Articulation Disorders
Articulation disorders refer to speech sound errors. They
may range
from mild consonant or vowel errors to speech that is
unintelligible to the listener. Many articulation errors are
typical of preschool children and often clear up on their own.
An evaluation by a speech pathologist will determine if
a child has a speech articulation disorder.
Characteristics:
The following are types of
articulation errors:
- Substitution of sounds
- Distortion of sounds
- Deletion of sounds or syllables
- Inappropriate addition of sounds
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Voice Disorder
A voice disorder occurs when there is a change in the voice
that affects it’s
sound quality, pitch, or volume, and interferes with the ability
to communicate. A variety of voice disorders exist, which may
be caused by vocal abuse, disease, allergies, medications,
or trauma. A physician and speech pathologist develop a treatment
plan, which may include voice therapy and/or medical intervention.
Characteristics:
- may
sound hoarse, breathy, or nasal
- may use a voice that sounds too loud or
quiet
- may use a pitch that sounds too high or
too low
- may exhibit pitch
breaks
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Stuttering
Stuttering, also called dysfluency, is characterized by disruptions
in the production of speech sounds. Stuttering begins during
childhood and, in some cases, lasts throughout life. Because
children with normal, developmental dysfluencies show many
of the same behaviors found in stuttering, an evaluation by
a speech pathologist is necessary for an accurate diagnosis.
Characteristics
- May repeat sounds, syllables,
or words.
- May prolong sounds.
- May have tremors of the small muscles
around the child’s
mouth or jaw.
- May have an increase in pitch or loudness before finishing
the word.
- May struggle to get words out or have
an unusual amount of tension in lips, tongue, throat, or
chest when trying to say certain words.
- May show fear or avoidance of particular
sounds or words.
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Tongue Thrust
Tongue thrusting is characterized by the tongue moving forward
in an exaggerated way during speech and/or swallowing. Although
a “Tongue Thrust” swallow is normal in infancy,
it usually disappears as
a child grows. Tongue thrust is often diagnosed by a team of
professionals that may include a dentist, orthodontist and
speech pathologist. Tongue thrust does not always affect speech.
Characteristics
- Tongue may lie too far forward
during rest.
- Tongue may protrude between the upper
and lower teeth during speech and swallowing.
- May distort sounds such as /s/, /z/, “sh”, “ch” and “j”.
- Certain speech sounds may be distorted,
or produced incorrectly.
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Language
Language is a code used to communicate ideas and express needs.
Receptive language is the ability to understand aspects of
spoken language, including age appropriate vocabulary, word
meanings, word relationships, and grammatical structures. Expressive
language is the ability to convey ideas, wants, and needs in
an organized appropriate manner.
When a child has difficulty in one of these areas he or
she may have a language disorder. Difficulties in understanding
or using language will affect almost every aspect of communication
and school performance.
Characteristics of a Receptive Language Disorder
- May use echolalia (repeating back words of phrases either
immediately or at a later time).
- May have difficulty following directions.
- May have difficulty responding appropriately
to questions.
- May have difficulty attending to spoken language.
- May use jargon (sounds like unintelligible speech).
- May use “memorized” phrases
and sentences.
Characteristics of Expressive Language Disorder
- May have limited vocabulary.
- May have word retrieval difficulty.
- May use associated word in place of intended word.
- May make grammatical mistakes and use poor sentence structure.
- May rely on stock, standard phrases with
limited content.
- May have difficulty “coming to the point”.
- May provide more information than is needed.
- May have difficulty retelling a story or relaying information.
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Auditory Processing Disorder
An auditory processing disorder may be present when
an individual has difficulty processing and interpreting
auditory stimuli even though they may have normal hearing
acuity. A speech pathologist screens for an auditory processing
disorder as part of an oral language evaluation and then
makes a referral to an audiologist to make the definitive
diagnosis.
Characteristics
(taken from Keith, 1999)
- May behave as if a hearing loss is present.
- May have diminished ability to discriminate
among speech sounds.
- May have difficulty remembering phonemes
and manipulating them on tasks such as reading, spelling
and phonics.
- May have difficulty understanding speech
in the presence of background noise.
- May have difficulty with auditory memory
and following multiple instructions.
- May seem to have poor listening skills
characterized by decreased attention for auditory information
of may seem distractible or restless in listening situations.
- May respond inconsistently to auditory
information
- One to one
conversation may result in better comprehension than in
a group setting.
- May have accompanying receptive or expressive
language disorder.
