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Articulation Disorder
What is an Articulation Disorder? An Articulation Disorder is when your child has difficulty
creating or forming speech sounds correctly. Sounds may be omitted or improperly altered during the course of speech. The most common articulation disorders are "lisps" when the S sound is pronounced incorrectly or when a child substitutes a "W" for an "R" sound so he says "wabbit" instead of "rabbit" or "buhd" instead of "bird"
The most common Articulation Disorders present themselves when your child is between the ages of
three and six. As different sounds are mastered at different stages in a child's development, the
appropriate age to begin seeking treatment will depend
http://www.speechbuddy.com/parents/speech-disorder-education/articulation-disorder
Apraxia of Speech
What is Apraxia of Speech? Apraxia of Speech is a communication disorder that can affect your child's motor programming system for speech production. For kids with aproxia of speeech, producing sounds can be difficult, specifically in sequencing and forming sounds. Your child may know what he wants to say, but there is a disruption in the part of the brain that sends the signal to his muscles for the movement necessary to produce the sound. Because the signals are delayed, your child may have difficulty with articulation, intonation, speaking stress or rhythm errors.
There are two types of Apraxia of Speech. Developmental Apraxia, which can occur in your child at birth and Acquired Apraxia, which occurs in adults or a child as a result from a brain injury or illness.
http://www.speechbuddy.com/parents/speech-disorder-education/apraxia-of-speech
Autism
What is Autism? Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an umbrella term to describe "a disorder of neural development" and has three different classifications: Autism, Asperger's Syndrome and low Functioning Autism. If your child is on the Autism Spectrum, his ability to communicate will vary, depending upon his intellectual and social development. Some children with ASD may be unable to speak. Most children with Autism have little or no problem pronouncing words. The majority, however, have difficulty using language effectively, especially when they talk to other people. Many children with ASD have problems with the meaning and rhythm of words and sentences or may be unable to
understand body language and the nuances of vocal tones
Autism may become apparent in your child at about six months of age, though they may be functioning normally, then regress between one and two years of age.
Cerebral Palsy
What is Cerebral Palsy? Cerebral Palsy is a group of disabilities that affect the motor control of child and has three classifications: Spastic, Ataxic and Athetoid. The defining characteristic of Cerebral Palsy is abnormal muscle tone. Speech and communication disorders are a common symptom in children with cerebral palsy. If your child has Cerebral Palsy, they may have a limited range of motion and slow movement, fine motor skills can be difficult to control. This can cause problems with production of sounds and formation of words and phrases.
Cerebral Palsy is generally diagnosed within the first 6-9 months of your child's life. In some cases Cerebral Palsy may develop after birth, brought on by poisoning by toxins or lead, physical brain
injury and meningitis.
Cleft Palate
What is Cleft Palate? A cleft lip or cleft palate is a facial and oral malfunction that occurs during a child's fetal development. A cleft lip or palate can be a small indentation at the top of the lip or can continue into the nasal cavity on one or both sides of the mouth. Children with a cleft lip or cleft palate may also have trouble speaking, his voice may take on a nasal sound, and his speech may be difficult to understand. Children with cleft palate are often born with narrow Eustachian tubes in the middle ear, which can make fluid build-up. This may affect your child's ability to hear clearly, leading to language processing problems and delayed ability to understand spoken language.
Diagnosis can take place before the baby is born during an ultrasound or when your baby is born. A cleft lip may require one or two surgeries depending on the extent of the repair needed. The initial
surgery is usually performed by the time a baby is three months old.
Down Syndrome
What is Down Syndrome? Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21. Children with Down syndrome have a severe delay in her cognitive abilities, physical growth, and often exhibit unique facial and physical characteristics. Language skills are greatly impacted and children with down syndrome commonly have a speech delay as well as difficulty understanding and expressing his speech. Early intervention and individualized speech therapy can help your child target speech errors, increase intelligibility, and encourage literacy skills.
