| Abstract [eng] |
Determinants of verbal associations of 4 – 11 years children SUMMARY We happen to live in the age of communications and global networking. The Internet and mobile telephone have become the accustomed means of communication. Therefore, it seems that the public speech culture should have reached the highest point of its development, and the children, as a result, should be able to employ a vast range of means of expression in their speech. Speech specialists, however, maintain the opposite. The results of different studies, conducted abroad, demonstrate that children’s vocabulary and expression capabilities do not correspond the required level for their age. In Lithuania, there is a considerable number of children with speech disorders. Different speech and language disorders can impede learning and have a negative impact on personal development. To prevent these problems, speech specialists try to work out different recommendations regarding the approach to be assumed in raising and educating children with speech disorders. However, speech specialists claim that research in this area is still inadequate. The study in question aims to establish determinants of verbal associations and they peculiarities. It involved 46 children with speech disorders and 40 children with normal speech development, subjected to a method of free associations. Based on the results of the study, it was established that the children with speech disorders have a stronger tendency towards not to respond reactions and grammatically incorrect verbal associations. These children, to compare to children with normal speech development, use fewer central and syntagmatic reactions, which demonstrate underdevelopment of their speech. The frequency of paradigmatic reactions in growing children with speech disorders have a tendency to decrease, giving way to syntagmatic and central ones. The observations show that children with normal speech development demonstrate the similar process. Furthermore, the study revealed that no respond reactions are more typical of boys with speech disorders than girls who happen to demonstrate higher central reaction frequency. |
