Marta Ljubešić

The use of AAC with young children in croatia--- from the speech and language pathologist's view

All children with complex communication needs have the right to engage in interpersonal communication and participate in society. The field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) provides education, systems and practice that enable such participation. AAC requires a multidisciplinary approach. A speech and language pathologist (SLP) is an important member of the team responsible for assessment, implementation and evaluation within AAC. This paper presents the current knowledge and practice of SLPs in Croatia in the area of AAC. The data shows that SLPs in Croatia rarely use aided and high-technology tools with clients. Three cases of children with low levels of expressive communication are elaborated from the aspect of their needs and intervention. It is concluded that the area of AAC has a great need for attention in the following: 1) further promotion among the general public, 2) multidisciplinary collaboration and 3) additional education for professionals.

Some insights into specific language impairment in Croatian

This paper presents a short-term longitudinal study of specific language impairment (SLI) in school children and tries to give a detailed linguistic and non-linguistic description of the phenomenon. Two groups of elementary school children, grade 1 to 4, age 7 to 10, were tested. The first group consisted of children with SLI (n = 61) and the control group consisted of children with no language difficulties (n = 61). There follows a detailed presentation of two language variables (plural/dual formation and detection and correction of incorrect inflections). The results obtained are discussed. The conclusion which could be drawn is that children with SLI show more problems in knowledge of language and its usage, though they are not characterized by any kind of general language deficiency.

Health care system in the domain of Early Childhood Intervention

Potaknuta potrebama obitelji i postojecim stanjem rane intervencije u Republici Hrvatskoj, Hrvatska udruga za ranu intervenciju u djetinjstvu pokrenula je stvaranje jedinstvene baze podataka o uslugama rane intervencije u Republici Hrvatskoj. Cilj baze podataka je omoguciti jednostavan pristup sveobuhvatnim i provjerenim informacijama o uslugama rane intervencije u djetinjstvu, koje se pružaju u Republici Hrvatskoj u podrucju predskolskog odgoja, sustava zdravlja i socijalne skrbi. U ovom radu bit ce prikazani podatci dobiveni u državnim i privatnim zdravstvenim ustanovama radi uvida u trenutno stanje pružanja usluga u domeni rane intervencije u djetinjstvu na podrucju Republike Hrvatske u sustavu zdravlja. Podatci su prikupljeni putem anketnog upitnika u obliku internetske aplikacije. Uzorak su cinile 41 državna i 32 privatne zdravstvene ustanove prijavljene u sustavu zdravstva. Rezultati upucuju na geografsku centraliziranost strucnjaka koji pružaju usluge u domeni rane intervencije u sustavu zdravlja, te ih je najvise na podrucju Grada Zagreba. No nije evidentirana statisticki znacajna razlika između županija u odnosu na vrstu teskoca kojima se bave, strucnjaka koje zaposljavaju i usluga koje se pružaju. Usporedba između privatnih i državnih zdravstvenih ustanova pokazala je da su privatne organizacije po strukturi zaposlenih i vrsti usluga bliže suvremenom konceptu rane intervencije, koji se fokusira i na dijete i na njegove roditelje te nije dominantno usmjeren na motoricki aspekt djetetovog razvoja. Tako privatni sektor dopunjava ono sto državni ne daje, ali te usluge roditelji moraju sami placati.Potaknuta potrebama obitelji i postojecim stanjem rane intervencije u Republici Hrvatskoj, Hrvatska udruga za ranu intervenciju u djetinjstvu pokrenula je stvaranje jedinstvene baze podataka o uslugama rane intervencije u Republici Hrvatskoj. Cilj baze podataka je omoguciti jednostavan pristup sveobuhvatnim i provjerenim informacijama o uslugama rane intervencije u djetinjstvu koje se pružaju u Republici Hrvatskoj u podrucju predskolskog odgoja, sustava zdravlja i sustava socijalne skrbi. U ovom radu bit ce prikazani podaci dobiveni unutar državnih i privatnih zdravstvenih ustanova s ciljem uvida u trenutno stanje pružanja usluga u domeni rane intervencije u djetinjstvu na podrucju Republike Hrvatske u sustavu zdravlja. Podaci su prikupljeni putem anketnog upitnika u obliku internetske aplikacije. Uzorak su cinile 41 državna zdravstvena ustanova te 32 privatne ustanove prijavljene u sustavu zdravstva. Rezultati ukazuju na geografsku centraliziranost strucnjaka koji pružaju usluge u domeni rane intervencije unutar sustava zdravlja, te ih je najvise na podrucju Grada Zagreba. Međutim nije evidentirana statisticki znacajna razlika između županija u odnosu na vrstu teskoca kojima se bave, strucnjaka koje zaposljavaju i usluga koje se pružaju. Usporedba između privatnih i državnih zdravstvenih ustanova pokazala je da su privatne organizacije po strukturi zaposlenih i vrsti usluga bliže suvremenom konceptu rane intervencije koji ima fokus i na djetetu i na njegovim roditeljima, te nije dominantno usmjeren na motoricki aspekt djetetovog razvoja. Tako privatni sektor dopunjava ono sto državni ne daje, ali te usluge roditelji moraju sami placati.

Early communication development in socially deprived children — similar to autism?

Social deprivation leads to various neuroanatomical, neuropsychological and behavioral disturbances in humans as well as in experimental animals. Shared characteristics of socially deprived subjects and subjects with autism have been documented. The aim of this study was to analyze early development of communication in institutionalized (INST) children (12–24 months) in comparison with age- and sexmatched group of typically developing (TD) children and a group of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Our findings show that both socially deprived (INST) children and ASD children display delayed pattern of development in social, speech and symbolic domains. However, although INST children display significant developmental delay and share some features with ASD children, they have a qualitatively different developmental pattern of social communication in comparison to children with ASD. The results of this study indicate that growing up in an institution and lack of social and environmental stimuli influences development of skills that are fundamental for early speech and language development.

Early lexical and morphosyntactic development in children with perinatal brain injury acquiring Croatian

The aim of this paper is to analyse early lexical and morphosyntactic development in children with perinatal brain injury acquiring Croatian. Subjects were seven monolingual children who suffered early brain injury and were selected when they started producing first word combinations and had an expressive vocabulary in a range from 50 to 200 words. A combination of parent-reports, samples of spontaneous speech and a standardized language test was used. The results were interpreted within the framework of data on language development in children with early brain injury, but also within the framework of acquiring a morphologically highly inflected language. Four of the seven subjects show delayed language expression and dissociation between language comprehension and expression. However, all subjects very early on began to use grammatical morphemes. Furthermore, an interrelation between the morphosyntactic compexity of a childs utterances and mother-child interaction patterns was found.

Early Childhood Inclusion in Croatia.

This article explains early childhood inclusion in Croatia from its beginnings up to challenges in current policy and practice. The first preschool education for children with disabilities dates back to the 1980s and was provided in special institutions. In the last 10 years, mainstream kindergartens have been enrolling children with disabilities but unevenly in different Croatian regions and also with a different quality of support. The lower economic potential of the rural and smaller local communities adversely influence the possibility of organizing support for children with disabilities in general, especially in an inclusive setting. The great challenge in analyzing the quality of early childhood inclusion in educational settings is the lack of reliable sources of data and evaluation research. Main challenges in early childhood inclusion and future directions are discussed.