When you think of a speech/language disorder, what comes to mind? A child who stutters? One that says “wabbit” for “rabbit”? An autistic child who only has a few words in his spoken vocabulary? Speech-language pathologists work with a wide range of problems. These problems fall into several main categories:

Joint

Articulation disorders include any type of errors in speech sounds.

language

A language disorder is a deficit in receptive language (comprehension), expressive language (speech), or both. The child may have vocabulary deficiencies, difficulty formulating complete sentences, or difficulty answering questions. May exhibit poor grammar or misuse of pronouns. Your speech may sound quite normal, but you may not use it appropriately in social situations.

Stuttering

A child (or adult) who stutters has difficulty with the fluency of their speech. He or she may repeat sounds or syllables. He may stretch sounds at the beginning of words or “get stuck” while speaking. He may avoid social situations that he fears will cause him to stutter. Many children exhibit short periods of lack of fluency between the ages of two and four as their language skills increase rapidly. This may be perfectly normal. If the symptoms are severe, or if the patterns continue beyond four, it may be indicative of a stuttering problem that needs speech therapy.

voice disorders

The most common voice disorder in children is hoarseness caused by vocal abuse. This is typically seen in young children who yell a lot. It is also common in singers. This vocal abuse can cause physical damage that requires surgery. A speech pathologist can work with the child to help them learn speech methods that are gentle on the vocal cords, allowing the damage to heal.

Another common voice problem in children is hyponasality or hypernasality. These are usually affected by cleft palate (repaired or unrepaired) or hearing impairment.

Speech-language pathologists also work with some problems not directly related to speech, such as swallowing disorders.

If you suspect that your child may have a problem in any of these areas, a speech and language evaluation may be recommended. A speech pathologist can help determine if your child’s speech behaviors need remediation, need to be observed and reviewed later, or are within normal limits for her age.