Early intervention strategies

Direcții de intervenție timpurie în contextul dezvoltării abilităților de comunicare în sindromul Down

Early intervention strategies for developing communication abilities in Down syndrome

Mihaela Maria TELCEAN, Anamaria-Rada BENE, Cristina SANDU
Abstract

This paper focuses on the importance of early intervention as far as language development for children with Down syndrome. Children with Down syndrome have a delay in the development of communication abilities because of the sensory, perceptual, physical and cognitive issues they face and which affect their development path.
The anatomical and physiologic characteristics frequently met among children with Down syndrome are represented by differences of the muscles and facial structure, which lead to language disorders such as: hypotonia, poor lips, tongue and oral cavity coordination. The physical features of these children (tongue protusion, predominantly oral breathing, irregular dentition, ogival palate) highlight difficulties for small and precise movements of the mouth which limits tongue movements when speaking. The problems mentioned above affect the children’s intelligibility of speech for with Down syndrome in the following areas: articulation, rhythm and fluency, resonance, phonation.
This paper proposes an approach which focuses on the development of the suprasegmental aspects of speech, the development of immediate imitation abilities, the development of focused attention, establishing eye contact, the development of phonoarticulation using orofacial stimulation (the Morales technique and using special instruments – Sensory Therapy instruments, Z-vibe – an instrument with vibrations).

Keywords: speech and language development, early intervention, Down syndrome, orofacial stimulation, motor development
pdf

DOI: 10.26744/rrttlc.2016.2.1.06

Published on line: 15/03/2016

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