School maturity and preparedness from the point of view of speech therapists

This diploma thesis focuses on school maturity and preparedness from the perspective of speech-language therapists. The theoretical part focuses on the preschool child, his characteristics, and growth in all areas, including speech. Furthermore, it introduces speech disorders in preschool children by describing what impaired communication skills are and also discusses the most common speech disorders among preschool children. The thesis also presents information about speech therapy prevention, stating what its principles are, and also introduces preschool education in the context of speech therapy prevention. The last chapter deals with the child's preparation for entering the first grade, explains the difference between school maturity and school preparedness and introduces school immaturity and school deferrals. The practical part is prepared with the help of a qualitative research investigation, where a structured interview with open questions was used. The respondents consisted of speech therapists working in the health or education department. A total of 12 interviews were conducted. The aim of the work was to find out how to appropriately support the child's school maturity and preparation for the first grade so that he/she can manage everything without difficulties. As a partial result, a..