An interactive speech therapy complex for treating children with speech impediments inaugurated in Tobolsk

15 july 2021

Tobolsk saw an interactive speech therapy Antoshka set-up inaugurated as part of a project called "Teach Me to Talk". This procurement was made possible by a grant awarded to a Tobolsk branch of Nadezhda, a regional children's treatment and rehabilitation center, for winning a grant contest organized under the auspices of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.

The Nadezhda Center offers medico-pedagogical rehabilitation of children with psychoneurological conditions aged from 2 months old to 18 years old, including children with disabilities. One of the most important areas of the Center’s specialization is speech therapy for children with severe and moderate speech impediments. The Center treats up to 2,000 children annually, of whom 25% are disabled. 75 to 80% of the children undergoing rehabilitation at the Center have a speech pathology. By using the newly purchased interactive equipment in the rehabilitation process, children afflicted with medical conditions will be able to get engaged in a creative process on their own.

In this age of computers, it is hard to fascinate children with learning, especially children with health limitations who have a characteristically short attention span or suffer from memory loss: they take a long time trying to focus on a specific activity or have trouble quickly switching from one thing to another. Such children tire fast resulting in reduced effectiveness of corrective treatment. By using state-of-the-art information and communication technologies for rehabilitation one can help children take an interest in learning. Interactive equipment can be used to get all perceptive organs - auditory, visual and tactile – involved in learning. So, when it’s about more than just perceiving, but also about remembering things, the importance of motor memory increases helping to activate speech centers and thus assuring successful rehabilitation, Larisa Zernova, Head of the Tobolsk branch of the regional Nadezhda children's treatment and rehabilitation center, commented.

Socialization of children with speech impediments is extremely important because it is a strong predictor of whether the child will be able to realize his or her full potential as an adult. Today, we got to put ourselves in these children’s shoes, test the equipment, and see for ourselves how creative, innovative and effective it is, Jamilya Akhmatova, Leading Public Relations Specialist at ZapSibNeftekhim LLC, noted.