Language Disorders

Characteristics-Repetition

• Sounds
• b-b-b-ball
• Syllables
• mo-mo-mommy
• Parts of words
• basket-basket-basketball
• Whole words, and phrases

Characteristics-Prolongation

• Stretching, of sounds or syllables
• r-----abbit

Characteristics

• Tense pauses, hesitations, and/or no sound between words
• Speech that occurs in spurts
• as the child tries to initiate or maintain voice
• Variability in stuttering behavior
• depending on the speaking situation

Related behaviors

• tense muscles in the lips, jaw, and/or neck
• tremor of the lips, jaw, and/or tongue
• foot tapping
• eye blinks
• head turns

2. Articulation disorders

• This is the largest category of all speech problems
• DSM-IV calls these “phonological disorders.”
• “abnormal speech-sound production, characterized by inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate execution of speaking”

2. Articulation disorders

• Great majority are functional articulation disorders
• Might represent as much as 80% of the speech disorders diagnosed by speech clinicians
• Must be very careful to distinguish true problems from delay.
• E.g., r, s, th problems may largely disappear naturally after 5 years of age

2. Articulation disorders

• Omissions
• Substitutions
• Additions
• Distortions

3. Voice disorders

• Unusual or abnormal acoustical qualities in the sounds made when a person speaks
• Very little research here
• What is a “normal” sounding voice?
• Nasality, hoarseness, breathiness

Normal Speech Development

4. Delayed speech

• Failure to develop speech at the expected age
• Somewhat subjective
• Usually associated with other maturational delays
• May also be associated with a hearing impairment, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or brain injury
• Often the result of environmental deprivation