Speech disorders, alternatively known as voice disorders, articulation deficiency and disfluency, refer to the disorders that affect your ability to communicate effectively by mouth with people around you. Speech disorders, such as stuttering and delayed speech can be very frustrating. According to one estimate more than three million people in the US suffer from speech disorder. It has been found that speech disorder occurs in people of all ages but affects most frequently young children between the ages of 2 and 6 who are developing language. Boys are three to four times more prone to speech disorders than girls.Speech disorders may be minor, severe, lasting, or temporary.

Disfluencies involve frequent repetition of a sound, word, or phrase, thereby disrupting the normal flow of speech. Stuttering is arguably the most serious form of disfluency. While articulation deficiency is a speech disorder characterized by the incorrect and inappropriate making of sounds, voice disorders are characterized by abnormalities in the quality, pitch, and loudness of the sound.lisping is another common form of speech disorder which generally is common among children.

There are several potential causes of speech disorders. The most common cause of speech disorder is thought to be mental retardation.Mental retardation makes kids more likely to develop speech disorders. Other causes may include Attention deficit disorder (ADD), Autism, brain injuries, Cerebral palsy, Cleft palate, Cri-du-chat syndrome, physical impairments, and disorders of the palate, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, hearing loss, drug abuse, learning disability, and overuse of the voice, schizophrenia and vocal cord injury.

The main symptoms of speech disorders are frequent repetition of sounds, words, or phrases; frustration with attempts to communicate, head jerking and eye blinking while talking and deviations in the loudness and quality of the voice. Children suffering from the symptoms should be referred to an audiologist who will conduct an audiology test. If necessity arises, audio logical and speech therapy can then be undertaken. However, there is no need to pay too much attention to the disfluency among children since it is common among them due to their lack of vocabulary resulting in the scenario where child is not able to express themselves appropriately.

Speech disorders are generally diagnosed by a speech pathologist, also known as a speech-language pathologist, a professional who is highly trained to evaluate, diagnose and treat individuals with voice, speech and language disorders. Speech pathologists use relaxation techniques that include breathing exercises. The diagnosis of speech disorders is generally based on the history of the disorder.

The best treatment for speech disorder is prevention and early treatment by a speech-language pathologist. Speech therapy training is an involved and time-consuming endeavor that can have profound results with consistent treatment.

Speech disorders may be developmental, psychogenic, neurogenic, or even genetic. With the passage of tome most of the speech disorders make their disappearance. While for those that don’t disappear, speech therapists will come to your rescue.

The article above is part of our website blog and does not represent opinion or advice of Marissa A Barrera and other staff members.