WHAT ARE SPEECH SOUND DISORDERS?
At Sound Start Speech Pathology, we focus on assessment and therapy services for children with Speech Sound Disorders. So what exactly are Speech Sound Disorders?
Speech Sound Disorders are a type of communication difficulty seen in children. As children learn to speak, it is common for them to make some errors with their sounds as they master this new skill and learn the rules for how and when to use different sounds. Children who have more difficulty with this learning process may have a Speech Sound Disorder.
A child with a Speech Sound Disorder may use a smaller range of sounds than what is expected for their age, have errors or substitutions that persist or have unclear speech that makes it difficult for others to understand them.
Speech Sound Disorders may be described or labelled in different ways, (outlined below). Children may just have one type of speech sound disorder, or a combination of different types.
For many children with Speech Sound Disorders, there is not a clear cause. Some children may have a known cause such as an injury to the nerves involved in speech or the brain, developmental delays, a history of hearing loss or structural differences such as a cleft palate.
Despite what may be suggested by some friends, family or even some doctors, a 'wait and see' approach isn't always the best approach when it comes to speech sound disorders. For some children, a delay in seeking support can mean missing months or even years of crucial therapy time.
If you or anyone in regular contact with your child (i.e. family, teachers) have concerns about your child's speech sounds, contact us to discuss these concerns. We can help you decide if an assessment is needed at this stage, or if a period of monitoring is appropriate for your child.
ARTICULATION
Children with articulation disorders have difficulty making specific sounds. The most commonly known articulation error is a lisp, however there are other types of articulation difficulties.
A child with an articulation difficulty may:
Produce the correct sound but in a distorted way (i.e. sounds like 's, z, sh, ch, j' may sound slushy or wet)
Produce the sound with incorrect placement of the lips or tongue (i.e. a 's' sound made with the tongue between the teeth)
Replace a sound they cannot make at all with a different sound (i.e. The word ‘thumb’ may sound like ‘fumb’)
PHONOLOGY
Phonology refers to the rules and patterns of how we put sounds together to make words. A child with a phonological delay or disorder will have sound substitutions and sound errors, known as ‘phonological patterns’ when talking.
A child with a phonological difficulty may know how to say the sound, but hasn't yet learnt when to use it correctly. They may substitute in a different sound (i.e. using the ‘t’ sound in place of ‘k’, making ‘key’ sound like ‘tea’, and ‘car’ sound like ‘tar’), or even delete sounds from words (i.e. making 'same' sound like 'say', 'feet' sound like 'fee' or 'play' sound like 'pay').
These errors can then change the meaning of what they child says and can be confusing for others (i.e. saying "Can I pay?" when meaning "Can I play?").
Error patterns may be consistent (i.e. the same error is used each time), or inconsistent (i.e. a word may be said in different ways).
CHILDHOOD APRAXIA OF SPEECH
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a rare motor speech disorder, where a child has difficulty correctly planning out movements for speech, and errors producing and combining sounds, syllables and words to achieve clear speech.
A child with CAS typically knows what they want to say, but has difficulty getting a clear message from the brain down to the lips, tongue and jaw to produce and sequence sounds the way they need to. Children with CAS are often very difficulty to understand.
CHILDHOOD DYSARTHRIA
Childhood dysarthria is a motor speech disorder, caused by muscle spasticity or weakness, or difficulty coordinating movements for speech. A child with dysarthria may have speech that sounds slurred, imprecise, breathy or slow, and may be difficult to understand.
VELOPHARYNGEAL INCOMPETENCE OR INSUFFICIENCY
During speech, the soft palate (part of the roof of the mouth) moves up and down. The soft palate moves down for the 'm', 'n' and 'ng' sounds, allowing air (and sound) to come out through the nose. The soft palate then moves up for all other consonant and vowel sounds, directing air out of the mouth and blocking air from escaping out the nose.
Velopharyngeal Incompetence or Insufficiency (VPI) occurs when the soft palate is unable to move in the way needed, resulting in extra air coming out the nose during speech. It may be 'insufficient' (i.e. too short/misshaped), or 'incompetent' (i.e. not moving up and down in a coordinated way or moving at the wrong times).
This can make sounds unclear or cause speech errors. VPI can occur in children with cleft palates, submucous clefts or in conditions such as 22q.11.2 deletion syndrome.
CLEFT PALATE SPEECH ERRORS
Children with a cleft palate may have errors related to their cleft, due to the differences in structures of the mouth. Errors may be learnt as children try to compensate for the cleft, and these errors pay persist even after surgery to repair the cleft. Common errors are having air escaping from the nose during speech, and also making sounds further back in the mouth or throat.
Children with cleft palates may also have ‘typical’ errors seen in other children.