Early Intervention and Speech Therapy: A Crucial Support for Young Generations
Young generations often require the support of a speech therapist to overcome certain difficulties that could negatively impact their development, education, and social integration. In today's digital age, where screens dominate our lives, our brains are also affected. Speech therapy intervenes to get things back on track.
It is commonly believed that speech therapy is limited to educational solutions for auditory and oral problems. However, the domain of intervention for speech therapists is much broader than we think. Is this true?
Absolutely! We intervene in the care of neurological and developmental pathologies that can affect human beings at any stage of their life. Among the pathologies we treat are neurodegenerative diseases, such as encephalitis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. We also treat Otolaryngology (ORL) developmental pathologies, which are related to vocal cords. Our intervention is necessary in the care of developmental speech pathologies, such as delayed speech, articulation disorders, and swallowing disorders. It is essential to note that the problem of mal-swallowing often occurs in people who have survived a stroke or those who have undergone gastric band surgery. Our role is to restore normal swallowing.
In addition, learning disorders are part of the speech therapist's intervention domain, including dyslexia, dysphagia, etc.
Why Do Children Need Speech Therapy Today?
Because children present more communication, language, learning, and autism-related problems than before. These are, in general, the preponderant problems resulting from children's exposure to screens. However, other pathologies are also equally highlighted. They are, mainly, neurological and can occur due to a stroke that occurred during pregnancy or at birth, genetic mutations, etc.
Are These Pathologies Easy to Detect by the Child's Environment?
Unfortunately, no! Most of these troubles and pathologies are unknown to the child's environment. As a result, detection is delayed, often until the child is three years old. For learning disorders, detection occurs at the age of five or six years old. It is usually the teachers who become aware of these problems after comparing the child with their peers. Delayed speech, for example, often goes unnoticed. However, the child who presents this problem often pronounces incoherent phrases or reverses the syllables of a word.
What Are the Obstacles Hindering Early Detection of These Troubles and Pathologies?
Firstly, the lack of information for families and training for educators and some pediatricians. Most families are unaware of these difficulties. Some are informed but succumb to denial. Some parents refuse to acknowledge their children's difficulties, refusing to accept their differences. This refusal is, in some way, related to society's refusal of anything atypical. However, this refusal harms the child, their multidisciplinary care, and their school and social integration.
The role of the family, pediatrician, preschool educator, and school environment is crucial in detection and, consequently, early rehabilitation.
Is the Temporal Factor Important in Rehabilitation and Care?
Yes, it is! Early detection serves rehabilitation. A detected problem at the age of two would require approximately one and a half years of rehabilitation. Hence, the imperative to inform and train families, pediatricians, and preschool and school educators on developmental, communication, and learning disorders and to sensitize them to solutions that can help the child in their journey.
Do You Collaborate with Other Specialists in the Context of Multidisciplinary Patient Care?
We always work under the supervision of specialist doctors. In fact, we receive patients who are recommended by specialists, including neurologists, psychiatrists, pediatric psychiatrists, ORL doctors, etc. We also receive patients who seek our help without having previously consulted a specialist. In this case, we identify their problems and propose that they see the appropriate specialists. Collaboration with other educational disciplines is possible on a case-by-case basis.
What About Collaboration with Preschool and School Establishments?
In Tunisia, this collaboration is generally lacking. Most of these establishments do not tolerate children with difficulties, which is a serious problem. For my part, I collaborate with certain schools and preschools. The responsible individuals in these establishments have become informed and committed. We share the same vision and goal, which is to help children with developmental, communication, or learning disorders.
Some People Are Skeptical About the Effectiveness of Speech Therapy Due to Bad Experiences. What Do You Think?
The problem is not with speech therapy but with the materialistic spirit that animates some speech therapists. Certainly, this profession must be profitable. However, it is essential to perfect it for the benefit of patients.
It is the human cost that must come first. Speech therapists are called upon to consider the often limited means of families. On the other hand, competence is required. I would even say that it should be optimized by approaching other specialties.
Personally, I wear two hats: that of a speech therapist and that of a psychologist. The psychological and neurological domains are of great utility for our work. A competent speech therapist must perfect their work on both theoretical and practical levels and lean towards the human rather than profit.
