Happily Spoken Speech Therapy

Speech and Language Disorders

Apraxia of Speech

Also referred to as Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) or Developmental Apraxia of Speech.

Apraxia of speech is a motor-planning disorder. In a "typical speaker" the brain sends a signal to the articulators (the lips, tongue, teeth, jaw) to produce movement in order to form sounds into words. In a child with Apraxia, that signal is lost.

Does your child have difficulty..

imitating oral/mouth movements such as kissing, licking, blowing
turning his/her voice on to speak
producing vowel sounds or consonant sounds
sequencing sounds in words or sentences
speech is jumbled, mixed, or unintelligible
people have a hard time understanding what he/she is saying

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that causes impairments with language development, communication, social, verbal, play, and motor skills. It is a "spectrum" because the degree of impairments in these areas can range from mild to moderate to severe; and no two children on the spectrum may be alike.

Does your child..

have difficulty responding to someone when they speak or seem to ignore others
have difficulty pointing objects to show other people (with index finger, specifically by 12 months of age)
have difficulty initiating conversation or play with others
have difficulty with maintaining eye contact or attention to a speakers' face
have a limited attention span
have sensory issues or sensitivities to touch, sight, sound, movement, swings, ride on toys, hugs, teeth brushing, sitting in a shopping cart or stroller, loud sounds, being wet, etc.
respond inconsistently to his/her name
have unusual interests in objects
lack appropriate play skills
imitate speech verbatim (aka Echolalia)

Click here for a link to the MCHAT, a developmental checklist/screener for Autism.

Articulation Disorder

A child with an articulation disorder may have difficulties producing specific speech sounds, for ex, the "l" sound, or "k" sound, or "r" sound.

Articulation impairments are usually due to incorrect placement of articulators (tongue, lips, teeth, jaw), structural/functional abnormalities, incorrect voicing, or incorrect manner of production. Certain sounds may be produced in error, may be substituted for other sounds incorrectly, may sound slushy or may be distorted.

Does your child......
have difficulty producing sounds in isolation, for e.g. /l/ sound or /r/ sound
have problems being understood by other listeners not familiar to him/her
substitute sounds
leave off sounds in words
distort sounds or make them "slushy"

Certain speech sounds are mastered at different ages. Easier sounds such as "m, t, d, b, h, n" should be mastered by age 2. Click here to see a full chart of speech sounds listed by age of development.

Expressive Language Disorder

Children with Expressive Language disorder, aka Expressive Language Impairment, have difficulty communicating and expressing ideas through speaking, writing, signing, or by use of gestures.

Expressive language disorder is not a speech disorder. It is not an issue of speech intelligibility. The child has difficulty with WHAT to say, versus how to articulate it. Children may have difficulty expressing their ideas and thoughts.

Does your child have difficulty.....

using words to express their thoughts
labeling objects, nouns, verbs, activities, or people
using pronouns (he, she, they, we us, I, me, you, )
forming sentences for different purposes such as asking questions, asking for needs to be met, making comments or remarks, using exclamation
maintaining back and forth conversation with others
forming longer sentences with appropriate use of vocabulary and grammar
answering what, where, who, why, when and how questions

Fluency Disorder (Stuttering Disorder)

Stuttering can be defined by atypical dysfluenices that disrupt the natural forward flow of speech.

Does your child exhibit the following symptoms:

unintentional pauses or silences in his/her speech that may or may not occur with tension in the mouth.
prolonged sounds during speech. For e.g., "sssssssssong", holding onto the s sound for a longer period of time.
repeats a sound or syllable in a word several times, interrupting the natural flow of the word. For ex. " bu-bu-bu-butterfly".
repeats a one-syllable word several times in their sentence. For ex., " I am am am am am going to go for for for a walk".
have negative emotions/reactions to his/her speech

Mixed receptive-expressive language disorder

A mixed receptive-expressive language disorder is a combination of an expressive language disorder (see above) and a receptive language disorder.

A receptive language disorder is a disorder of language comprehension or understanding.

Does your child have:

trouble understanding what you say to him/her
have difficulty following simple directions
difficulty answering simple yes/no questions
have difficulty answering what, where, who, when, why, how questions
have trouble identifying objects or people or actions
have trouble understanding vocabulary words or novel words
have difficulty following multi-step directions

A child first has to comprehend language before he/she can expressively use it. Therefore, if a child has a receptive language delay, he/she will also have an expressive language delay.