Articulation is how a child produces individual sounds using his/her articulators (lips, teeth, tongue). An articulation disorder is when a child produces individual sounds incorrectly. A child’s error sounds may consist of substitutions or distortions of a single sound and treatment focuses on the individual speech sound in error. For example, a child may produce "wion" for "lion" and correct tongue and lip placement must be addressed in order to produce the correct sound.

Phonology refers to predictable, rule based errors that affect more than one sound in a child's speech. A phonological disorder is when a child is not able to recognize the pattern in which sounds are put together in order to produce words. For example, fronting is a phonological process in which velar sounds, or "back sounds" (k/g) are replaced with sounds made at the front of our mouth (t/d). A child who presents with the process of fronting would say "tea" for "key" and "do" for "go."

Treatment for a phonological disorder will look very different from an articulation disorder as individual sounds are not being worked on. The phonological processes that the child exhibits must be addressed. Children with phonological disorders may be much harder to understand than a child with an articulation disorder.

For more information on articulation and phonological disorders:
https://www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Clinical-Topics/Articulation-and-Phonology/

Augmentative and Alternative Communication includes all modalities of communication and expression. This may include the use of picture symbols, communication boards, and/or speech generating devices in order for a child to successfully express themselves.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder in which a child’s brain has difficulty planning and coordinating complex oral movements needed to produce intelligible speech. Since CAS is a motor speech disorder, a motor-based therapy approach must be used.

Treatment:

• Treatment should not focus on individual speech sounds.
• Therapy targets are based on the sounds and syllables that a child has in his or her repertoire and not what he/she should have developmentally.
• Therapy should focus on motor patterns between sounds, syllables, and words. Motor patterns will move from simple syllables(i.e. CV, CVC, CVCV) to more complex syllable shapes (i.e. CVCVCV)
• In therapy, a child should be working at the word level in order to establish movement between each sound to formulate intelligible speech.
• A verbal model of a word is not enough.
• Multisensory approach to therapy should be used and faded to independent productions when appropriate.

Language refers to the words we use and how we use them to communicate. Language is broken down into expressive and receptive language. Receptive language refers to a person’s ability to comprehend directions, questions, comments, and how well they maintain attention to tasks. Expressive language is how a child shares information such as ideas and feelings. This can be through spoken language or through other means of communication such as gestures, facial expressions, and picture symbols. A child may have difficulty in one or both areas of language.

Want to know the difference between speech and language?
https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/speech-and-language/

Fluency Disorders are another type of speech disorder. Fluency disorders or "stuttering" is when a person's speech is interrupted by sound or word repetitions, prolongations of sounds, audible/silent blocks, and/or interjections. Secondary characteristics such as facial grimaces or body tightening may be present during the stuttering moment. Direct and indirect approaches may be used depending on the child's age and severity of disfluencies.

For more information
https://www.stutteringhelp.org/

What is Gestalt Language Processing? This question is both highly complex and surprisingly straightforward.

Gestalt language processing (GLP), also known as gestalt language acquisition, is a form of language development that starts with the production and comprehension of multi-word "gestalts" or phrases. Children often work backwards from phrases to single words. This developmental pattern is particularly common in autistic individuals. However, this type of language processing can also be seen in typically developing peers.

Echolalia is a key feature of this type of language development. Gestalt language processors often begin with a word, phrase, or sentence they've heard from sources like media, parents, caregivers, or their community. The initial gestalt is given a meaning by the communicator that sometimes differs from the actual meaning. For example, a child might say "To Infinity and Beyond!" during play, not to reference Buzz directly, but to express that they want to find buzz light year. These phrases are often repeated with the exact intonation of the original speaker, even though the meaning has changed for the gestalt language processor.

Gestalt language processors go through six stages of language development, starting with self-selected gestalts, then mitigating their phrases into new phrases, to words and complex grammar. Gestalt language processors learned best through child-led play, meaning you meet the child where they are and follow their lead. Do you think your child is a Gestalt language processor? Our speech therapists are trained in Natural Language Acquisition and are here to help!

For more information on Gestalt Language Processing, check out www.meaningfulspeech.com

Phonological awareness refers to pre-reading skills, which children typically develop during their preschool years. These include skills where the child begins to understand that words are made up of individual sounds and those sounds can be manipulated and changed to create different words. During this time, children start to understand how different letters and sounds create the words that we speak, read, and write.

Phonological Awareness includes rhyming, alliteration, segmenting words into smaller units, combining separate sounds into words, and understanding that words are made up of sounds that are represented by written letters.