chapter 5: developmental speech disorders

articulation

the physical ability/process of producing and forming speech sounds by movements of the articulators

articulators

structures used to produce speech sounds— tongue, lips, velum/soft palate

articulation disorder

difficulty using the articulators to produce a specific speech sound— knows difference between certain sounds but cannot physically produce it

consonant clusters

two or more consonants spoken together without an intervening vowel— spoon, string, tree, blue

intelligibility

the ability to understand the words that someone else is producing

phoneme

a speech sound that can change meaning— pan vs. fan

phonological disorder

trouble understanding the rules of speech/difficulty understanding and implementing the language conventions for producing speech sounds and speech sound sequences

phonology

the study of the organization of sounds; language rules that govern how sounds are combined to create words

speech delay

articulation errors or phonological processes that are often seen in younger, normally developing children

speech disorder

articulation errors or phonological processes that are rarely seen in younger, normally developing children

spontaneous speech and language sample

when the clinician gathers a sample of the individual’s speech and language in a communication situation that is considered to be the normal way in which the individual communicates using voice, gestures, and non-vocal communication

speech differences

variations in pronunciation, rhythm, or accent that reflect a person’s native dialect, regional background, or experience learning a second language

phonological processes

simplification of adult-like productions of words

types of articulation disorders

• Substitution

• Omission

• Distortion

• Addition

types of phonological processes

• palatal fronting

• velar fronting

• weak syllable deletion

• final consonant deletion

• final consonant devoicing

• stopping

• cluster reduction

substitution

the child substitutes one sound (usually a sound that is developmentally earlier than the target) for the target sound

substitution example

• /s/ to /t/

• /r/ to /w/

• wed instead of red

omission

a child leaves out a speech sound

omission example

• tih instead of tip

• bue instead of blue

distortion

a child does not achieve the intended articulatory target and the resulting production is not a recognizable phoneme in the child’s native language

• a sound is produced in an unfamiliar, strange way

distortion example

• lisp

• slushly s

• thun instead of sun

addition

a child inserts an extra, unnecessary sound or syllable into a word

addition example

• buhlue instead of blue

palatal fronting

sounds made with the middle of the tongue raised toward the hard palate are moved forward to the alveolar ridge

palatal fronting example

• /s/ and /z/ (simple fricatives) instead of h, zh, ch, and j

• sue instead of shoe

• seer instead of cheer

• fis instead of fish

• tek instead of check

final consonant devoicing

a voiced consonant loses its voice and is pronounced as its voiceless counterpart when it appears at the end of a word

final consonant devoicing example

• cap instead of cab

• bat instead of bad

• dock instead of dog

weak syllable deletion

drop an unnecessary/weak syllable in a multisyllabic word to make it easier

weak syllable deletion example

• nana instead of banana

• puter instead of computer

• tato instead of potato

• efant instead of elephant

stopping

replace continuous air flow sounds with short, stopped sounds

stopping example

• tun instead of sun

• pish instead of fish

velar fronting

sounds made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate/velum are made near the front of the teeth/near the alveolar ridge

velar fronting example

• /t/ instead of /k/

• /d/ instead of /g/

• tat instead of cat

• doose instead of goose

cluster reduction

simplifies a sequence of two or more consonants by deleting or omitting one or more of the sounds

cluster reduction example

• top instead of stop

• poon instead of spoon

final consonant deletion

drops the final sound in a word

final consonant deletion example

• ba instead of ball

• bo instead of boat

• ca instead of cat