SCOPE OF SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY

Abstract

The consistent indulgence of the developed world in neurological research, during the post second world war era, led to several discoveries and subsequently the laying down of several theories about socio-communicative behaviors in human beings. The areas of the brain responsible for the functions of speech and language were studied further, providing an insight to the role of the brain in cognitive skills of attention, recall, memory, analytical and inferential skills, as well as judgment, necessary during verbal and nonverbal communication. Information about cerebral dominance for language, which lies in the left hemisphere for a larger majority of people; led to establishing the role of the right hemisphere for the supra-segmental features of language, or the meaning of spoken utterances carried by the rhythm in our speech. Thus ‘aphasiology’ emerged as the ‘study of aphasia’ which is an acquired language disorder that results from an insult to the brain, mostly in adults who have used language in the best possible way through their lives; but may also be seen in children known as ‘childhood aphasia.’ The period and pattern of recovery from aphasia varied greatly in adults and children, which led to establishing the theory of ‘critical period’ for language development, shedding more light on the miraculous development and functioning of the human neurological system since birth, for language. Knowledge about the rapid development of the human brain in the early years of life led to the essential concept of ‘early intervention’ of children having any communicative or physical challenges.