Case Study about Speech and Language Impairment
You are requested to discuss the different language problems Orlas family encountered and what basic communicative needs does a child with language impairment might lack?
Suggest ways and solutions that could have helped Orlas situation.
Orla was born prematurely and diagnosed at around 4 months with a hearing loss, but results were inconclusive as to the exact level of the hearing loss. Therefore her first few months of life were very traumatic for her family who felt quite alone with their problems. Orlas subsequent diagnosis was a profound loss and she received a cochlear implant at about 3 years old. Orla received very little local support apart from a visit once a week from a teacher of the deaf. There was no input from a speech and language therapist. Communication problems led to difficulties in the home. Orla became increasingly frustrated and relationships within the family were strained. When a few signs were successfully introduced her parents taught themselves more from books and the internet. Her mother says that they were delighted when a cochlear implant was suggested, but were then very disappointed afterwards when her language progress overall was very slow we werent prepared for that as she seemed very bright in all other areas. We just needed someone to give us some support. Our next disappointment was the nursery school was not prepared for Orlas arrival and so I had to provide them with a lot of information and ideas for communicating with her. I even had to suggest where they might find a teaching assistant with sign language skills. Orlas mother felt she had to act as a mediator between the nursery school and the local authority about the level of support required. Support was funded by the Early Years Inclusion Service but on a termly basis making it difficult for the nursery school to plan ahead. On starting school at 4.5 years Orlas understanding of the spoken word and her own use of language were equivalent to a child of two years (…) (The Communication Trust, 2010, pp. 13)
Retrieved from http://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/media/13577/case_studies_report final__june_2010.pdf