Down syndrome causes delay in vocalization and language acquisition causing some children to not start speaking until 24 to 36 months. Speech delays and associated problems generally stem from poor muscle tone in the area around the mouth can make it hard for your child to pronounce sounds correctly. Hypotonia also leads to feeding and swallowing problems. Children with Down syndrome are often born with narrow Eustachian tubes in the middle ear, which can make fluid build-up. This may affect your child's ability to hear clearly, leading to language processing problems and delayed ability to understand spoken language.
Fragile X Syndrome
What is Fragile X Syndrome? Fragile X Syndrome is an inherited genetic disorder that is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disabilities in boys. It also affects girls, though their symptoms tend to be milder. Intellectual disabilities, speech and language problems, and social anxiety occur most frequently in children with Fragile X Syndrome. If you child has Fragile X Syndrome, he may repeat words and phrases, his speech may have cluttered speech and difficulties with the pragmatics of speech.
Fragile X Syndrome occurs when there is a mutation of the in the FMRI gene and is an inherited disorder. If a child received a permutated X chromosome from one of his parents (as a carrier), then he is at greater risk of developing FXS. Diagnosis is not always easy and early signs of the disease are hard to detect. DNA tests can determine whether a child has inherited Fragile X Syndrome
Language Disorder
What is a Language Disorder? A language disorder is when your child has trouble understanding others, sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings completely. Language disorders can be classified in three ways: Expressive Language Disorder (ELD), Receptive Language Disorder RLD) or Expressive-Receptive Language Disorder (ERLD). If your child has Expressive Language Disorder (ELD), he will not have
problems producing sounds or words, but may not have the ability to retrieve the right words and formulate proper sentences. If your child has Receptive Language Disorder (RLD), he will have difficulties comprehending spoken and written language. Finally, if your child has Expressive-Receptive Language Disorder (ERLD), he will exhibit both kinds of symptoms.
Problems with language skills usually begin before age four. Some mixed language disorders are caused by a brain injury, and these are sometimes misdiagnosed as developmental disorders. Language disorders may occur in children with other developmental problems, autistic spectrum disorders, hearing loss and learning disabilities.
Speech Delay
What is a Speech Delay? A speech delay refers to a delay in either the development or mechanisms necessary to produce speech. If your child has a speech delay, he may have difficulty using his lungs, vocal chords, mouth, tongue or teeth to produce sounds. This may make your child slow to pick up words and lack the ability to shape his mouth and tongue in the formation of words. Other speech delays may be caused by oral-motor dysfunction, which is a lack or delay in the area of the brain that speech is formed and created and communicated to the mouth and tongue. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Auditory Processing Disorder, prematurity, and hearing loss will likely also exhibit speech delay.
Speech delays are usually noticed by watching the milestones of language development with your
child. If your child is not saying three to five words by his first birthday or is unable to produce15-20 words by 15 months of age, he most likely suffers a speech delay.
Stuttering
What is Stuttering? Stuttering occurs when your child's speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions, prolonging of sounds and hesitation or pausing before speech. Stuttering can be developmental, meaning it begins during early speech acquisition, or acquired due to brain trauma. Generally, there are three symptoms of stuttering that your child may exhibit: repetition of a sound or syllable ("I be- be- believe"), a prolongation of a sound ("My name is Mmmike") or a speech block occurs hindering movement of tongues or lips.
No one knows the exact causes of stuttering in a child. It is considered to have a genetic basis, but the direct link has not yet been found. A child who stutters is typically not struggling with the actual production of the sounds stress and a nervousness trigger many cases of stuttering. Stuttering is variable, meaning if the speaker does not feel anxious when speaking, the stuttering may not affect their speech.
Stuttering typically begins after your child has started to use language, so it is not typically diagnosed until your child is one and a half to two years old. No one knows the exact causes of stuttering in a child. It is considered to have a genetic basis, but the direct link has not yet been found.
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