When To Seek Help for Articulation...

Does your child get frustrated when they try to tell you something and you just can’t figure out what they are saying? Maybe extended family members or friends have commented that they have trouble understanding what your child is saying?

Your child may have a speech sound disorder.

What is a Speech-Sound Disorder?

According to the American Speech and Hearing Association, a speech sound disorder refers to any difficulty or combination of difficulties involving the perception, production, or organization of speech sounds in a language leading to communication breakdowns and difficulty being understood by others. These children typically are quite talkative and understand others with ease.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of speech-sound disorders:

• Organic - Caused by medical or neurological issues affecting the development and function of the structures of the mouth. Ex. cleft palate, Down syndrome, brain injury, Cerebral Palsy, Hearing loss etc.

  
  

• Functional - no known cause: 

  • Articulation Disorders are challenges with producing individual speech sounds. Ex. Lisping on sounds such as S, Z, SH or CH. 

  • Phonological disorders are when a child consistently switches a sound out for another sound. There is typically a predictable pattern to their errors. Ex. All K sounds become T sounds (Cat →Tat), All F sounds become P sounds (Fan → Pan)

Won’t They “Grow Out of it”?

All children go through a period of predictable error patterns when acquiring their first language. Some children, for unknown reasons, lag behind and/or never grow out of these error patterns without targeted intervention. Children who experience unresolved childhood speech sound disorders are at an increased risk of difficulties learning how to spell and read due to poor sound awareness.

Early intervention is very effective treating speech sound disorders and can help to reduce feelings of frustration when communicating and future academic impacts. 

If your child is 4 years of age and is still very difficult to understand, the likelihood that these challenges resolve on their own begins to decline significantly. By the age of 4-4.5 we would expect a child to be roughly 90% intelligible (ability to be understood) to unfamiliar listeners. 

How can I help my child communicate?

• Remind your child to slow down

• Encourage use of gestures while speaking

• Provide choices

• Ask them to physically “show you” what they are talking about

• Don’t explicitly correct your child. If they say a word incorrectly, repeat it back to them in acknowledgment using the correct pronunciation. 

• Seek help from a speech language pathologist

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Articulation Therapy at Beyond Speech Services:

If your child is struggling to produce expected sounds for their age, a speech pathologist can help you and your child learn to tackle these tricky sounds using tailored strategies and structured practice.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions at info@beyondspeech.ca 

OR book a free 15 minute consultation with one of our SLPs.