- May have difficulty understanding rapid
speech or persons with an unfamiliar dialect.
Learning Disabilities
The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), defines a
learning disability as a “disorder in one of more of
the basic psychological processes involved in understanding
or in using spoken or written language, which may manifest
itself in an imperfect ability to
listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematic
calculations.” Learning
disabilities occur in individuals who have at least average
intellect, adequate educational opportunity and
intact senses. These disabilities may be hereditary and are
caused by a difference in brain structure. While individuals
with learning disabilities cannot be cured, they can be taught
compensatory strategies. These problems may mildly, moderately
or severely impair the learning process. The diagnosis of a
learning disability is often made by a team of professionals
Characteristics:
(taken from Learning Disabilities Association Newsbriefs
- 2007)
- May have trouble learning the alphabet,
rhyming words, or connecting letters to their sounds.
- May make many mistakes when reading aloud,
and repeat and pause often.
- May not understand what he or she reads.
- May have real trouble with spelling.
- May have very messy handwriting or hold
a pencil awkwardly.
- May struggle to express ideas in writing.
- May learn language late and have a limited
vocabulary.
- May have trouble hearing slight differences
between sounds or words.
- May have trouble understanding jokes,
comic strips, and sarcasm.
- May have trouble following directions.
- May mispronounce words or use a similarly
sounding word.
- May have trouble organizing what he or
she wants to say or not say.
- May not be able to think of the word
he or she needs for writing or conversation.
- May not follow the social rules of conversation,
such as taking turns, eye contact and proper space.
- May confuse math symbols and misread numbers.
- May not be able to retell a story in order.
- May not know where to begin a task or
how to proceed.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a type of learning disability.
It is a specific language-based disorder characterized by
difficulties in single-word decoding, usually reflecting
insufficient phonological processing. (International Dyslexia
Associate Research Committee in collaboration with the National
Center for Learning Disabilities and the National Institutes
of Child Health and Human Development, April 1994).
The difficulties of a student identified
as having dyslexia occur in phonemic awareness and manipulation,
single-word decoding, reading fluency, reading comprehension,
spelling, and/or written composition. These difficulties
are unexpected for the student’s
age, education level, or cognitive abilities. The degree of
impairment in reading or spelling may be mild, moderate, or
severe. Additionally, there is often a family history of similar
difficulties.
- May lack an awareness of the sounds and
structure of words.
- May have difficulty in learning the names
of the letters of the alphabet.
- May have difficulty learning the sounds
associated with letters.
- May have difficulty saying the alphabet
correctly in sequence.
- May have difficulty forming the shapes
of the letters.
- May have difficulty writing the alphabet
correctly in sequence.
- May reverse letters or sequences of letters
in words when reading or writing.
- May have difficulty sounding out unfamiliar
words.
- May have difficulty remembering previously
seen words.
- May have repeated spelling errors.
- May have difficulty with handwriting.
- May have slow rate of writing.
- May have difficulty with reading comprehension
These features may or may not be present:
- Delay in spoken language.
- Difficulty finding the “right” word.
- Late establishing preferred hand for writing.
- Late learning right, left hand and other
directionality components.
- Difficulty learning
concepts of time and temporal sequencing.
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Social/Pragmatic Language Disorder
This is a type of language disorder in which the child has
difficulty with
the meaning and use of language in a social context. Children
with a pragmatic disorder may use their language for a restricted
range, having difficulty utilizing language for a variety of
functions such as asking, directing, recounting experiences,
imagining and predicting.
Characteristics
- May have difficulty maintaining eye contact.
- May appear “younger then their peers” because
of their lack of sophistication about social interaction.
- May have difficulty engaging in reciprocal
conversations.
- May focus on specific details of an event
or conversation and miss out on the overall meaning.
- May talk around a subject rather than
talk about it.
- May have literal/concrete understanding
of language.
- May have difficulty with abstract language,
verbal problem solving, drawing
conclusions and making
inferences.
- May not understand humor
- May have difficulty taking the listener’s
perspective.
- May have difficulty reading/interpreting
body language and facial expressions.
- May ask excessive questions, often ignoring
attempted answers.
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Fast ForWord
Fast ForWord is a family of computer products designed to
develop the
critical processing and memory skills that are necessary for
success in the classroom. Based on over thirty years of
neuroscience research, Scientific Learning’s interactive,
adaptive products target the language and reading skills widely
recognized as the keys to all learning. Olmos Speech, Language
and Learning Clinic has been a Fast ForWord provider since
its inception in 1979.
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