Strengths of children with language retardation, how to make full use of those strengths is one of the concerns of parents with children in this group. Developing strengths to help children enhance their quality of life and support self-care in the future is what many experts for children especially aim for.
Strengths of children with language delays are being discovered
Many people often say that, when a person is defective in one aspect, there will be a great development in another to compensate. For example, people with visual impairment often have extremely sensitive hearing, their perception ability is also extremely good to be able to protect themselves in daily life.
Many people always wonder what the strengths of children with language delays are and how to best develop them. Many experts and studies have taken place with the goal of learning about the advantages of children with language delays in order to promote it, create the best conditions for children to develop aspects of themselves. .
Accordingly, children with language delays are often characterized by being able to say a few words, but without enough vocabulary to express themselves, they often cannot understand the words themselves. Children’s speech is often quite messy, difficult to understand, and children cannot arrange themselves into meaningful sentences to express personal needs when necessary.
Let’s look at the research on the strengths of children with language delays done by the following experts
Research conducted by Kenn Apel, Alan G.Kamhi and Lauren K.Nelson
Authors Kenn Apel, Alan G.Kamhi and Lauren K.Nelson co-authored a study called Cognitive Strengths and Weaknesses in Language-Impaired Children. language development”) in 1987. Accordingly, this study was conducted on a group of 30 children, of which 15 children had normal development and 15 children had language delays.
This study was conducted by having children do a survey on the problem of discrimination-learning. The researcher will provide the child with a list of problems with clear input and problems with unclear information. Children will participate in finding the correct answers for both types of questions.
Subsequent results showed that the achievements of the children participating in the survey were similar to their children’s abilities and of course there were significant differences. Both normal children and children with mental retardation solved problems with correct input more than those without input.
On the other hand, the strengths of children with language delay were not found in this study because the results of normal children were still much better than children with developmental delays. Deficiencies in children with delayed language development also seriously affect their ability to encode information significantly, so their performance is often worse.
Research by Michelle C. St Clair, Ailsa J. Russell and Anessa Lloyd-Esenkaya
Research conducted by Kenn Apel, Alan G.Kamhi and Lauren K.Nelson did not find the strengths of children with language delay, so the research is still ongoing. In 2020, another study by the authors Michelle C. St Clair, Ailsa J. Russell and Anessa Lloyd-Esenkaya continues to be conducted to answer questions about the ability of children with mental retardation.
Accordingly, this study is titled “What Are the Peer Interaction Strengths and Difficulties in Children with Developmental Language Disorder? A Systematic Review”.
The conclusions after conducting this study are published as follows:
- Children with language delay tend to be shy, lack self-confidence, withdraw in crowded places and limit social interaction activities. The obvious cause is that children cannot understand what others say, cannot express thoughts and feelings in words, so it is difficult to interact or communicate with people, gradually narrowing themselves to society.
- Children with delayed language development when they reach school age are often less flexible, have poor learning ability and also have difficulty in making decisions, even if it is a very simple situation.
- Children with language delays have almost no friends because they do not know how to make friends, are afraid to contact or interact with friends even though they really want to/
- When talking with others, children with language delays can quickly feel lonely and lost, because they do not understand what others say, so they cannot continue the conversation.
With the initial goal of finding out the strengths of children with language delays, the conclusion is completely opposite. There is very little or no evidence of children’s particular strengths or abilities in language development. Therefore, children continue to face many difficulties in daily life.
What should parents do when their child shows signs of language delay?
It is important to understand that while there are no strong points when a child has a language delay, this does not mean that all stages or all situations are the same. It should be known that there are many causes for children to delay language development, so solving these causes can help children develop normally and develop themselves more comprehensively.
On the other hand, there is no common ground about the strengths of children with language delays, but each child may have their own strengths waiting to be discovered. For example, if the child’s language delay is related to autism, it is often assessed as having extremely sensitive hearing, good memory and these are clearly strengths that not everyone has.
So what should parents do to gradually explore the strengths of children with language delays?
- Take the child to the hospital to examine and find the exact cause of the child’s delay in language development. It is not possible to treat the disease without understanding what the causative factor is. On the other hand, not knowing the cause and continuing to intervene for children with language delay can lead to misdirection and make the condition worse.
- Strengthen children’s language through individual therapies. Only when children have vocabulary, actively communicate, understand words about effective cognitive enhancement, will they be able to learn and develop their own strengths. For example, if you can remember well but can’t speak, surely no one can know that you have this ability.
- Create conditions for children to study, participate in social activities, games or thinking development programs to improve cognitive impairments for children. Children may learn and remember more slowly, but through daily cultivation and perseverance, children can still significantly increase their cognition.
- Reading stories, letting children listen to music or participating in physical activities are among the recommended measures to especially language for children.
- To discover the strengths of children with language delays early, it is necessary to encourage children to communicate more through asking questions or creating stories that focus on topics and content that they love and care about.
- Supplementing with adequate nutrition, especially the groups of substances necessary for the brain to develop comprehensively in terms of cognition, brain, and physical body for young children.
- Psychological care for children to have a comfortable, positive, and happy spirit, limiting negative states that lead to their children’s impulsive behaviors that can harm both themselves and those around them
- For children to participate in a special education environment for special children to receive the right education, appropriate to their condition. Children have just been enhanced in language and cognition and improved relationships because in this environment most of them are children with similar characteristics, so there will be no isolation and separation, so children can also communicate, find friends easier
Although studies have not yet shown the strengths of children with language delays, this does not mean that children are weak. Correct and timely treatment interventions and strengthening educational measures to supplement language and daily awareness will help children improve their defects and discover their strengths.
