Welcome To Seasons of the Heart
~Speech and Language Development Guide~

There are many parameters involved in the development of speech and language, so I will try to focus on the ones that most often affect children. The most important advice that I can offer parent's or families of children with communication disorders is to get educated and take the time to work with the child at home! Home is after all where language and communication skills begin. This page should only be used as a reference and if you feel that your child needs to be formally tested for speech/language disorders then please do follow your instincts!

Articulation

Articulation disorders are often the most recognizable form of a speech disorder because it affects the way the speech is heard. Consonant sounds are most often the target sound that is misarticulated. Articulation disorders are only considered a disorder when the sound being said incorrectly should have already been acquired. Below I have included a list of the ages at which a child should have obtained certain sounds:

The ages listed are the age which 90% of children have achieved the sound:
At 32 months a child should have acquired /p/, /h/, /b/, /m/, /n/.
At 36 months a child should have acquired /f/, /w/, /b/, /g/, /d/, and the "ng" sound.
At 48 months the child should have acquired /s/.

Types of Articulation Disorders:
1. SUBSTITUTION-occurs when a sound is substituted for one they can not make yet. i.e. wabbit-rabbit, or fumb-thumb.
2. OMISSION-occurs when a sound is left out that is too hard. i.e. aid-said.
3. DISTORTION-occurs when the sound is not left out or substituted but does not sound right. There is an attempt to make the sound but it is misarticulated.
4. ADDITION-occurs when an extra sound is added. i.e. balue-blue.

Causes of Articulation Disorders:
Articulation Disorders may result from abnormal structures of the articulators, faulty learning(no physical/anatomical reason), due to a hearing loss, or due to neurological damage(problems with the nervous system). The main reason for articulation disorders in children is faulty learning. Second, hearing loss is a common factor because of the number of ear infections that some children suffer.

Articulation Evaluation Steps (Van Riper)
-Sensory Perceptual Training (hearing own mistakes)
-Producing a new sound with cuing
-Able to make sounds correctly in isolation
-Use the sound in syllables
-Use the sound in words
-Use the sound at the phrase level
-Use the sound at the sentence level
-Carry over the sound and make it automatic

Click Here To Learn More About Articulation Disorders!

Language Disorders

Language Disorders are problems in the ability to understand what is being said or putting words together to express thoughts or ideas. Language disorder characteristics include: the difficulty in coding and decoding language, affects comprehension, speech, reading, writing, and problem solving. Language disorders often stem from other problems, i.e. learning disability or attention deficit disorders.

Common language disorders include:
Aphasia-the inability to comprehend language and it's symbols.
Dysphasia-lesser degree of comprehension of language and it's symbols.
Delayed Language Development-verbal skills fall below the norm for a child's age
Deviant Language Development-Children will often develop their own communication code

Click Here For More Information About Language Disorders!

Fluency Disorders

Characteristics include-abnormal pauses or repetitions, compulsive repetitions, irregular tempo, obvious muscular and mental effort. The most common of fluency disorders is stuttering and cluttering. Stuttering is characterized by breaks in time sequence of utterances, repetitions, and prolongations of sounds. Cluttering characteristics excessive rate of speech, unorganized sentence structure, slurred or omitted sounds.

Click Here For More Information About Fluency Disorders!

Who to Contact: T.A.L.K.
(Taking Action against Language disorders of Kids)
22980 Donna Lane Bend
Oregon, USA 97701
(541) 389-0004

Additional Online Resources:
American Speech-Language Hearing Association
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Dr. Dave's Speech Corner