LOGOPEDICS AND RECURRING SEROUS OTITIS ©

WHEN A CHILD SPEAKS, he hears himself talking via his bone tract (+ load of high pitch sound) and hears other people trough his aerial tract (+ load of low pitch sound). When the child suffers from recurring serous otitis (o.s.r.) the auditory level of what he hears does not vary, but the one of what other people say reflects a "decalaig" or distortion. In this situation, what he hears in his own voice, compared to what he hears from others, becomes distorted, making it progressive to learn the language in a harmonic, progressive way, in other words, the child is unable to discern the differences between the two productions i.e. his own and other people´s and establish a comparison. As a result, he is unable to achieve the correct production of not only his own speech but also the linguistic structures needed. The child that learns how to speak does not imitate the speech of people around him. He learns because he is able to analyze his phonetic linguistic code and compare it with other people´s, in a process of "trial and error". Keep in mind that during o.s.r. His ability to hear fluctuates, thereby he misses part of what is said. His hearing level will vary as long as he has o.s.r. The maximum risk period ranges from the age of eighteen to thirty months. Even up to six years old o.s.r. distorts the language. Later on, o.s.r. will be reflected on poor scholastic results. In France and in the last symposium on logopedics at the hospital, it has been concluded that fighty percent of children with o.s.r. have language problems to a certain degree.

Luisa Cabré.

Logopeda.

© Barcelona 1996-2006

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