Speech Language needs and Down syndrome are the two chosen areas that this essay will be focusing on in relation to theoretical perspectives. Language is very crucial for children because it is the medium by which the curriculum is taught. Children with Speech Language needs usually find it difficult to communicate with others. Mostly, they have speech that might be difficult to understand and struggle to say sentences and words. A child can have all these characteristics or some. In 2007, approximately seven percent (4000) of five year old kids entering school in England had significant difficulties in language or speech (Ripley & Barrett, 2008 pg.8). The children often present with concurring difficulties in social, emotional, behavior and physical aspects. Speech Language disorders is causes include neurological disorder, hearing loss, intellectual disabilities, brain injury, and physical impairment. Children that have Speech Language needs have Down syndrome is a congenital disorder that stems form a chromosomal abnormality. This syndrome occurs when one of the chromosomes has an extra part as well as an error occurs in cell division resulting to into 47 chromosomes. Many people are usually born with 23 pairs of chromosomes giving a total of 46 chromosomes. The body can be altered the way it develops if the body produces a genetic material or extra chromosome. The current statistics of Down syndrome is that it appears about one in every 800 births (Selikowitz, 1997 pg.8). Children with Down’s syndrome are affected differently but they share most of the developmental problems and physical characteristics. Babies with Down syndrome are less likely to develop less than other babies whereby they can learn to talk and walk at much later time than the typically developing babies. The most worrying thing with Down syndrome is that it does not have cure. This kind of disorder a person will have it all of his or her life. Ripley & Barrett (2008) noted that, Down syndrome is not a contagious and also affects all nationalities and races and person cannot get it later in their life. Children with Language Speech needs and Down syndrome need access to early year’s provision that is specifically designed to meet their needs.
Down syndrome brings a number of infections to the children because their immune systems have abnormalities. The infections include respiratory infections which mostly appear in the first five years of life. Skin infections may also appear as time progresses. Heart defects are also common (47 percent) for individuals with Down syndrome. Hearing loss is another major defect that arises for children with Down syndrome. According Selikowitz (1997), up to 80 percent of the kids with the syndrome experience hearing loss and could be severe. This crucial because even the mild hearing loss eventually lead to struggles in developing speech and language which are important for the learning of the student. Factors that contribute to hearing looses for children living with Down syndrome include chronic ear diseases and also anatomical diseases. Vision impairments are likely to develop and also affect speech and language development of the children.
Speech and language disorders usually take four major areas which are articulation, fluency, language and voice. Articulation is the case whereby the child produces the sound incorrectly. They usually find it hard to make the tongue and mouth movements. Fluency a speech impairment in which the flow of speech of the child is disrupted by syllables and sounds that are either prolonged, repeated and there are silent blocks. According Kersner and Wright (2012), kids with fluency problems find it difficult in recognizing the differences between certain words and sounds and hence have real struggle to gain sense of what they hear. Lastly language impairment is a child disorder has difficult in expressing ideas and information or understanding what others say. They have weak listening and attention skills this is because they have poor memory of what they hear. Therefore, they find it hard to follow instruction or even learn new word. Furthermore, they might not understand some of the words that are being used or even the instruction they hear. Children with Down syndrome have a number learning difficulties and needs and hence delay a lot of development areas for the children. They have slow learning skills such as walking, reaching, sitting, standing and talking. Even though they will eventually these skills they will take much time and progress slowly than other children. Social functioning of children with this syndrome is less delayed than any other areas of development. Expressive language, speech and grammar clarity is another impact of the Down syndrome. The children are characterized with specific delays of learning especially in the use of spoken language compared to the non-verbal understanding. The children mostly have two types of expressive difficulty. First is the delay of mastering of sentences and phrases structures as well as grammars. Secondly, they have difficulties in the development of clear speech production. A number the syndrome therapists reports that the gap that arise for children in understanding and also the ability to link out with the rest of the world results to frustration bringing behavior problems. Since language is internalized for remembering, thinking and self organization, the effect of Down syndrome on language usually leads to delayed cognitive development hence negatively impacting the listed needs for learning (Kliewer, 1998 pg.122). Another difficult for children with Down syndrome is basic number skills and finds it hard to cope with the already existing math teaching system. Moreover, their motor skills develop at slower pace than those without which consequently reduce their opportunities to learn and explore the world around them and which ultimately affect their cognitive development. It can also be noted that, language skills can be impacted by poor oral motor control. Lastly, kids with Down syndrome have low verbal short-term memory hence holding and processing and holding of verbal information is poor that visual information. Short-term memory is key for any pupil because it is the responsive immediate memory that holds information for the short timeframes as well supporting cognitive and learning needs. This deficiency makes kids struggle learn new words and sentences as well processing the spoken language thereby having severe effect on their classroom learning.
