Speech and Language Disorders

Diagnoses

Speech and language disorders is a general category that covers the following diagnoses:

• Articulation Disorder: Articulation disorders include difficulties making sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added, or changed. These errors may make it hard for other people to understand the child.
• Communication Disorder: Communication disorders include difficulties giving or receiving non-verbal, verbal, written, or gestural messages (for example, reaching, pointing, or shaking hands). These problems can be related to speech, language, or hearing.
• Fluency Disorder: Fluency disorders include problems such as stuttering, the condition in which the flow of speech is interrupted by abnormal stops, repetitions (st-st-stuttering), or prolonging sounds and syllables (ssssstuttering).
• Language Disorder: Language disorders can be either receptive or expressive. Receptive disorders refer to difficulties understanding or processing language. Expressive disorders include difficulty putting words together, limited use of vocabulary, or inability to use language in a socially appropriate way.
• Resonance or Voice Disorder: Resonance or voice disorders include problems with the pitch, volume, or quality of a child's voice that distract listeners from what is being said. These disorders may also cause pain or discomfort for the child when speaking.
• Social Communication Disorder: Social communication disorders include difficulties using words, pictures, facial expressions, body language, eye gaze, and gestures to start and continue interactions with others. These problems include difficulty participating in conversations, knowing how close to stand to others, and being able to vary what one says based on whether the other person is a teacher, acquaintance, friend, or family member.

Signs and Symptoms

Typical signs and symptoms of speech and language disorders include when a child has a hard time:

• Talking clearly enough to be understood outside the family
• Understanding others
• Following directions
• Reading or writing
• Answering questions
• Expressing their thoughts and ideas in a clear manner using appropriate vocabulary and grammar
• Using language in a variety of social situations

Risks

If untreated, children with speech and language disorders may not be able to fully engage in daily conversations with their parents, family members, or other children. They also may not be able to follow directions—not because they do not want to listen, but because they do not understand. In school, a child with speech and language problems may fall behind, shut down, or act up. A speech-language pathologist can evaluate your child for speech and language disorders and help avoid behavioral consequences that can come along with having trouble in school. This is true even in cases where the problem may be more subtle, such as in older children.