Articulation and Phonological Disorders! * Articulation refers to the production of
speech sounds. Phonology refers to the sound system knowledge and rules.
Articulation and Phonological Disorders! * Articulation refers to the production of speech sounds. Phonology refers to the sound system knowledge and rules. Sounds can be grouped by how they are produced and by where in the mouth the movement occurs to produce them. For example, a fricative sound can be held for a very long time. The sound "f" is a labio-dental fricative because the teeth touch the lips to produce it. If the vocal folds are vibrating the sound is voiced, if not it is voiceless. For example, /f/ and /v/ are both labio-dental fricatives, but /f/ is voiceless and /v/ is voiced. You can feel the difference by putting your hand on your larynx and saying "fffffffffffffff" and then "vvvvvvvvvvvvvv". * Speech sound acquisition follows a predictable developmental path. Different sounds in a language tend to be acquired within the same age range by children. SLPs use developmental norms to determine whether an articulation error is still developmentally appropriate for the child's age, or whether it is evidence of a disorder. An assessment will also look at oral-motor skills to determine whether there is a physical component to the articulation problem. * An articulation disorder or delay occurs when a child is producing a certain sound in an incorrect way, such as a frontal lisp (saying "th" instead of "s"), or leaving the sound out altogether. * A phonological disorder occurs when a child has a pattern of sounds that he or she produces incorrectly, beyond the expected age. These patterns of sound errors are called phonological processes. For example, "velar fronting" is the term for replacing all "k" sounds with "t" and all "hard g" sounds with "d". The sounds /k,g/ are velar sounds, they are produced in the back of the mouth, and the sounds /t,d/ are alveolar sounds, produced at the front of the mouth. So, "cookie" will sound like "tootie", "go" will sound like "doe" and even "fox" might sound like "fots". Sometimes, the child has difficulty hearing the difference between these sounds as well. * Articulation and phonological disorders can occur as any other developmental disorder, i.e. with no known cause or due to a physical or medical reason (e.g. hearing impairment, cleft lip). * Treatment for articulation and phonological difficulties involves increasing awareness of the target speech sound(s), teaching the correct way to move the mouth to produce the sound, using carefully selected words to facilitate production of the sound, practicing the sound alone and in words, sentences and discourse, and occasionally nonspeech oral-motor activities. * You can help a child in the classroom by calling attention to how different sounds are produced when teaching letter-sound correspondences, and increasing phonological awareness activities. When a child makes an articulation error, try to give many examples of the correct production of that sound without directly correcting the child. * For more information please see the links below, as well as the very cool handout "Meet your Speech Helpers" from Home Speech Home that is attached (note that it is designed for children so some of the real technical terms have been changed): * http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/SpeechSoundDisorders.htm * http://www.home-speech-home.com/articulation-disorders.html * http://www.home-speech-home.com/phonological-processes.html
