Lecture
The functions of the educational environment, defined as a system of influences and conditions for personality formation, as well as of the possibilities for its development contained in the social and spatial-object surroundings, are: the stimulation of various types of the child's activity,
the ensuring of their effectiveness and of a favorable social status
for the child.
The structuring of the educational environment should be provided for in
programs of psychological-pedagogical support.
The main groups of environmental resources for children with disorders
of speech are: spatial, object-related, organizational, and socio-psychological.
In the space of the room for speech-therapy sessions (for group,
subgroup, and individual sessions), three zones are traditionally distinguished:
1) a zone in which the space-organizing element is a wall mirror, in front of which a significant part of the individual sessions for sound elicitation and automation, facial
gymnastics, and other exercises are conducted. Thought should be given to the lighting of the mirror
during daytime and evening sessions;
2) a zone for group sessions (up to 6 pupils) - formed from tables
and chairs for the children, wall boards (chalk, magnetic), a flannelgraph, etc. It is desirable that the room have a round table. If there is
none, the tables can be pushed together or the chairs arranged in a semicircle so that
the pupils are seated facing one another, which is important for interaction;
3) a zone for the speech therapist's workplace - consisting of the therapist's desk,
cabinets for visual aids, books, etc., and a place for a tape recorder, computer, and so on.
It is also advisable to set aside such zones as:
a zone for conducting psycho-gymnastics and logorhythmic and other
exercises involving the children's performance of movements in various
directions; and a zone whose element is a couch for conducting
individual work by means of speech-therapy massage, breathing exercises, and so on.
The space is organized in such a way that the children can
move about freely in it (including performing movements in various directions while conducting psycho-gymnastic and logorhythmic
exercises). It is important to provide spaces that are constantly accessible
to the children and that differ in their function and atmosphere, emotionally colored in different ways; intended for communication and for solitude. If
a child wants to, he or she should have the conditions for spatial separation from the other members of the group. One should bear in mind children's
with SSD inherent increased exhaustibility and fatigability, and provide the indicated subspaces.
The setting should stimulate the child's speech development - special speech corners are created, filled with various
aids for developing fine motor skills and manual praxis; illustrative material on lexical topics and basic phonetic groups, as well as for developing phrasal speech and phonemic
hearing; toys for developing diaphragmatic-costal breathing, and so on.
It is advisable to set aside and arrange corners: for doll therapy and fairy-tale therapy - for the purpose of developing coherent expressive speech and overcoming logophobia, for sand therapy, for games with various loose materials
and water (a «finger pool» - for developing fine finger movements
of the hands, which is an important means of stimulating speech and increasing working capacity), and others, for visual-art activities (modeling, appliqué, construction, drawing) - for the purpose of developing fine
motor skills, spatial orientation, and the planning and regulating
function of speech, etc.
The object-related aspect of the educational environment for children with
speech disorders includes the following equipment:
- apparatus and devices: a tape recorder, a dictaphone, a metronome, a video recorder, audio cassettes, hand mirrors and a wall mirror, a personal computer and the computer programs «Visible Speech», «Communication», AIR-type devices, a stopwatch, an hourglass, a screen, a slide projector (or filmoscope);
- medical instruments and materials: sets of speech-therapy
probes and spatulas, cotton wool, bandages, gauze and paper wipes, disinfecting material;
- special furniture and equipment: a washbasin, a couch - for
conducting massage and relaxation exercises, a small table for instruments, a table by the wall mirror with local lighting, a screen for
screening the speech therapist's face;
- demonstration equipment: wall boards (chalk and
magnetic), a typesetting canvas, a flannelgraph. Wall panels made of
carpet, colored oilcloth, and other modern
material, to which letters on an adhesive
backing, word cards, various pictures and the like can easily be attached, may also be used, along with white and colored chalk, sets of colored pencils, pens, and markers;
- didactic material: a wall letter case, a wall syllable table, individual letter and syllable cases, sound and syllable
charts, various speech games and games for developing fine motor skills,
sensory abilities, attention and memory, and mental operations,
illustrative material for developing oral and written
speech, toys (including sound-making and figurative ones), mock-ups, construction sets,
counting material, albums and other material for assessment, books
for reading, collections of dictations, and so on.
The text and illustrative aids used must meet technical and aesthetic requirements, be neatly made, and be safe for children.
The room must be well ventilated (for conducting breathing exercises). Other hygienic conditions - the temperature
regime, adequate lighting, furniture in accordance with the results
of anthropometry, etc. - must be optimal. The room for speech-therapy sessions must meet soundproofing requirements.
In organizing the object-spatial environment (the coloring of walls,
the selection of the color scheme of curtains, blinds, carpeting, and elements
of interior design, etc.), it is advisable to use chromotherapy - taking into account
the properties of colors (their calming or activating effect).
Of special importance in teaching children with speech disorders are the organizational components of the educational environment, above
all, the observance in the educational institution and the family of a unified
speech regime (a system of measures and requirements aimed at
consolidating the correct pronunciation skills the children have acquired).
