If you are like most people, when you hear the term speech therapy or speech disorder, your first thought is of a child who demonstrates difficulty saying their “r” sound. However, the term speech disorder is much broader than just saying a few sounds correctly.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) defines a speech disorder as difficulty producing speech sounds correctly or fluently, or problems with voice production.

What does that really mean?

There are 3 main areas of speech production: speech sound production, fluency and voice.

• Speech sound production is how a person physically forms sounds
  • Examples include articulation disorder, phonological processing disorder, motor speech disorders and apraxia
• Fluency is the rate, smoothness and continuity of sound production
  • Stuttering is one example
• Voice is the pitch, quality and volume of the sound produced by the larynx (voice box)
  • Examples include vocal fold nodules and polyps, cleft palate

A child may exhibit an impairment in one, two, or all three areas of speech in any combination.

What does a speech disorder look like?

A child with a speech sound disorder may:

• Be difficult to understand
• Substitute one sound for another (“w” for “r”)
• Lateralize their “s” sound also known as a lisp
• Drop sounds or parts of words completely (“boom” for broom or “nana” for banana)
• Distort vowel sounds (“Bah” for Bye or “bahk” for book)
• Sound younger than they are; meaning, they may have typical errors made by young children (“wawa” for water or “bue” for blue) at an older age.
• Demonstrate frustration when the speaker does not understand their message

A child with a fluency disorder may:

• May have pauses in the middle of their words, phrase or sentence
• Repeat a sound or syllable in a word (“I want the b-b-b-book”)
• Repeat a word (“I want the the the the the book”)
• Prolong a sound in a word (“I wwwwant the book”)
• Add in filler words (“I want the uh uh book”)
• Demonstrate physical difficulty or tension when producing a sound (scrunching their face or tightness in their neck and shoulders)
• Make word substitutions to avoid difficult words/sounds (“I www need the book”)
• May demonstrate a very fast or irregular rate of speech
• May sound disorganized by stopping, restarting or changing ideas while speaking

A child with a voice disorder may:

• Sound hoarse, rough or scratchy
• Sound overly breathy
• Sound monotone
• Sound as though their nose is being pinched shut while speaking
• Produce sounds through their nose/air escapes their nose while speaking
• Use an unusual pitch or change pitch in unusual ways while speaking
• Lose their voice frequently after speaking for a short time
• Choke frequently when drinking or eating

Are a speech disorder and language disorder the same?

While both are considered to fall under the umbrella of a communication disorder, a language disorder is different from a speech disorder. A language disorder is an impairment of our understanding and use of language. A speech disorder is an impairment in our ability to physically produce language.

Helpful Websites:

The Parish School

The Carruth Center

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association