Articulation disorders
are difficulties with the way sounds are formed and strung together,
usually characterized by substituting one sound for another (wabbit
for rabbit), omitting a sound (han for hand), or distorting a sound
(ship for sip). The main characteristic of the disorder are:
Omissions - Sounds in words and sentences may be completely omitted.
i.e. "I go o coo o the bu." for "I go to school on
the bus.".
Substitutions - Children
do not pronounce the sounds clearly or they replace one sound for
another. i.e substitutes [w] for [l] or [r], or other similar errors
Distortions - An attempt
is made at the correct sound but it results in a poor production.
i.e a distorted /s/ sound may whistle, or the tongue may be thrusting
between the teeth causing a frontal lisp.
Additions - Extra sounds
or syllables are added to the word. i.e animamal.
The most common error sounds are [s] [l] and [r].
The speech is primarily
unintelligible and difficult to understand.
Articulation patterns that can be attributed to cultural or ethnic
background are not disabilities.
Associated
Features:
Developmental
delay, is the cause of most articulation disorders. This can be the
direct result hearing problem. The child cannot hear the fine differences
between sounds, so speech perception is inhibited. Articulation disorders
are also associated with overall delayed language development.
Differential
Diagnosis:
Some disorders have similar symptoms. The clinician, therefore, in
his diagnostic attempt, has to differentiate against the following
disorders which need to be ruled out to establish a precise diagnosis.
An articulation problem sometimes sounds like baby talk because many
very young children do mispronounce sounds, syllables, and words.
Expressive
Language Disorder.
Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder.
Phonological
Disorder.
Apraxia
of Speech.
Cause:
In many cases,
there is not a clearly identifiable, structural or physiological reason
for the problem.
Delayed Speech.
Hearing Impairment.
Mental Retardation.
Learning Disability.
Articulation problems
may result from brain damage or neurological dysfunction, physical
handicaps, such as cerebral palsy, cleft palate or hearing loss. Or
the condition may be related to lack of coordination of the movements
of the mouth, even dental problems. However, most articulation problems
occur in the absence of any obvious physical disability. The cause
of these so-called functional articulation problems may be faulty
learning of speech sounds.
Treatment:
A speech evaluation should be
performed by a speech-language pathologist. If there is a problem
with articulation that is not developmental in nature, speech therapy
is recommended. Parent involvement is necessary for the best
progress and prognosis. The length of therapy can vary from 3 months
to a number of years, depending on the cause, the severity, the child's
motivation, and parental support.
Counseling
and Psychotherapy [ See
Therapy Section ]:
Iindividual speech
therapy sessions may be recommended as little as twice weekly or as
often as daily.
