Articulation
What is it?
Articulation refers to the actual speech sounds that make up words (s, l, r . . ), as well as how those sounds are put together. Some children do not make speech sounds correctly due to incorrect placement or movement of the tongue, jaw or lips impacting clarity of expressive language skills. There are many possible reasons why a child may not make correct sounds for his or her age. Children who have had multiple/chronic ear infections as an infant/toddler are often at risk for developing a speech sound delay. Children with a hearing impairment, weak muscles, or a physical problem such as cerebral palsy or cleft palate are also at risk for articulation problems. For some children, the cause may be related to general developmental delay, delayed cognitive development, genetic predisposition, bad speech habits, or even unknown factors. (Can be solely an articulation problem with normal cognition, etc-that is a TRUE articulation disorder) Children may also have a normal understanding of language and age appropriate vocabulary and social skills but still have reduced clarity of speech (articulation skills). These are common causes of speech problems, but not an exhaustive list. An examination by speech-language pathologist is recommended if you have concerns for your child.
Who can benefit from treatment?
- Children with sound substitiions, sound omissions, or just difficulties with specific sound
- Children with oral motor concerns (reduced strength of the tongue, jaw, lips, etc)
- Children with a physical handicap, such as cerebral palsy, cleft palate or hearing loss
- Children with dental problems
- Children who have had multiple/chronic ear infections
- Children with a hearing impairment
- Children with developmental delays
- Children with cognitive delays
- Children with genetic predispositions to articulation problems
How can the Abilities Center help?
Some children with articulation difficulties may outgrow the problem on their own; others will need the help of speech-language therapy. Abilities Center Speech-language pathologists use different approaches to treat articulation problems. Since every child responds differently, therapy is tailored to the individual needs of each child.
Major objectives of treating children with articulation problems are:
The Abilities Center partners with parents and educators to develop an individual treatment plan for each child. Both long term and short term goals are developed and used to assess progress. General goals include identifying source of articulation difficulty and remediation of that weakness, identifying practice techniques to elicit correct production of specific target sounds/problem phonemes, identifying ways to develop self-monitoring skills and ensure children and parents remain engaged in the treatment plan, thus ensuring progress.
Who works with children with articulation problems?
- Speech-Language Pathologists