Speech disorder: a guide for parents

A stranger asks three times what your child said, while at home you understood it long ago. Parents then search for speech disorder. The word covers situations in which pronunciation differs so much that speech is harder to follow.

A speech disorder is a problem in forming speech sounds. This article gives parents an overview: what falls under it, how it differs from a language problem and from cluttering, and when a speech therapist fits.

It does not diagnose. LogiLand is practice software for playful sound exercises and reading exercises. It does not replace a speech therapist.

Language (words and sentences) is covered in developmental language disorder. Speech that is too fast and messy is covered in cluttering.

What a Speech Disorder Is

In a speech disorder the sound comes out differently from what the language around the child expects. The child means sock and says tock. Or a whole cluster drops out: school becomes kool.

Family members start to translate. At school a classmate misses the question.

Speech disorders in children fall roughly into a few groups. A speech therapist uses the names after assessment. At home, this distinction is enough:

• Articulation. One sound is hard to form, such as an /s/ that stays between the teeth or an /r/ that becomes a /w/. A search for "articulation disorder" lands here.
• Phonological pattern. The child can sometimes make separate sounds, and applies a pattern in words: sounds at the back of the mouth become sounds at the front, or the last sound drops out.
• Rarer causes. Now and then the brain directs the speech movement with difficulty, or there is a neurological reason. That calls for specialist speech therapy. A blog does not recognise it.

Parents say "speech delay" when pronunciation sounds younger than the child's age. Sometimes that is ordinary variation. Sometimes it belongs with one of the patterns above. The speech therapist compares it with what is usual at that age, and with how understandable the child is for people who do not hear them every day.

A rough clinical rule of thumb: strangers understand a two year old about half the time, a three year old about three quarters of the time, and a four year old most of the time (Coplan & Gleason, 1988). That is an orientation. It is not a score to hold a child to. Context, hearing and how much the child dares to say all play a part.

In a large American study, 3.8 percent of six year olds had a speech delay (Shriberg, Tomblin & McSweeny, 1999). At a younger age that share is higher, because many sounds are still developing. A toddler who still says /k/ as /t/ often still fits that development. A child at school whom strangers still have to guess about fits that picture less.

Speech, Language and Fluency

Three areas run together in spoken language. For help, you separate them.

Speech is how sounds are pronounced. This article is about that.

Language is words, sentences and understanding. A child can speak with full clarity and still build few sentences. That belongs with developmental language disorder. Speech and DLD also occur together. In the study by Shriberg and colleagues (1999), some of the children with a speech delay also had a language problem.

Fluency is the pace and the flow of the sentence. Repetitions with tension belong with stuttering. A high or shifting pace, with words sliding into each other, belongs with cluttering. A child can have clear sounds and still be hard to follow because of the pace.

Hoarseness and voice sit on another layer. For that, hoarseness and voice is the entry, especially when the voice stays rough for weeks.

Sounds That Often Come Up

Some sounds arrive late in development. An unusual sound can still fit that timeline. Parents rightly look up certain sounds, because those sounds keep standing out at school:

• /s/ and a lisp. The tongue comes between the teeth, or the /s/ sounds slack. See unlearning a lisp.
• /r/. A /w/, or a throat /r/ the child does not want. See learning to say R.
• /l/. The tongue tip does not lift, and the /l/ becomes a /w/. See pronouncing L.
• /k/ and /g/. At the back of the mouth, often replaced by /t/ or /d/. See K and G.
• Clusters. Two consonants in a row, such as st, sh and spr. One of the two drops out.

Practise one sound at home, and only along the line a speech therapist or the teacher sets. A row of five sounds in one evening turns into noise. Age sketches: age 4, age 5, age 6.

Pronunciation exercises in LogiLand are extra play time. They are not a treatment plan.

What You Can Note at Home

A first appointment gets sharper with three concrete examples.

1. Write the word you understood, and what your child said. "Stool" sounded like "tool".
2. Note whether strangers ask, or whether only you hear it.
3. Note whether your child can repeat the word when you say it slowly first.

If your child can repeat the sound in a short word, and it drops out again in a sentence, that picture differs from a sound that also fails when they repeat it. The speech therapist uses that information. You can leave the interpretation to them.

Keep a sound correction out of the middle of a story. Your child then stops telling it. Save the practice for a short moment you agreed on.

If that advice is still missing, carry on talking and repeat the word correctly in your own answer. "Tool?" "Yes, your stool is ready."

When a Speech Therapist Fits

Make an appointment if:

• strangers often fail to understand a child of four or older
• one sound or a fixed pattern remains, and school or family is bothered by it
• your child gets angry or goes quiet because other people do not understand
• sounds that used to work are now slipping back
• there are worries about hearing, drooling, or eating and drinking alongside the speech
• speech comes together with short sentences or weak understanding

The speech therapist looks in the mouth, listens to words and sentences, and separates articulation from a phonological pattern. Sometimes a hearing test or a referral follows. The name of the disorder comes after that assessment.

LogiLand joins the practice afterwards, once the clinician has chosen a sound or a reading step. It does not establish the speech disorder.

Practical Tips

• One sound per period, in real words
• Model the word in your answer, and skip asking your child to repeat it during play
• Three examples on paper for the intake
• Check hearing when you are unsure
• The same goal as the speech therapist. Leave a second plan from the internet aside
• A short screen, then talk. A game round in LogiLand counts only as something extra

Conclusion

A speech disorder sits in how understandable the sounds are. Language and fluency need their own look. A few written words plus a speech therapist take you further than a general practice list.

Read on: developmental language disorder, cluttering, a lisp and phonological awareness.

This article explains speech disorders for parents. It does not diagnose. LogiLand is practice software and does not replace a speech therapist.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a speech disorder? A problem in forming speech sounds, so other people have to guess what the child says. Articulation and phonological patterns are the most common forms in children.

Is a speech disorder the same as DLD? No. DLD is about language: words, sentences, understanding. A speech disorder is about pronunciation. They can occur together.

Until when is a slack /s/ or /r/ ordinary? That differs by sound and by child. If the sound keeps weighing on how understandable speech is, or if school asks for attention to it, let a speech therapist take a look. Age alone is a narrow measure.

What is an articulation disorder? A form of speech disorder in which forming one specific sound does not work, including when the child repeats it slowly. The speech therapist establishes that. A checklist does not.

May I practise sounds at home? Follow the speech therapist's line: one sound, short turns, in real words. Without that advice, saying the word correctly in your own answer is safer than a drill.

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References

Coplan, J., & Gleason, J. R. (1988). Unclear speech: Recognition and significance of unintelligible speech in preschool children. Pediatrics, 82(3), 447-452.

Shriberg, L. D., Tomblin, J. B., & McSweeny, J. L. (1999). Prevalence of speech delay in 6-year-old children and comorbidity with language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42(6), 1461-1481. https://doi.org/10.1044/jslhr.4206.1461