By Stella Kabruk
A speech therapist, Dr Maryam Ibrahim -Maifada has advised parents to talk to their infants and read them stories to prevent speech disorder.
Maifada of the National Ear Care Center disclosed in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Kaduna.
She said infants learns speech by listening, and parents act as first teacher for their Children.
She said speech disorder is a condition in which a person has problems creating or forming the speech sounds needed to communicate with others,and it can make the child’s speech difficult to understand.
She however listed Common speech disorders to include ;Articulation Disorder,Phonology Disorder,Disfluency Disorder ,Voice Disorder ,Apraxia,Dysarthria of Speech .
She advised parents to encourage their children to speak more and not force them.
She also said parents should also talk a lot to their small babies.
"Speech is one of the main ways in which we communicate with those around us it develops naturally along with others signs of normal growth and development.
" Disorders of speech and language are common in preschool age children.
She listed hearing loss,problems or changes in the structure or shape of the muscles and bones used to make speech sounds eg cleft palate and tooth problems.
As part of the causes of speech disorder in children.
She also added damage to parts of the brain or the nerves such as cerebral palsy that control how the muscles work together to create speech.,Cancer of the throat,Brain Damage due to stroke( Apraxia).
Other causes included Autism,Dementia egenerative diseases e.g Parkinson’s disease.,Downsyndrone and family history of speech disorder.
The therapist also advised parents to be vigilant of their child’s milestones development.
"If you Notice any speech develop delay consult specialist at the earliest.
"Baby by 9 months should be able to call mama, dada and by 1year, the babys speech should be understandable by age of 3-4yrs.
"If you feel your baby is having hearing problems or low intelligence, consult Doctor by seeking early treatment for better prognosis.
Governor Yahaya Bello is against zoning 2023 Presidency to any region
Bello says no political party should limit its choice to any particular zone.
Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, says zoning the Presidency to any specific region in the country is unconstitutional and should not be in play for the 2023 presidential election.
The 46-year-old is known to be eyeing the nation's highest political office in the upcoming election, but his ambition faces an initial uphill battle as there's an intense campaign for the next president to emerge from the southern region.
While speaking at a seminar on Friday, July 9, 2021, Bello said no political party should limit its choice to any of Nigeria's six geopolitical zones.
The governor further suggested that if zoning is employed anyway, the options should be limited to the south east, and his own north central, the two zones he said have not occupied the President or Vice President positions since the 1999 return to democratic governance.
He said, "All I can say is that in factoring your 2023 equations, please allow yourselves to be guided by the national interest to input the following factors: youthfulness, courage, security, diversity, and clear records in successfully managing diversity which is where most post-independence leaders of Nigeria have failed."
There's an unwritten agreement on the rotation of the presidency between the north and the south, with the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, set to end his second term in 2023.
Nothing appears concrete as to where the two major political parties will zone their tickets less than two years to the next elections.
Even if the parties zone the tickets to the south, there are internal conflicts about which geopolitical zone deserves to have it.
President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999 - 2007) from the south west, and President Goodluck Jonathan (2010 - 2015) from the south south have both occupied the nation's highest political office.
There have been demands for the 2023 slot to go to the south east but there's no consensus yet in the region.
Bello on Friday noted that he has managed to create a legacy of cooperation and integration as Kogi governor, a success he said needs to be deployed on a national scale.
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