examination is also intended to see the extent to which the influence of barriers experienced by children on their emotional and intellectual abilities. This examination must also be handled by experts or psychologists who are competent and experienced in handling children with problems with delays in speaking.