Speech Therapy for Speech Sound Disorders

Speech sound disorders is an umbrella term.

It refers to differences in creating speech sounds.

They can be present in anyone of any age, and these disorders impact speech in different ways based on their causes.

However, they’re most common in younger children.

The two main categories of speech sound disorders are functional and organic.

The cause of functional speech sound disorders is unknown.

Organic speech sound disorders, on the other hand, come from neurological, perceptual or structural origin.

Here at Forte Speech & Language, our speech-language pathologists can help.

If you or your child or another family member has a speech sound disorder, we offer speech therapy in Los Angeles and virtually across California.

Read on to find out more about the different types of speech sound disorders and how speech therapy can help.

Speech Therapy for Articulation Disorders

Articulation is how a person creates speech sounds.

This comes from movements of different areas of your body, including primarily your:

Tongue
Lips
Teeth
Hard and soft palate

These are your articulators, and they’re the parts of your body involved in speech production.

You use each of these in the process of producing speech.

But with an articulation disorder, you may have issues creating certain speech sounds.

There are also many other speech and language disorders or differences that can occur alongside an articulation disorder.

These may include:

Motor speech disorders like childhood apraxia of speech or dysarthria.
Neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder.
Neurological disorders like stroke or traumatic brain injury (usually in adults) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Fluency disorders like stuttering.
Developmental disorders like cleft lip and cleft palate.

Family history can also play a role.

If you have family members with articulation disorders, your children are also more likely to have one.

Signs of Articulation Disorders

How can you tell if you or your child has an articulation disorder?

There are two different main categories of ways an articulation disorder can affect speech sound production. These include:

Distortion: changing a sound (like ‘schoesch’ instead of ‘shoes’)
Substitution: swapping sounds out for another (like ‘wed’ instead of ‘red’)

These speech differences can lead to your child feeling self conscious about their speech, which can cause issues with self confidence or reluctance to speak.

How to Tell If Your Child Has an Articulation Disorder

Of course, kids don’t speak perfectly right away.

As your child develops, they’ll gain the ability to create new speech sounds. So your child won’t be able to create every speech sound right away. But that doesn’t mean they have an articulation disorder.

However, if you or others are having a difficult time understanding your child’s speech compared to other children their age, it may be a sign of an articulation disorder.

If you suspect your child may have an articulation disorder, it’s a good idea to book an appointment with one of our SLPs. Our clinicians have extensive experience treating a variety of articulation disorders.

Your pediatric SLP will start with an assessment. This means taking a look at your child’s abilities and determining areas of need.

From there, your child’s speech therapist will create an intervention plan.

This plan will include a variety of different activities and exercises to help address your concerns, build on your child’s strengths, and help them communicate with confidence.

Speech Therapy for Phonological Disorders

Phonology refers to the study of how we organize the different speech sounds (called phonemes) into language.

So a phonological disorder is related to that.

Phonological disorders are similar to articulation disorders in that both impact speech intelligibility (how well you can understand them).

In some cases, it’s difficult to tell the difference.

However, they are separate disorders, with unique treatment methods.

Kids with articulation disorders have difficulty producing speech sounds correctly.

Kids with phonological disorders, on the other hand, can often produce individual speech sounds correctly, but have difficulty recognizing the patterns of sounds they hear and organizing them into a language they can use.

Signs of Phonological Disorders

Phonological disorders can present similarly to other speech sound disorders. That’s why it’s necessary to conduct a speech therapy evaluation before treatment.

Children with phonological disorders will demonstrate error patterns in their speech production. These errors will persist longer than expected for their age. These are are called phonological patterns. Common phonological patterns include:

Fronting: replacing speech sounds normally made in the back of their mouth (e.g. ‘k’ or ‘g’) with ones made in the front (e.g. ‘t’ or ‘d’)
Stopping: replacing a sound formed using consistent airflow (e.g. /f/ or /s/) with ones formed by stopping airflow (e.g. /p/ or /t/)
Gliding: replacing the /r/ or /l/ sounds with /w/ or /y/.
Final Consonant Deletion: dropping the last sound in a word
Consonant Cluster Reduction: dropping one or more sounds in a consonant blend (e.g., ‘tar’ for ‘star’)

How to Tell If Your Child Has a Phonological Disorder

Like articulation disorders, it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between a phonological disorder and typical childhood speech development.

However, one way to tell is by paying attention to your child’s developmental milestones.

Most children should be able to say most speech sounds by the time they’re about three.

