Rosenbaum, S., & Simon, P. (2016). Childhood Speech and Language Disorders in the General US Population.
Language and speech disorders affect a large number of individuals, including students. A student suffering from a language or speech disorder prevents them from effectively communicating with their peers. When such conditions are severe and are not managed on time, it can prevent students from effectively participating in the different school activities hence making them not realize their full academic potential. According to Rosenbaum & Simon (2016), language and speech disorders are often used interchangeably, although they have different meanings. Language denotes the code or symbol system needed to transform unobservable mental events, while speech refers to the sounds produced by oral mechanisms, including the lips, tongue, vocal cords, and other related structures. When a student cannot effectively exhibit the outlined elements, their communication is significantly impaired (Rosenbaum & Simon, 2016),
Using the definition of language and speech, I believe speech disorders, especially fluency the most debilitating to a young student. Also known as stuttering, fluency disorder is often characterized by the disruption of one’s speech when communicating. A student suffering from stuttering will always present disfluent speeches containing excessive words, sounds, phrases, and involuntary breaks. Most students who have severe fluency disorder may often prevent young students from speaking at all. For young students to excel in their studies, they are required to have interactions with their peers and teachers. However, when their speech is impaired, it becomes difficult for them to express themselves, primarily in academic areas where detailed explanations need to be made effectively. A young student suffering from fluency disorder will always lack the required self-esteem needed to express themselves while in a group. This may prompt them to develop certain emotional behaviors, including avoiding expressing themselves. In the long run, they will not get the necessary academic support needed hence ending up Failing.
On the other hand, language disorders, especially pragmatics, are the least debilitating to a student. For instance, for a young student suffering from a receptive pragmatic language disorder, t may be difficult to understand messages involving abstract ideas such as metaphors and irony. However, this does not significantly impact the student because, when it is identified early, teachers will always initiate measures such as avoiding using abstract ideas in classes for the sake of the student with this disorder.
Question Two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc
Speech or language may be one of the effective ways through which different individuals express themselves. After watching the video, I have gained new insights concerning how different individuals communicate and the importance of paying attention to the communication models used by different people, especially among people experiencing various speech disorders. One of the reactions that I have to say is that every person was created in a unique way. Regardless of one’s disabilities, everyone often strives to communicate with people around them, even if it includes mimicking. According to the video, the person has a speech disorder since they cannot move their lips or vocal cords. As a result, they have developed ways through which they can communicate with their peers.
The second reaction after watching the video is that the human race has various differences. Despite the differences, it is vital to appreciate one another and pay attention to the different cues that any person, especially one that has a speech or learning disability. By doing so, these groups of people will always feel valued and appreciated.
After watching the video, the last reaction that I have observed is that most people with various disabilities are often never taken seriously by their peers. However, this group of people has unique ways of doing things, including communicating, tasting, and feeling things around. Despite these people being unique in their way, they have never been appreciated, and even if they did anything, people around them would always doubt them. To ensure that every person, including autistic people, are appreciated, people in our societies need to begin by agreeing that we have different forms of interactions. Hence, we should live by that and avoid discrimination or treating those with various speech disabilities with impartialities.
Question Three
English language learners may exhibit a wide range of challenges, including receptive vocabulary and grammar. As a result, instructors must strive to ensure that they look for possible cues that may be a sign of learning or speech disorders among this group of students. One of the indicators that one should look for relates to a learner’s difficulty comprehending a given text. When an English language learner experiences challenge comprehending a given text, it is a suggestion that they do not have the necessary English Language skills, including sentence structure, morphology, and pragmatics. Additionally, lack of comprehension of text may suggest that the students do not have the relevant background knowledge about the subject under discussion (Adelson et al., 2014). The second indicator may be adding, deleting, or replacing words or phrases when speaking. A student who exhibits such aspects may indicate that the learner is experiencing memory or language processing difficulties hence the need to devise methods to help this learner excel in this area. The last indicator is difficulties in reading and spelling different words. A common explanation for such behaviors may be attributed to the fact that the children may be suffering from memory problems and phonological processing deficits (Adelson et al., 2014). Once a teacher has noted these three indicators, special arrangements should be made to ensure that these students are assisted in realizing their full academic potential.
References
Adelson, V., Geva, E., & Fraser, C. (2014). Identification, assessment, and instruction of English language learners with learning difficulties in the elementary and intermediate grades. Applied Psychology & Human Development, 1-32.
Rosenbaum, S., & Simon, P. (2016). Childhood Speech and Language Disorders in the General US Population.
