Speech sound disorder
When children are learning to talk, it is common to make speech errors. However, when these errors persist past a certain age or are not part of typical development, a speech sound disorder might be indicated. Speech sound disorders do not only impact your child’s ability to be understood by others but may also affect later reading and spelling skills.
- Articulation errors – when children have difficulty correctly placing their mouth muscles to produce the correct sounds, for example, a lisp.
- Phonological errors – when children have difficulty organising sound patterns in their heads, for example, substituting sounds in words (‘ring’ becomes ‘wing’).
- Childhood Apraxia of Speech – when children have difficulty planning and executing oral movements to produce speech sounds; errors are usually inconsistent with more difficulty in longer syllable words, and difficulty using appropriate stress and speech intonation.
Typically, most speech sound errors are eliminated from the ages of four to five. Children with hearing loss, frequent ear infections and developmental disorders (e.g., Autism) are more likely to have a speech sound disorder.
If you have concerns about your child’s speech production skills, it is best to give us a call and one of our qualified speech pathologists at Blacktown Speech Pathology will be able to assess, manage and treat speech sound disorders. Successfully treating speech sound disorders will improve your child’s ability to be understood by others and promote communication and social interaction.
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