They may still have trouble, however, with ‘ch’, ‘l’, ‘r’, ‘s’, ‘sh’, ‘th’, ‘v’, or ‘z’.

If your child is having trouble with simpler speech sounds at this age, it may be a sign of a phonological disorder.

And if that’s the case, it’s a good idea to book an appointment with us here at Forte Speech & Language Therapy sooner than later.

When it comes to speech-language pathologist exercises for speech sound disorders, early intervention has been shown to be more effective than waiting until later to get treatment.

If you’re concerned about your child’s speech development, it’s always better to get an assessment rather than waiting until later.

At Forte Speech & Language Therapy, we’re here for you with services for speech difficulties like this.

Does Your Child Have a Lisp?

A lisp is a functional speech sound disorder that involves issues with making the speech sounds ‘s’ and ‘z’ specifically.

This disorder usually develops in childhood. The exact cause is unknown but may include:

Orofacial myofunctional disorders like tongue tie or tongue thrust
A misaligned jaw
Developmental disorders like hearing loss
Habit – learning to pronounce these sounds incorrectly

In most cases, however, lisps are considered idiopathic.

That means there’s no identifiable cause.

Contrary to myth, studies have shown no evidence pacifier use can cause lisping.

Lisps may persist into adulthood if not treated early.

Characteristics of a Lisp

There are different types of lisps that involve different areas of your tongue.

Each of these will have slightly different symptoms.

They include:

Frontal Lisp

With a frontal lisp, you or your child will push their tongue forward too much.

This causes a ‘th’ sound when trying to say words with ‘s’ or ‘z’.

Dental Lisp

This is similar to a frontal lisp. It occurs when the tongue obstructs airflow due to misplacement against the teeth, causing speech distortion, often associated with lisping sounds, notably with the pronunciation of ‘s’ and ‘z’ sounds.

Lateral Lisp

A lateral lisp often sounds like there’s excessive saliva because extra air slides over the sides of your tongue when making an ‘s’ or ‘z’ sound. This type of lisp also often impacts the ‘sh’, ‘ch’, and ‘dg’ sounds.

How to Tell If Your Child Has a Lisp

Frontal and dental lisps usually occur in younger children. In most cases, they will go away by age four or five. Lisps can be a part of normal speech development in children – many kids don’t master ‘s’ and ‘z’ until around age four.

However, this isn’t always the case. If your child is showing signs of a lisp, it’s a good idea to book a speech therapy assessment. A speech therapist will be able to let you know if they’re on the right track or if they could benefit from speech-language pathology interventions.

Lateral lisps, on the other hand, are not part of normal speech development.

If your child is showing signs of a lateral lisp, it’s absolutely a good idea to book an appointment with us here at Forte Speech & Language Therapy.

Our speech therapists will first conduct an evaluation to determine what type of lisp your child has, why typical speech sound production may be impacted, and if therapy is indicated.

If it turns out your child could benefit from speech therapy, an SLP will help your child to learn about their lisp.

This involves learning how to position the tongue in the correct place so that the sounds in error are made correctly.

If treated early, speech therapy is usually very successful and short-term in nature.

But, if not treated early, these issues can then persist into adulthood.

Not to worry though, as we can also help adults who have a lisp.

It’s never too late!

How Can Speech Therapy Help with Speech Sound Disorders?

Do you or your child have an articulation disorder, a phonological disorder, or another type of speech sound disorder?

Or, do you recognize that your child is demonstrating some of the signs and symptoms listed above?

If so, book your initial consultation with Forte Speech & Language today.

Our team of SLPs is trained in a range of speech therapy techniques to help individuals with speech sound disorders.

Regardless of your or your child’s needs, we’re here to help.

Your speech therapist will start with an assessment of your child’s speech skills, production of vowels and consonants, history of other language disorders, review of developmental/educational history, severity of symptoms, area(s) affected, and more.

From there, they’ll provide a speech therapy treatment plan designed to address the particular speech or language disorder your child has.

This is a collaborative process between parents, child, and speech therapist. We’ll work together in setting realistic and specific speech therapy goals, helping your child build their communication skills.

Our convenient options encompass both virtual and in-home mobile appointments, ensuring accessibility and flexibility for adults and children of all ages.

Virtual sessions are available throughout all of California and in-home mobile sessions is an option for clients within the Greater Los Angeles area.

Our team of therapists are experienced in delivering effective therapy virtual and in-home and will help to create a comfortable environment for yours and yours child unique needs.