Speech & Articulation
Does your child have difficulty with specific speech sounds? Is it hard to understand what they’re saying, especially for strangers? Wondering if they might need speech therapy? We can help!
Speech Sound Disorders
It’s usually not hard to tell when your child’s speech isn’t sounding quite right. Sometimes, it’s that persistent “r” sound that is always a “w", or an “s” that tends to turn into “th”. But when does this stop being a cute byproduct of early childhood? How do you know when your child needs treatment for their speech sounds?
Fortunately, you don’t need to have all the answers! Qualified Speech-Language Pathologists use their expertise and standardized assessments to diagnose speech sound disorders.
For your reference, here is the typical age of acquisition of speech sounds in American English as shared by the American Speech, Language & Hearing Association. Please note that a formal evaluation by an SLP is necessary in order to diagnose a speech disorder.
Will my child outgrow their Speech Disorder? Do they need help?
When in doubt, early intervention is best! Although it’s true that many children will outgrow their Speech Sound Disorder, many don’t. Whether or not they will experience what is called “spontaneous recovery” is difficult, if not impossible, to predict; research indicates that spontaneous recovery is linked to the severity of the disorder. Our philosophy is this: if your child struggles with their speech, a brief period of speech therapy might go a long way and is unlikely to hurt.
There are generally two types of Speech Sound Disorders:
Articulation Disorders: When a child has difficulty pronouncing one or two specific sounds, we call this an Articulation Disorder.
Phonological Disorders: These disorders are represented by consistent systematic changes to the place, manner, or voicing of their sounds. For example, they may produce too many of their sounds with the front of their tongue, a process called “fronting”. For this child, “cookie” is pronounced “tootie”. Or a child may reduce consonant clusters into a single sound. For this child, “school” is pronounced “cool”. There are many different types of phonological processes that can occur. Often several processes co-occur and must be distinguished in a thorough evaluation.
So when should you see an SLP?
If you are concerned about your child’s speech, a consultation is FREE! At Carmel Language & Literacy, we don’t believe you need to wait until your child’s speech is significantly outside what is expected for their age. We use a variety of measures, including standard scores, intelligibility ratings, clinical observations, and parent reports to determine whether follow-up speech therapy is necessary. Sometimes, the answer is simply, “Let’s keep an eye on it.” Contact us today to get the ball rolling!