Articulation Therapy

Some children are difficult to understand because of their unclear speech. They might have a speech sound disorder, phonological disorder or a motor speech disorder. 

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Speech Sound Disorder

• ​Mispronounces a lot of words by not saying specific sounds (eg. they never say /s/ or /t/)

• Substitutes some sounds for others (eg. says /t/ instead of /d/) consistently

• May say the sound, but it might sound different or weird

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Phonological Disorder

• Simplifies words into easier forms (eg. "nana" for 'banana') using processes that should have stopped by a certain age

• May say the sound correctly in one word, but consistently gets it wrong in other words 

• Does not say the last sound of words (eg. 'do' for 'dog')

• Speech sounds "childish"

• May also have trouble identifying letters and reading 

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Motor Speech Disorder 

• Could be due to weakness of speech muscles (dysarthia, for eg. in Cerebral Palsy) 

• Could be due to difficulty in planning and programming the movements for speech (Childhood Apraxia of Speech)

• Related to the motor part of speech and brain/neural connections 

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Once the speech therapist identifies what kind of problem your child may have, they begin therapy using different approaches suited to your child's difficulties and their needs. These may include repetitions or drills with carefully selected target words/sounds, or physical/tactile prompts to promote proper placement of the tongue/lips. 

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Frequent practice is important, and it's always best to consult a speech therapist to put your child and you on the right track. 

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