Contents
Defectology is one of the branches of medicine. The direction studies the features of the development of children with physical and / or mental disabilities. Specialists are engaged not only in studying the problem, but in teaching, educating, and often socializing babies. What do you need to know about defectologists, how and with what patients do they work, and how do they differ from speech therapists?
General characteristics of the direction
As a scientific discipline, defectology was formed in the middle of the XNUMXth century. It was perceived as a social practice, which is possible only through charity. The number of medical and pedagogical institutions for the deaf and dumb, the blind, the mentally retarded gradually increased, and science collected evidence base, strengthened, found new methods of therapy and prevention. Defectology received a serious leap in development after the Bolsheviks came to power.
Defectology includes several sections of social pedagogy. Among them are tiflopedagogy, oligophrenopedagogy and speech therapy. Tiflopedagogy is engaged in the education and training of patients with visual impairments. Oligophrenopedagogy is focused on the education and social rehabilitation of mentally retarded people. Speech therapy studies disorders, speech defects and methods for their correction. This is the difference between a speech therapist and a defectologist. A speech therapist is a narrow-profile specialist, and speech therapy itself is a branch of defectology.
Defectology, as a science, is supported by a colossal scientific base, which is intertwined with child psychology, psychiatry, neurology and pedagogy. An important part of the direction is special psychology. It includes deaf psychology, tiflopsychology, oligophrenopsychology and logopsychology. All of them are designed for people with certain malformations. Each type of special psychology deals with specific problems of the deaf/blind/mentally retarded, studies the mechanisms of the development of deviations, develops methods of struggle and prevention.
List of specialist duties
The main task of the defectologist is to develop effective means and methods of training / education / correction / compensation / labor and social adaptation of all categories of children who need it (due to a physical illness). Defectology deals not only with the treatment of pathologies, but also with psychophysical development. Practitioners develop, educate and educate a child with mental retardation, psycho-emotional disorders, diseases of the musculoskeletal system or with a complex defect structure.
Specialists in the field of defectology are conditionally divided into two categories. In the broad sense of the interpretation of the term, this is a specialist who studies, educates, educates and socializes children with developmental disabilities. In the narrow sense of the term, this is a correctional teacher who works with the characteristics of child development. For example, it helps to deliver a speech, teach a child new skills, develop mindfulness and concentration.
What symptoms should you see a doctor for?
An unscheduled inspection is necessary in such cases:
- at a year and a half, the baby does not use individual words or syllables, does not form phrases, speech is monosyllabic and slurred;
- at two years, speech is slurred or the baby refuses to talk at all;
- at three years old, the child pronounces sounds too slowly or too quickly, stutters, confuses endings, cannot make a simple sentence, and his vocabulary is less than 30 words;
- at four years old, a poor vocabulary, communication consists of short phrases and an abundance of errors;
- at the age of seven, the child does not know how to write / read or write poorly.
Absolutely all children under 3 years of age must be examined and consulted by a defectologist. Why at this age? Until the age of 3, the child develops speech and speech diagnoses are not made, because it is not known how the baby will speak later. At this time, the defectologist will determine the level of development of the baby, whether he is age-appropriate, check his emotional / physical / speech readiness. After 3 years, when many sounds are already formed and pronounced clearly, the defectologist can correct them and “set” the desired sound.
If your child has one of the above symptoms, contact a neurologist. He will exclude serious pathologies of the nervous system, and then send him to an appointment with a defectologist for speech correction.
Defectological diagnostics has no age restrictions. Timely treatment is the key to successful treatment, but the problem can be corrected even in a neglected case. A speech therapist will help improve or form vocabulary, put a syllable and phrases. In some cases, special massage, physiotherapy or other therapeutic methods will be needed.
Methods of diagnosis and treatment
The defectologist analyzes the sociability of the baby, his intellectual, speech and physical readiness. The doctor checks the vocabulary, the level of development of psychological processes that allow using the acquired knowledge. Speech readiness implies the formation of a sound system, grammatical correctness and quality of speech.
Diagnostics takes place in a playful way using various methods and techniques. For example, a defectologist will show the child several cards with objects and ask him to remove the excess or explain what is common between these objects. The child may be asked to reproduce text, come up with simple or complex analogies, circle the dots to make a drawing, or connect the silhouette of an animal with its color image. The number of tasks, diagnostic time, their complexity and specifics are determined on an individual basis. Diagnosis of an adult is much faster and easier. Most often, this is a dialogue during which complaints, strengths and weaknesses of the patient are clarified.
Diagnostic measures can fit in one appointment or stretch into a series of dozens of visits. It all depends on the adaptation of the baby to an outsider – a defectologist. If the child does not feel comfortable, refuses to speak or follow the instructions of the doctor, then the diagnosis will have to be spent more than the planned time.
Based on the results obtained, a therapeutic course is drawn up. Classes can be held in boarding schools, specialized correctional schools, rehabilitation centers, kindergartens. In private clinics, it is possible to call a defectologist at home so that the baby feels as comfortable as possible.
The defectologist selects a combination of several techniques for each patient. These can be breathing exercises, massage of the speech apparatus, active physical activity, articulatory gymnastics or the study of each sound separately. Sometimes a defectologist works in conjunction with a psychologist, neurologist, pediatrician or otolaryngologist for a comprehensive impact on the problem and the speedy normalization of speech. The therapeutic course may change periodically, depending on the success of the baby and his comfort. Strictly follow medical prescriptions, regularly take your child to a consultation and be healthy!