The main goal of the master’s thesis is to analyse the parent’s knowledge about speech and language development, with focus on the speech sounds development and the consequences of speech and language disorders in preschool children. We used a survey to gather data. In the first part of the survey, parents were asked to assign the child’s age to learning specific sounds and in the second part the parents were asked to rate on the scale of one to five what they think about parent’s preventive interventions, effects on speech and language development, speech and language deviations and the consequences of speech and language disorders. The survey was carried out among 100 parents, half of which have had contact with a speech therapist. The target group were parents of children aged 3–6, which is the period of intensive speech development in children.
The results show that parents expect their children to learn sounds at a younger age than according to the norms. Parents found it most difficult to define the right age to learn sibilants and affricates. Our results display statistically significant differences when assigning the appropriate age limits and knowing about the consequences between the parents who visited a speech therapist and those who have not. However, both groups of parents are well aware of the role they play in preventive interventions. On average, parents do not take position on the right conditions for language acquisition and on speech and language deviations that ought to be addressed by a speech therapist. Statistically, parents who have already consulted a speech therapist are better at recognizing speech and language deviations that require therapy and are more aware of the consequences of speech and language disorders.
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