Speech Sounds Disorders
Speech sound disorders (SSDs) occur when a child has trouble saying sounds or words correctly, past the expected age for their development. Early intervention from a speech language pathologist is recommended to correcting speech errors. The two main types I treat are:
An articulation speech disorder involves difficulty with the physical production of speech sounds. Children may struggle to make certain sounds correctly, often substituting, omitting, distorting, or adding sounds. For example, a child might say "wabbit" instead of "rabbit" or "thun" for "sun." A lisp, or having difficulties with /s,z/ and/or /sh, j, ch/, is another common example of articulation speech errors. Speech therapy includes focusing on how the child physically produces the sounds when speaking. With professional intervention, practice and support, children can increase their speech clarity over time. At Elation Speech Therapy this is all done through a fun and engaging approach to make therapy feel more like play.
A phonological processing disorder is when a child has trouble putting speech sounds together in the right way, making their speech harder to understand. A child with a phonological process disorder makes speech sound pattern mistakes beyond the age of what’s expected. They can say the sounds on their own, but when it comes to using them in words, things don’t quite come out right. For example, saying “boon” for “spoon” or “uh” for “up.” Children with a phonological process disorder are more at risk for reading and writing difficulties. Early intervention with a SLP is proven to effectively target phonological weaknesses and improve overall speech intelligibility.