Description
There are many kinds of speech and language disorders that can affect children including:
-
Articulation Disorder: speech impairments where the child produces sounds incorrectly (e.g., lisp, difficulty articulating certain sounds, such as “l” or “r”)
-
Fluency Disorder: speech impairments where a child’s flow of speech is disrupted by sounds, syllables, and words that are repeated, prolonged, or avoided and where there may be silent blocks or inappropriate inhalation, exhalation, or phonation patterns
-
Voice Disorder: speech impairments where the child’s voice has an abnormal quality to its pitch, resonance, and/or loudness
-
Language Disorder: language impairments where the child has problems expressing (expressive language) his/her needs/wants, ideas, or information, and/or in understanding (receptive language) what others say.
Symptoms
Symptoms vary depending on the type of disorder your child is exhibiting. However, symptoms involve your child’s ability to communicate and interact appropriately.
What you can expect from therapy
Therapy will focus on and address your child’s specific speech and language needs. Intervention will target those skills that your child needs to help him or her become an effective communicator. Parent involvement is strongly encouraged and recommended to help carryover skills for greater success.