Introduction to Communication Disorders Lecture Flashcards

A collection of vocabulary terms and definitions covering introductory communication disorders, laryngeal anatomy, and developmental milestones.

Communication

The transmission of messages between the sender and the receiver.

Prosody

The melodic components of speech, including intonation, stress, and rate/duration/timing.

Broca’s area

An important language area of the brain responsible for language production.

Wernicke’s area

An important language area of the brain responsible for language comprehension.

Primary motor cortex

The brain region responsible for movement, including articulation.

Dysphagia

Difficulty with swallowing, which speech-language therapists help manage to prevent aspiration.

Aspiration pneumonia

Infection of the lungs from foreign materials such as oral or gastric contents, including food, saliva, or vomit.

Respiratory system

The system that supplies oxygen to the blood and removes carbon dioxide; its secondary function is providing the potential energy source for sound production.

Larynx

An air valve composed of cartilages, muscles, and tissue located on top of the trachea; colloquially known as the 'voice box'.

Hyoid bone

A horse-shaped bone that is the only bone in the body not connected to another bone; it anchors laryngeal and tongue musculature.

Glottis

The space between the vocal folds that constantly changes size and shape during movement.

Thyroarytenoid

The muscle forming the bulk of each vocal fold; its contraction reduces the distance between the thyroid and arytenoid cartilages, causing folds to shorten and thicken.

Cricothyroid

The muscle that stiffens and lengthens the vocal folds, increasing vocal pitch.

Ossification

The process where laryngeal cartilages turn to bone with age; this occurs fully in the male larynx but never fully in the female larynx.

Vocal Tract

A resonant acoustic tube extending from the mouth and nose to the vocal folds, consisting of the nasal, oral, and pharyngeal cavities.

Velum

The soft palate that hangs down during nasal breathing but elevates during speech and swallowing to seal off the nasal cavity.

Cleft lip

A congenital condition ranging from a slight niche in the lip to complete separation on one or both sides extending into the nose.

Cleft palate

Occurs when the roof of the mouth has not joined completely, ranging from a bifid uvula to complete separation of the hard and soft palate.

Submucous cleft

A cleft of the soft palate that is covered by a persistent layer of skin.

Bifid uvula

A cleft condition affecting only the uvula.

Semantics

The aspect of language development involving vocabulary and the meaning of words.

Pragmatics

The use of language in social contexts, such as topic continuation and intentional communication.

Morphology

The aspect of language form involving the use of grammatical markers like $-ing$, plurals, and $-s$.

Synatx

The rules for the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Speech sound disorder (SSD)

A diagnosis made when a child fails to acquire speech skills in a timely manner, which may be characterized by articulatory, perceptual, or cognitive-linguistic deficits.

Language impairment (LI)

A developmental or acquired disorder affecting the use of spoken or written language for comprehension and/or production.

Developmental language disorder (DLD)

A primary disability where language performance is significantly lower than intellectual performance without an obvious cause.

Intellectual Disability (ID)

Significant limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior originating before age $18$.

Stuttering

A fluency disorder involving disruptions to the flow of speech, characterized by repetitions, prolongations, and blocks.

Acquired neurogenic stuttering

Stuttering that occurs following a neurological event or condition, such as a stroke or TBI.

Cluttering

A fluency disorder characterized by excessive over-coarticulation, jerky speech, and a rate that is faster than the speaker's system can handle.