9: Speech Sound Disorders in Children

A comprehensive set of flashcards covering key concepts related to speech sound disorders in children, including definitions, classifications, assessment procedures, and treatment approaches.

Speech Sound Disorder (SSD)

A communication disorder characterized by significant difficulty with speech sound production (impaired sound system), leading to problems with speech intelligibility and communication effectiveness. This can involve difficulties with motor production (articulation) or with the linguistic rules for sound organization (phonology).

Articulation Impairment

A motor-based speech sound disorder characterized by difficulties in physically producing specific speech sounds. Errors often manifest as distortions, substitutions, or omissions of individual sounds and are typically consistent across different word positions.

Phonological Impairment

A language-based speech sound disorder characterized by systematic patterns of sound errors, where a child has difficulty learning and applying the rules for organizing speech sounds within a language. These patterns affect entire classes of sounds and can significantly impact speech intelligibility.

Speech Variation

Differences in speech that arise from a d dialect or forge in accent. Not considered a speech disorder.

Coarticulation

The natural overlapping of articulatory movements for sounds that are adjacent or proximate in an utterance. This phenomenon results in sounds being influenced by their neighboring sounds, leading to slight variations in their production without changing their phonemic identity (e.g., anticipatory coarticulation and retentive coarticulation).

Assimilation

A phonological process where one speech sound becomes more like an adjacent sound in terms of its phonetic features (e.g., place, manner, voicing) due to coarticulatory effects. This can be progressive (following sound influences preceding) or regressive (preceding sound influences following).

Dialect

A natural variation of a language spoken by a group of people, characterized by consistent and systematic differences in pronunciation (accent), vocabulary, and/or grammatical structures. Importantly, a dialect is not a disorder and reflects a speaker's linguistic background and community.

Speech Delay

Speech sound productions are following a typical developmental sequence but at a slower rate than expected for the child's age. With intervention, children often catch up to their peers.

Foreign Accent (Language-Influenced Speech)

Speech characteristics, particularly related to pronunciation, that reflect the influence of a speaker's first language on their production of a second language. This is a common and natural linguistic phenomenon, not a speech sound disorder, and does not warrant intervention unless the speaker wishes to modify it.

Allophone

Variations of a single phoneme. It does not change the meaning of a word. Allophones are produced differently depending on their phonetic context within a word but are perceived as the same phoneme by native speakers of the language (e.g., the aspirated /p/ in "pin" vs. the unaspirated /p/ in "spin").

Phoneme

The basic linguistic unit of a sound system; speech sound must be able to signal a contrast in meaning between two words of a language. For example, changing the phoneme /p/ to /b/ in "pat" creates "bat," signaling a new word with a different meaning.

Place of Production

Where the vocal tract sound is produced.

ex. Bilabial, Labiodental, Linguadental, Alveolar, Palatal, Velar, Glottal These terms describe the specific points in the vocal tract where airflow is constricted to create different speech sounds.

Manner of Articulation

The way in which the airstream is obstructed or modified during the production of a speech sound. This describes how the sound is produced, Stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids, glides

Voicing

A phonetic feature indicating whether the vocal folds are vibrating during the production of a speech sound. Sounds produced with vocal fold vibration are termed voiced (e.g., /b/, /z/), while those produced without vibration are voiceless (e.g., /p/, /s/).

Vowel Production

The articulation of speech sounds produced with a relatively open vocal tract, without significant obstruction of the airstream. Vowels are characterized by the tongue's height, tongue advancement, roundness, tension 

Speech Sound Disorder: Known Origin

An SSD where the underlying cause is identifiable, structural deficit, sensory impairment, or neurological impairments= motor speech disorder. Ex. Apraxia, dysarthria

Speech Sound Disorder: Unknown Origin

Termed functional SSD. An SSD where no clear neurological, structural, sensory, or intellectual cause can be identified. Include articulatory and/or phonological disorders. 

Referral Process for SSDs

The initial stage where a concern about a child's speech sound development is raised, often by parents, caregivers, educators, or medical professionals. This concern is typically based on observations of speech difficulties, unintelligibility, or deviations from age-appropriate norms, prompting a recommendation for a formal speech-language pathology assessment.

Screening (Speech Assessment)

A quick, preliminary procedure used to identify individuals who may be at risk for a speech sound disorder and who require a more comprehensive diagnostic evaluation. Screenings typically assess basic speech production abilities and are not intended to diagnose specific disorders.

Case History (Speech Assessment)

• Recognize cultural factors that may influence the assessment

• Develop familiarity with the family that can facilitate the assessment process

• Understand family variables that may complicate or complement the child’s speech development

This information is crucial for understanding potential contributing factors to an SSD and for guiding the assessment and intervention plan.

Oral Mechanism Examination (Oral Mech)

A component of a comprehensive speech assessment that involves systematically examining the structures and functions of the oral cavity (lips, tongue, teeth, hard palate, soft palate, jaws) that are involved in speech production. It assesses symmetry, movement, range of motion, and strength of these articulators.

Relational Analysis (Speech Assessment)

A type of speech sound analysis that evaluates a child's speech productions and compares them to the adult target form of the language. This analysis identifies specific error types (e.g., substitutions, omissions, distortions) and observed phonological patterns, quantifying the child's deviations from standard adult speech.

Independent Analysis (Speech Assessment)

A type of speech sound analysis that describes a child's speech sound system purely in terms of the sounds and syllable shapes they can produce, without comparing them to the adult target. This analysis is particularly useful for very young children or those with highly unintelligible speech, focusing on their phonetic inventory and phonotactic constraints.

Aims of Diagnostic Speech Assessment

The primary goals of a comprehensive speech assessment, which include:

• Characterize child’s general developmental background, including family characteristic.

• Characterize the status of auditory and oral structures and functions.

• Characterize current phonological and language performance.

• Characterize the nature and severity of the SSD.

• Determine the prognosis for phonological outcomes.

• Determine the course of intervention.

Speech Assessment

production of sounds in single words/connected speech

1. stimulability

2. consistency

3. severity

Intervention Target for SSD

developmental approach, complexity approach, systematic approach

Length of intervention

Age, severity, type of intervention