Speech-Language Disorders

A speech-language disability is an impairment in the areas of articulation, fluency, voice or language that adversely affect educational performance. Speech is how you say something. Language is what you say or understand.

Speech Disorders may involve:

Sound errors:

Omissions – Sounds in words and sentences may be completely omitted
Substitutions – An incorrect sound may be substituted for the correct one.
Distortions – An attempt is made at the correct sound but it results in a poor production.
Additions – Extra sounds or syllables are added to the word.

Articulation Disorders

Difficulty with the physical production of individual speech sounds.
Incorrect placement of the lips, teeth, tongue or even the soft palate during speech, results in inaccurate production of certain sounds.

Phonological Disorders

Able to produce a given sound correctly but does not use it appropriately in some contexts.

Fluency Disorders

An interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by atypical rate, rhythm, and repetitions in sounds, syllables, words, and phrases.(Stuttering, Cluttering)

Voice Disorders

An abnormal production and/or absences of vocal quality, pitch, loudness, resonance, and/or duration, which is inappropriate for an individual’s age and/or sex.

Causes of Speech Impairments

Organic – Attributable to damage, dysfunction, or malformation of a specific organ or part of the body.
Functional – Cannot be ascribed to a specific physical condition, and its origin is not clearly known.

Language Impairments

Receptive Language Impairment – difficulty understanding language. The difficulty may be in the word level and/or the sentence level.

Expressive Language Impairment – difficulty with the production of language that adequately represents the child’s intended message and may include problems with word retrieval, word use, sentences formation, or conversational skills.

Causes of Language Disorders

Cognitive limitations or mental retardation
Hearing impairments
Behavioral disorders
Structural abnormalities of the speech mechanism
Environmental deprivation
Aphasia

Prevalence

A little more than 2% of school-age children receive special education for speech and language impairments
Approximately 50% of the children who receive special education services for another disability also have communication disorders
Nearly twice as many boys as girls have speech impairments

Identification and Assessment

In some school districts, speech-language pathologists screen the spoken abilities of all kindergarten children. Classroom teachers also play an important role in identifying children who may have speech and language impairments.

Educational Approaches

The speech-language pathologist (SLP) is the school-based professional with the primary responsibility for identifying, evaluating, and providing therapeutic services to children with communication disorders.