Analysis of Communicative Adjustment Activities Used to Enhance Speech Production and Use among Children with Mental Disabilities in Special Units in Vihiga County,Kenya

Abstract

Communication is an essential aspect of life. Language forms the basis of communication. Communication adjustment refers to the shift in speech style depending on the interlocutors and context for better understanding. Children with mental disabilities suffer from retardation in respect to normal growth especially in their cognitive capacities. Consequently; they suffer from speech and language problems that lead to ineffective communication. They are therefore discriminated. It is in this view that the study analyzed communicative adjustment activities used to enhance speech production and use among children with mental disabilities in Vihiga County, Kenya. The study employed descriptive survey design. Sample was drawn from the special units in Vihiga County, Kenya. Data was collected using observation schedule and questionnaire. The instruments. Data analysis was through descriptive statistics;specifically frequency counts and percentages. The study found out that communicative adjustment activities enhance speech production and use among children with mild mental disabilities in Vihiga County. This calls for language instructors to be well grounded in a variety of communicative adjustment activities. The instructors’ level of understanding of the adjustment activities and their appropriate application will always enhance the speech production and use among the mentally challenged children. The study further found out that there was a relationship between communication adjustment skills and oral language use in children mental disabilities in Vihiga County. According to Cregan, 1998, as cited in Shiel et al., 2012 oral language is the first, most important and most frequently used structured medium of communication. It is the primary medium through which each individual child will be enabled to structure, to evaluate, to describe and to control his/her experience. It was noted that using fun activities to educate children with mild mental disabilities boost their oral language use. The use of storytelling to teach children with mild mental disabilities improves their use of oral language. It was found out that using interactive activities at home to teach communication skills to children with mild mental disabilities enhance their oral language use. It was found out that applying early intervention programmes to teach language skills to children with mild mental disabilities improves their use of oral language. The study further noted that language instructors and caregivers have influence on language production and use among children with mental disabilities in Vihiga County. Language instructors and caregivers can positively or negatively influence language production and use among children with mental disabilities. The caregivers’ language use has a direct influence on language production and use among children with mental disabilities. The training and experience of the language instructor affects the production and use of language by children with mental disabilities. Both the quantity and quality of what caregivers say matter for the mentally disabled children’s learning of language particularly on its production and use. Language instructors and caregivers can ask children with mental disabilities questions starting with words like who, what, when, where and why to encourage them to provide more complex response. Language instructors and caregivers play complementary roles in boosting language production and use among children with mental disabilities.