Speech Sound Production

Speech is how we say sounds and words. Difficulty producing sounds in words may be the result of a Speech Sound Disorder in any of the following areas: Articulation, Phonology, or Motor/Neurological.

Articulation involves how we make speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. For example, we need to be able to say the “r” sound to say "rabbit" instead of "wabbit.” Articulation disorders are characterized by errors on individual speech sounds (e.g., substituting one sound for another, omitting a sound in a word).

Phonology involves our whole sound system and how we make "classes" of sounds and not just individual sounds. For example, some people have difficulty making all sounds in that are made in the back of the mouth such as "k" and "g". Consistently saying those sounds in the front of the mouth, resulting in "t" and "d", is explained as the phonological process, "fronting". Phonological disorders are characterized by patterns of errors that are seen on whole classes or groups of sounds (e.g., back sounds, front sounds, voiced or unvoiced sounds, etc.).

Motor/Neurological involves thinking of what you want to say, planning it out, and having your body/articulators (jaw, tongue, lips, etc.) move in the way that's needed to make the sounds and words you intended. With motor speech disorders, the connection between the brain and the speech mechanism is damaged or interrupted. Motor/neurological speech disorders are characterized by difficulty moving and/or coordinating the muscles and articulators. Errors on sounds and words often sound different each time.