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Disorders
Here are a list of the most common speech and language disorders. A person can have more than one disorder.
Language Disorders
Language disorders are sometimes referred to as: Developmental Language Disorder, Specific Language Impairment or Spoken Language Disorders. There are two major categories that these disorders fall into: Expressive Language Disorder and Receptive Language Disorder.
Expressive Language Disorder
People with Expressive Language Disorder have difficulty using language correctly so others can understand them. These problems may be a result of limited vocabulary, difficulty with word tenses or sentence structure errors.
Receptive Language Disorder
People with Receptive Language Disorder have difficulty understanding the meaning of conversational language. This may look like difficulty following directions or answering questions. They may appear confused during conversation due to limited vocabulary or grammatical structure knowledge.
For more information on Language Disorders, please check out the following resources:
Understood: Language Disorders
ASHA: Preschool Language Disorders
To find out how we can help with Language Disorders, please contact us today at (858) 245-3223 or info@starlightlightspeech.com
Speech-sound Disorders
Commonly referred to as an articulation or phonological speech disorder, people with these disorders have difficulty pronouncing specific sounds. These sounds may be deleted or replaced by other sounds. Some speech pronunciation issues are considered developmentally appropriate for young children. As a general guideline, at two-years old, children should be understood 50% of the time. By three years-old, they should be understood 75% of the time. Certain later developing sounds may not be pronounced correctly until after the age of four.
For more information on speech sound disorders, please check out the following resource: ASHA: Speech-sound Disorders
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To find out how we can help with Speech-sound Disorders, please contact us today at (858) 245-3223 or info@starlightspeech.com
Motor-speech Disorder
There are two types of Motor-speech Disorders: Apraxia and Dysarthria.
Apraxia in children is sometimes referred to as Childhood Apraxia of Speech or CAS. The most common characteristics of the CAS include: inconsistent sound errors, increasing pronunciation difficulties with longer phrases and stress placed on incorrect parts of words and/or parts of phrases. CAS is a result of the brain's inability to send a clear signal to the muscles that control speech. CAS is never due to an anatomical deficit or weakness.
For more information, on CAS, please check out the following resource: ASHA: CAS
Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder that is a result of weak muscles. The most common characteristics include: slurred or mumbled speech, speaking too fast or slow, sounding robotic or hoarse.
For more information on Dysarthria, please check out the following resource:
To find out how we can help with Motor-speech Disorders, please contact us today at (858) 245-3223 or info@starlightspeech.com
Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder
Sometimes referred to as Pragmatic Language Impairment, people with this disorder have difficulty using language appropriately for social purposes. Specifically, they may have difficulty taking the perspective of others. While telling a story, they may provide too little or too much information so the listener is unable to understand their meaning. They may have difficulty understanding or using the non-verbal parts of communication such as body language to convey emotions.
For more information on Social Pragmatic Disorders, please check out the following resource: Understood: Social Communication Disorder
To find out how we can help with Social Pragmatic Disorders, please contact us today at (858) 245-3223 or info@starlightspeech.com
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Voice Disorder
There are many types of voice disorders which can result in a hoarse, breathy voice or even complete loss of voice. Common voice disorders include: vocal fold nodules or polyps, vocal fold paralysis, paradoxical vocal fold movement and spasmodic dysphonia.
For more information on Voice Disorders, please check out the following resource: ASHA: Voice Disorders
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To find out how we can help with Voice Disorders, please contact us today at (858) 245-3223 or info@starlightspeech.com
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Fluency Disorders
The most common type of fluency disorder is stuttering. People who stutter repeat sounds, words or phrases. Sometimes they may also have blocks in their speech that appear like stuck speech. During the preschool years, a certain amount of stuttering may be developmentally appropriate, but it is important to have a Speech-Language Pathologist evaluate your child to determine if therapy is needed.
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For more information about stuttering, please check out the following resource: ASHA: Fluency Disorders
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To find out how we can help with Fluency Disorders, please contact us today at (858) 245-3223 or info@starlightspeech.com
Dysphagia
People with this disorder, can have difficulty with any stage of eating, drinking and swallowing. While eating or drinking, an individual with Dysphagia may appear to be fussy, cough/gag, spit up or altogether refuse food or drink. These difficulties are due to a variety of reasons such as nervous system disorders, reflux, muscle weakness, sensory or behavioral issues.
For more information on Dysphasia, please check out the following resource: ASHA: Childhood Dysphagia
To find out how we can help with Dysphagia, please contact us today at (858) 245-3223 or info@starlightspeech.com