Articulation & Phonology

Speech Disorders

Speech sound disorders include problems with articulation (producing sounds) and phonological processes (sound patterns).

An articulation disorder involves problems producing sounds. Sounds can be:

• substituted
• omitted
• distorted
• added
• changed

These errors may make it hard for people to understand your child's speech. Young children often make speech errors. For instance, many young children sound like they are making a "w" sound for an "r" sound (e.g., "wabbit" for "rabbit") or may leave sounds or syllables out of words, such as "nana" for "banana.") (from www.asha.org).

A phonological process disorder involves patterns of sound errors. For example, substituting all sounds made in the back of the mouth like "k" and "g" for those in the front of the mouth like "t" and "d" (e.g., saying "tup" for "cup" or "das" for "gas") (from www.asha.org).

When determining eligibility for school-based speech services, the child must exhibit impairments in connected speech in each of the following areas: sound production (articulation or phonological processes) and overall intelligibility with accompanying adverse effects on educational performance. (From: State of Connecticut Department of Education Guidelines for Speech and Language Programs)