Speech & Phonological Processes Disorders

As young children learn speech and language skills, it’s normal to have some difficulty saying words correctly. That’s part of the learning process. Children develop speech by learning how to use the structures of the mouth (jaw, lips, tongue, cheeks, and the soft palate) by moving them in a coordinated and precise manner to create the unique sounds of their language system. As their speech skills develop over time, children learn how to master certain sounds and words by modeling them from adults in their life.

ABOUT

Articulation Disorders are when a child demonstrates the inability to form certain sounds correctly that are beyond an expected age. Sounds in words may be dropped, added, distorted, or substituted. However, it should be put into consideration that some sound changes may be part of an accent and are not speech errors. Signs of an articulation disorder can include:

Substitutions: one or more sounds are substituted (e.g., “TH” for “F” as in “Fumb” for “Thumb”)
Omissions: deleting or omitting sounds from the beginning, middle or end of words (e.g., “Cu” for “Cup”)
Distortions: where certain sounds are altered or changed to reduce the clarity of its sound features (e.g., “Shhpoon” for “Spoon”)
Addition: adding additional sounds to the word (e.g., “Puhlay” for “Play”)

Phonological Processes Disorders are when children continue to produce a system of sound pattern errors that are beyond an expected developmental timeframe. These mistakes may be common in young children learning speech skills. Signs of a phonological processes disorders may include:

Syllable Reduction: Saying only one syllable in a word (e.g., “bay” instead of “baby”)
Reduplication: Simplifying a word by repeating two syllables (e.g., “baba” instead of “bottle”)
Final Consonant Deletion: Leaving out a consonant sound (e.g., “at” or “ba” instead of “bat”)
Fronting: Changing certain consonant sounds (e.g., “tat” instead of “cat”)

CAUSES

Articulation and phonological disorders can be the result of an organic or functional origin. Below are common reasons, but are not limited to:

Organic

Cleft-lip and palate or other craniofacial trauma/surgery.
Brain Injury due to head trauma
Neurodevelopmental conditions: autism, childhood apraxia of speech
Intellectual or developmental disability
Problems with hearing or hearing loss, such as a history of ear infections
Disorders affecting the nerves involved in speech production

Functional

Family history of speech delay
Chronic ear infections
Gender – the incidence of speech sound disorders is higher in males than in females (sources: Everhart, 1960; Morley, 1952; Shriberg et al., 1999).

DIAGNOSE

A speech-language pathologist will perform a comprehensive evaluation that will review the following:

Structural Deviations: Cleft lip/palate, enlarged tonsils, or adenoids that may be impacting airway patency resulting in maladaptive speech behaviors
Assess if there are any functional problems of the muscles of the mouth that may be affecting your child’s ability to speak clearly and eat efficiently/safely
Provide assessments listening to how your child speaks and determine whether the issues are typical for their age or can potentially be a speech sound disorder

TREATMENT

Speech therapy can help your child improve their articulation skills by:

Recognizing and correcting sounds that they are making wrong
Teaching them how to correctly form their problem sound(s)
Practicing saying certain sounds in words and increasing the complexity
Practicing saying their sounds at home during different everyday activities

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