Speech, communication and language are crucial tools for reading and learning in school, socializing with friends as well as controlling and understanding feelings and emotions. Language is important for social and mental development for children with disabilities. Inclusive practices are approaches that will not discriminate children with Speech Language needs and Down syndrome even treat them differently because of such differences. According to Halliwell (2012), regardless of differences in learning profiles, participating in mainstream education is a major stepping stone which is a successful transition for the children into adulthood. These are important educational environment to include children with speech needs. There are key features for an inclusive learning environment for such kids. Provision of early intervention and education services should be evidence based whereby the staff needs to adequately be informed of about the specific needs of children with Speech Language needs and Down syndrome.
There are number of Specific strategies and resources that could be included help students with Speech Language need and Down syndrome. The strategies and resources help their understanding as well as the use of the language. Children with special needs will require a different way to communicate instead of plain talking. Halliwell (2012) notes that, many children with Special Language needs and Down syndrome have Pictures and photos, charts and daily objects help the children understand what to expect from the day. This is support is known as augmentative and alternative communication (ACC). The children find it useful signing and symbols and hence they require the involvement of the parent or teacher Children should be met with an overall positive feeling of being part and parcel of the school while in the classroom or out. Encouraging the inclusion of Speech Language and communication needs ought to be reflected in the ethos of the school and also backed through a consistent policy of inclusion. Special needs assistant (SNA) is also an invaluable resource for the child and his or her teacher as they provide extra help through the school day (Halliwell, 2012 pg.50). They help promote the speech and language development for the children. SNA encourage meaningful play experience in the school and also help the children to integrate well with the other children in the school to gain social experience. This is because tend to understand better from the fellow children than from adults. This is known as social inclusion which is a proponent in gaining friends. Furthermore, the children receive funding from the government through the Department of education (Lindsay et al., 2010 pg.24). The funding is to acquire equipment that are designed around the needs of children and also facilitate the curriculum in the school.
The physical environment in which the children special needs learn has great impact to the development of language and cognitive skills. Children spend most of their time in home and this offers them a great opportunity to develop their language, speech as well as communication skills. Physical environment should make the learning of language for the children fun through funny rhymes, noises and singing as they gain their attention (Kersner and Wright, 2012, pg.6). In the school environment things such as time tables need to be visual by use of pictures. The role of adult cannot be underestimated in developing the language skills for the children. The style and amount of adult talk have great influence on the environment and also how accessible it is for the children with this kind disorder. Adults give the children enough time to synthesize and understand information enabling them to respond. If the children the use of talk especially in class level of language then adults can enhance much the learning environment. Adults encourage more talking by adding to what the children say.
Working with the parent of those kids with special needs is another useful approach. These kids makes much contact time with their parents who can help them practice various forms speech and language skills. Inclusive and varied community and home experiences help the kid to acquire as well as use new communication skill (Kersner and Wright, 2012, pg.61). With the help of a parent, the speech language pathologist can provide information and design home based activities that will help the kid to practice the communications skills that is addressed by the therapist. The parent should stay in contact with the speech and language pathologist so that child can practice communication skills. The parent also has the responsibility to take the child workshops and conferences as well as provide them with the books and news letter as this provides them with more opportunities to communicate his or her skill and also provide state-of-the-art information.
Multi-agency approaches are also intervening to help children with Speech Language needs and Down syndrome in UK. Multi agency models deliver services through integrated processes and systems has been conceptualized under a framework known as Every Child Matters. In U.K the most known agency is the Early Support Programme that target children with complex needs by providing professional to guide the family with support needed for their children. Learning communities and extended schools provide a similarly community-focused base in which families are able to access services for the children. Children’s Center staff is working collaboratively to address the speech and language needs for the children. . First the problem of speech and language need to be addressed by a trained Speech therapist and should be taken at Children centres. After the child is taken through the assessment a case file is opened for the child attending children’s centre. The staffs make home visits and group based intervention. The staffs uses I-CAN assessment tools in order to review the communication level. They undertake Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) sessions so as to evaluate and track the progress of the child.
In conclusion, Communication is very important in the daily activities but some children with Speech language needs and Down syndrome suppress the ability to communicate efficiently well. They find it hard to socialize and learn effectively. Many inclusive interventions ought to be adopted to overcome the barriers that the children with Speech Language needs and syndrome. Practical guidelines are important in helping parents and teachers to work out the best environment for the children to have maximum development of their language skills. They are important to developing the cognitive and social needs for the children.
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