It is advisable to use, as rules regulating children's speech activity, various speech reminders,
rules of speech behavior for participants in dialogic communication (for
those who stutter - the basic rules of speech, formulas of autogenic training,
a diagram of speech breathing; for pupils with general speech underdevelopment - diagrams and algorithms for constructing a coherent utterance, etc.).
The organizational environmental resources also include the differentiation of the dosage of educational, and especially speech and linguistic, material
(taking into account the nature of the speech disorder and the stage of correctional work),
and the selection of linguistic material that is communicatively meaningful for the pupil, accessible in content, and appropriate to his or her pronunciation abilities.
The communicative orientation determines the content of speech-therapy work. It provides for the verbalization and discussion of natural situations - everyday, play, educational, and artistic ones, i.e.,
the conjoining of speech with actions, which makes it possible to develop the skill of linking the content of an event with the speech forms used to express it.
The socio-psychological aspect of the educational environment includes, above all, social relations, norms, habits, and needs.
Integration presupposes, first and foremost, the social adaptation of a child with SPPDN into the general system of social interactions and relations
within the educational environment into which he or she is being integrated.
An important factor in social integration is communication and cooperation with peers, as well as the attitude toward the child of the surrounding
adults (the speech therapist, the teacher, the parents of children with disorders
of speech and the parents of normally speaking children, and the support staff). The speech therapist interacts not only with the child but also with his or her
family (people from his or her immediate circle) - correctional work
thus acquires a «family-centered» character.
Main gr.
env. res.
Components of individual groups
of environmental resources
Spatial
resources
In the space of the room for speech-therapy sessions,
3 zones are distinguished: a wall mirror; a zone for group sessions (up to 6 pupils) - formed from tables and chairs for the children, wall boards (chalk, magnetic), a flannelgraph; a zone for the speech therapist's workplace - consisting of the therapist's desk, cabinets for visual aids, books,
and so on, and a place for a tape recorder, computer, etc. It is advisable to set aside zones for conducting psycho-gymnastic and logorhythmic exercises involving movements, a zone whose element
is a couch - for conducting individual work by means of
speech-therapy massage, breathing exercises, and so on. The room for
speech-therapy sessions must meet soundproofing requirements and
must be well ventilated (for conducting breathing exercises).
Object-related
resources
special furniture and equipment: a washbasin, a couch - for conducting massage and relaxation exercises, a small table for instruments, a table by the wall mirror with local lighting, a screen for
screening the speech therapist's face; apparatus and devices: a tape recorder, a dictaphone,
a metronome, a video recorder, audio cassettes, hand mirrors
and a wall mirror, a personal computer, AIR-type devices, a stopwatch,
an hourglass, a screen, a slide projector (or filmoscope); medical
instruments and materials: sets of speech-therapy probes and spatulas, cotton wool, bandages, gauze and paper wipes, disinfecting
material; equipment for demonstration: wall boards (chalk42
Electronic archive of the library of Mogilev State A.A. Kuleshov University
End of table
Main gr.
env. res.
Components of separate groups
of environmental resources
and magnetic), a flannel board, a felt board, a carpet-board (kovrolinograph),
white and colored chalk, sets of colored pencils, pens, markers;
didactic material: a wall letter case, a wall syllable table, individual letter and syllable cases, sound and syllable diagrams
of words, various speech games and games for developing fine motor skills,
sensory abilities, attention and memory, mental operations,
illustrative material for developing oral and written
speech, toys (including sound-producing and figurative ones), models, construction sets, counting material, albums and other material for assessment,
reading books, dictation collections, etc.
The materials used must meet technical and aesthetic
requirements (texts and illustrations must be clear). All materials must be neat and safe for children.
Organizational
resources
A unified speech regime (as a system of measures and requirements
aimed at consolidating the correct pronunciation skills children have acquired) in the educational institution and family. The speech therapist's speech as a model (orthoepic correctness, unhurried pace,
sufficient loudness and expressiveness, fluency of speech, correct
speech breathing, reliance on vowel sounds). Dosages of educational, and especially speech and language material, are differentiated, taking into account
the nature of the speech disorder and the stage of correctional work. Selection
of linguistic material: communicatively significant for the student,
accessible in content, corresponding to his pronunciation
capabilities. Use, as rules governing
children's speech activity, of various speech reminders, rules of speech behavior (for children with stuttering, general speech underdevelopment, etc.).
Socio-psychological
resources
The speech therapist teacher interacts not only with the child, but also with his
family («family centeredness»), acts within the framework of the technology
of professional interaction («interdisciplinarity of interaction»). A patient, tactful and benevolent attitude
of the speech therapist teacher toward the child and his parents (in any communication situations). The specialist chooses the communicative tone in the process of
counseling parents and fellow specialists. Involvement
of parents in the correctional-pedagogical process. Formation
in parents of an adequate position regarding the presence of a particular
speech disorder in the child.
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