Inclusion of parents in speech therapy work on the correction of speech disorders in children

Abstract

Introduction. The need to include parents in the correctional and educational process of children with disabilities is indicated in international and federal regulations, in Russian and foreign theoretical and practical studies. However, most parents have little idea of possibilities of their participation in the correction of developmental disorders, in particular, the correction of speech disorders in children. The study of parents’ correctional and speech therapy competence in order to develop a program for organizing the speech therapy work of parents with preschoolers with general speech underdevelopment (GSU) determines the relevance of this study. Materials and methods. The study involved 96 people, including 48 preschoolers with three-level GSU at the age of 5-6 and 48 parents at the age of 27±5.4. Research methods and techniques: a questionnaire by V.A. Borodina, K.S. Vasilyeva, which reveals the components of parents’ correctional and speech therapy competence (motivational, cognitive, activity and evaluative ones); statistical processing was carried out using Student's t-test. Results. According to the results of the ascertaining experiment, 54% of parents showed an average level and 46% – a low level of correctional and speech therapy competence. After applying a specially developed program for organizing parents’ speech therapy work with preschoolers with GSU, significant changes in parents’ correctional and speech therapy competence were diagnosed: a low level was detected in 4% of the parents, an average level – in 42%, and a high level – in 54%. When comparing the indicators before and after the formative experiment using Student's t-test, significant differences were revealed in the level of corrective speech therapy competence of parents of preschoolers with GSU (temp =12.0 p≤0.001). Conclusion. The data obtained in the study of the correctional and speech therapy competence of parents of children with GSU show that after the parents are included in speech therapy work to correct speech disorders in children by increasing parents’ motivation to interact with teachers of an educational institution, parents’ awareness of children’s speech development, special training in the organization of speech therapy classes with children, the effectiveness of speech therapy work to overcome general speech underdevelopment in preschoolers has increased.