Speech is the ability to correctly produce speech sounds to form words. To have others understand our speech is a critical part of communicating effectively.
Speech Difficulties
Sometimes, a child has difficulty saying some sounds. This can make it hard for people to understand what the child is trying to say.
Young children will make speech errors as they learn, and this is okay. However, some children may continue to have problems with articulation (moving the tongue, lips, and jaw) or phonology (the patterns of sounds).
Some symptoms of an articulation delay include:
- Speech not sounding clear
- Speech sounding ‘slushy’
- Producing “s” sounds as “th” sounds
Some symptoms of a phonological delay include:
- Speech not sounding clear
- Leaving off sounds at the beginning, middle, or end of words
- Changing sounds in words
- Substituting sounds in words
