articulation

Speech Sound Disorders: Articulation vs. Phonological

Laura LeBlanc MA, CCC/SLPLeave a comment

Parents often asked me about the difference between an articulation disorder and a phonological disorder.  Here is the difference:

Articulation (Phonetic) Disorder:

Articulation is the process by which sounds, syllables, and words are formed when your tongue, jaw, teeth, lips, and palate alter the air stream coming from the vocal folds. When an individual cannot produce or distorts an age-expected sound, it affects the ability of the person to be understood.  With an articulation disorder, the child has difficulty saying certain sounds or consonants- for example “wake” for “rake” or as seen with a lisp. Articulation disorders are motor errors than can occur among people of any age; however, they are most common in children whose articulators have not fully developed properly.

Phonological Process Disorder:

A phonological disorder is a simplification of the sound system that also affects intelligibility. Children with phonological processes have difficulty in acquiring a phonological system; involving organizing the patterns of sounds in the brained the output.; not necessarily in the motor production of the sounds like articulation errors.  For example, “fronting” is when sounds that should be produced  by the tongue moving up in the back of the throat are replaced with front sounds -“cake” becomes “take” or “gold” becomes “dold”.  This is typically seen in children whose speech would be considered unintelligible, but can also be seen in children through kindergarten that are developing normally.  Other examples of phonological processes include initial and final consonant deletion, cluster reduction, stopping, backing, gliding, syllable reduction, and consonant harmony.

Both articulation and phonological disorders put a child at risk for difficulties in school, both academically, as well as socially.  If you feel that your child may have a speech disorder, be sure to have his/her speech evaluated by a licensed speech-language pathologist.

 

 

 

Could Your Child’s Phonological Disorder Really Be Apraxia of Speech?

Laura LeBlanc MA, CCC/SLPLeave a comment

According to Edith Strand, the leading expert in child apraxia, “childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) typically occurs alongside other language delays or phonological impairments.  This can make diagnosing it a major challenge.”

Characteristics that are often present, but not discriminative, in childhood apraxia include:

  • Limited consonant and vowel repertoire
  • Use of simple syllable shapes and frequent omission of sounds
  • Numerous errors-poor standard scores on articulation tests
  • Poor intelligibility

More “discriminative” characteristics of apraxia of speech include:

  • Difficulty moving from one articulatory movement to another  (ie saying the word “pancake” at a fast rate)
  • Groping and/or trial and error behavior
  • Vowel distortions
  • Prosodic errors (putting stress on the wrong syllable)
  • Inconsistent voicing errors (“teck” for “deck” or “van” for “fan”)

Distinguishing CAS from Phonological Impairment

The primary characteristics of  childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) are vowel distortions, segmentation and/or equal stress, awkward movement transitions and error behavior in words and phrases. On the other hand, children with only phonological impairment may make substitution errors of exhibit phonological processes that are fairly consistent.  The movements for those incorrect sounds will be accurate though, and rate and prosody are typically good.  For more information on this topic, see the March 2017 issue of The ASHA Leader “Appraising Apraxia”.

If you are concerned about your child’s speech or language be sure to contact an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist for an evaluation.   A list of providers can be found at http://www.ASHA.org

Articulation in Children Top 5 Speech Questions

Laura LeBlanc MA, CCC/SLPLeave a comment

What is articulation?

Articulation is the ability to make speech sounds clearly. Children learn correct sound production by listening and imitating appropriate speech role models. Articulation develops gradually over a period of 8 years.

When should I be concerned about my child’s articulation?

Under the age of 3, it is common for children to make quite a few sound errors and substitutions.  By age 3, a child should be using at least 200 words, using 3-5 word phrases and be understood at least 80% of the time.  By age 4, a child should be 100% intelligible even if they continue to have some articulation errors.  Sounds which are “later developing” include “sh”, “ch” “j” and “th”.  Sometimes the “s” and “r” sounds are more difficult to remediate and require more speech therapy.

What sounds do children learn to produce first and in what order?

Most children are able to produce the “bilabial” sounds (made with the lips) of “b”, “p” “m”and “w”. They may also produce sounds such as “d”, “t”, and “n” early on as well.  Child acquire sounds developmentally and by age 8 should have mastered all of the sounds.

What causes an articulation disorder?

Although the cause is often unknown, the following are may cause an articulation disorder:

  • Hearing loss
  • Illness
  • Developmental Disorder (ie Autism)
  • Neurological Disorder (ie Cerebral Palsy)
  • Genetic Disorder (ie Down Syndrome)

How do you treat an articulation disorder?

If you feel that your child is in need a speech evaluation, it is vital to seek treatment from an ASHA (American Speech Hearing Association) Certified provider who will conduct a comprehensive evaluation and provide services as needed.