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ARTICULATION DISORDERS
As parents observe their child's development,
it is quite natural for most to want their child
to produce clear speech sounds. Children, however,
can experience minor to severe challenges in
the process of learning to communicate clearly.
Articulation Disorder refers to a condition
in which a child incorrectly produces sounds
by placing his or her lips, tongue, soft palate
and pharynx in the wrong positions. This misplacement
of key components in the speech process typically
inhibits the child from producing the basic
building blocks of words and sentences. Young
children often simplify their speech to make
the words easier to say—such as "wabbit"
for "rabbit." Articulation disorders
are often the result of miss-learning the production
patterns for sounds. Most children who have
reached the age of three should be understood
by an unfamiliar listener with only occasional
help from a care giver.
Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (Apraxia) is a neurological
disorder that can affect a child's ability to
sequence the movements necessary to say sounds,
syllables and words. The child with Apraxia
often knows what they want to say but the brain
can not send the correct message to get the
articulators to move the correct way. Some signs
of Apraxia are listed below;
In young children:
- does not coo or babble as an infant
- takes a long time to say first words, and
these are often missing sounds
- can only produce a few consonants
- cannot combine sounds
In older children:
- makes inconsistent errors that are not
the result of immaturity
- can understand much better than they can
speak
- has difficulty imitating speech
- has difficulty imitating longer phrases
If your child is difficult to understand and
seems to be having trouble making sounds correctly
even when you try and coach them, an evaluation
by a qualified Speech Pathologist may be needed
Some links for further information include;
Links:
www.apraxia-kids.org (Developmental
Apraxia of Speech)
www.asha.org/public/speech (American
Speech, Language and Hearing Association)
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