2019 RRTTLC – Martie, Vol V, Nr. 1

This article describes the TALK – Language and literacy curriculum for pre-schoolers and school-age children: a programme to improve inclusion, scholastic achievement and social well-being (TALKCHIL) project, Erasmus+ KA2 ( no. 2017-1- IT02-KA201- 036596). The focus is on its the main objectives, activities and partners, but also on ASTTLR role (ASTTLR- Asociația Specialiștilor în Terapia Tulburărilor de Limbaj din România), the partner institution in the project from Romania. This project has a great relevance for Romania situation as it focuses on one of the most important educational subject, children with learning disabilities and the way this disorder can be prevented from early ages, from kindergarten. The obtained results are gathered in two consistent materials, one dedicated to teachers and ne dedicated to parents, these materials being of great value for the learning disabilities field.

This comparative research has its focus on investigating the presence of ADHD behavior disturbance disorders among the preschoolers who have speech disabilities.
The design of the study that has been used is a comparative one. The research participants were represented by 64 preschoolers, age 3-6, divided into two independent test samples: preschoolers who have speech disabilities and preschoolers who do not have speech disabilities. The ADHD symptoms were assessed with the two questionnaires for the early childhood inventory ECI-4.
Participant’s language level was established by using specific tests that are frequently used in the Romanian speech therapy field.
The highlights of the study referred to the fact that the preschoolers who were identified with a speech disability showed more serious symptoms of ADHD behavior than the preschoolers who do not have any kind of speech disability.

The article focuses on strategies for stimulating language development, using work strategies aimed at the development of phonetic phonological and phonological processing components in order to reduce the existing difficulties in the sphere of writing – reading in children with intellectual disabilities. The article presents, from a theoretical stand point, the intellectual disabilities and the particularities of psychological development – cognitive development – adaptive behavior and the specificity of the development of language in the context of intellectual disability, with emphasis on the phonetic – phonological side and the phonological processing of children with intellectual disability. By this it is delineated and highlighted the existing problems, namely the necessity of advancing phonetic phonological development strategies and the central objective of the paper, to emphasize the importance of the phonological processing skills in the case of children with intellectual disability, having as secondary objectives the training of the ability of phonological processing at the level of spontaneous and reflected speech, phonematic differentiation, phonematic perception, phonematic analysis, rhythmic pronunciation education.

This article brings to the foreground the educational game as a method of correction of language and communication disorders in preschoolers and small students in mass education, pointing that through the game, children may be corrected in a pleasant and efficientway as well. In the first part of the article emphasis is put on the importance of the game in the period of childhood, which is dominated by the game, and on the classification of educational games to practice the language. The second part presents the analysis of the data obtained as a result of the implementation of the educational game as a method of correction, within the experimental group and the data obtained by using the standard working methods for the children in the control group.

The present paper captures the effectiveness of programs based on interactive methods in Romanian language lessons for students with intellectual disabilities.
Through verbal communication, a child with intellectual disabilities transmits what he perceives, feels, wishes, intends, thinks, conveys the entire content of his psychic life. It will become socially integrated to the extent that it can serve verbal language and communicate. The development of abilities and skills of oral expression remains a permanent school objective of the special school, stemming from the need to prepare pupils for social insertion. Whatever the profession they are doing, they can not be realized in society if they do not have the ability to communicate with their fellows to share their experience and to receive from the experience of others.
In this context, verbal communication is for students with intellectual disabilities, one of the most important ways of knowing the surrounding world and integrating into social life.
Intervention programs centered on interactive methods at Romanian language classes lead to the development of language skills and improvement of the school results of pupils with intellectual disabilities.

Difficulties in articulation of sounds are common in speech and language therapy field. Their therapeutic approaches must be individualized The psycho-individual and age-specific features, as well as the characteristics of the type and degree of a certain disabilities, make speech therapy a unique, original, specific process.
Through the present research we wanted to highlight the uniqueness of the speech therapy sessions, as we follow the classic approach, we can give a specific note to the activities carried out by innovative methods, techniques and means of teaching applied to a distinct category of pupils, those with intellectual disabilities.
The research methodology include the purpose, objectives, research hypotheses, the research approach and the description of the group of participants, emphasizing the description and the usefulness of the ” Paşi prin lumea sunetelor ” application both as an assessment and as an intervention tool.

Language disorders are one of the most common childhood disorders. Problems with oral communication are the most common signs of language disorders. Expressive language issues can be easier to identify in the early years.
The main objectives of the longitudinal study were: (1) to show a significant increase in the frequency of language and communication disorders in primary school children, (2) to underline the importance of high quality language therapy services focused on prevention and early intervention.
The study began in 2007 and ended in 2017. Children diagnosed with language and communication disorders at the beginning of each school year were included in the study.
It was hypothesized that there was a significant increase in the frequency of the language and communication disorders during the eleven years of the study, especially in expressive language disorders like dyslalia. The participants in the study were evaluated, diagnosed and received specialized speech therapy.
The main findings of the study suggest an increase in the number of the cases identified with language disorders during 2007 and 2012. Between 2012 and 2017 the number of cases started decreasing due to the language therapy services provided in preschool children focused on prevention programs. It also showed a high percentage of children diagnosed with dyslalia as compared to other language disorders like rhinolalia, dyslexia and fluency disorders.
Considering the findings of the study, language and speech therapy services must provide a focus on specialized therapy programs including prevention and early intervention involving parents and also preschool and primary school teachers

Keywords: language disorders, dyslalia, speech and language therapy services, prevention, early intervention.

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DOI: 10.26744/rrttlc.2019.5.1.08

This paper focuses on presenting a case study regarding Down Syndrome and the use of social stories in targeting pragmatic communication development, screening the results with Webster Scale and The Pragmatic Communication Abilities Profile in the day to day life of pupils.
It is considered that using social stories as a mediator to learning and enhancing communicational skills in pupils with Down Syndrome improves their chance of quickly seeing results while also reducing the levels of distress, frustration or inadequacy that the pupils might feel when noticing that they are not easily understood, not fluent or coherent in what they wish to communicate, greatly increasing the comprehensibility of language as a whole.
The case study presents situations in which a young boy with Down Syndrome finds himself in the posture of both receiver and broadcaster of messages composed of singular words, short phrases or even complex communicational scenarios in which he both listens and responds, actively interacting with his tuturor.

Language is a means of communication and knowledge for the child. The impossibility of communicating through verbal language attracts delays in the childʹs development. Any deviation from standard speech is a language disorder and requires the specific intervetion of a specialist. The speech therapist intervenes in language and communication disorders fallowing a specific therapeutic program, an intervention not only on speech, rhythm and fluency disorders, but also addresses emotional and behavioral disorders, intellectual disabilities, auditive, speech disorders or specific learning disabilities. This article describes the therapeutic program applied for speech sound disorders within The”Iosif Vulcan” National College and ”Nicolae Bălcescu” School from Oradea, Romania. This therapeutic program and the obtained results emphasize the specificity of the speech therapists work in Romania at tle level of the interschools’ logopedic offices. This article can also reflect the types of speech sound disorders our speech and language therapists face.