Common Conditions

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Articulation Disorders consist of substitutions, omissions, additions or distortion of speech sounds. Common substitutions include: w instead of r as in wabbit for rabbit, f instead of th as in fumb for thumb, th instead of s as in thad instead of sad.

Phonological Process Disorders are consistent patterns of speech sound errors. These patterns are often common in younger children but become a problem when the errors persist as the child gets older. There are over 20 phonological processes, some of the most common errors include: “Fronting” when a child substitutes t/d for the sound k/g as in tat instead of cat, and do instead of go. “Stopping” when a child substitutes p for f as in pan instead of fan, or t for s as in tat instead of sat.

Tongue Thrust is characterized as a forward position of the tongue at rest (being able to see the tongue in front of the teeth), while swallowing (tongue pushes forward while swallowing, mouth remains open, and/or messy eating), and while speaking (frontal lisp characterized by th sounds in place of s sounds: thad for sad). Tongue Thrust is also known as Oral Myofunction Disorder (OMD). 

CAS is a speech sound disorder which is based on deficits in sensorimotor  planning & program of speech movement.  Several features that differentiate CAS from other speech sound disorders include the following … 

• Vowel distortion
• Inconsistent voicing errors 
• Prosody errors
• Groping / awkward and imprecise movement of the articulators 

Traditional articulation therapy is often not adequate in treating children with CAS.  Dynamic Tactile and Temporal Cueing (DTTC)  has been highly successful to improve motor learning planning and thus greatly improve speech production and a child’s  ability to communicate.  

Children with expressive language disorder have verbal communication skills that are delayed or lower than expected, compared to their peers. They struggle to express their thoughts in words. Children with receptive language disorders struggle to understand spoken language. Some children suffer from both expressive-receptive language.

Stuttering Disorders appear as dysfluent speech in the form of repetition of words or phrases and/or prolongations of and hesitations know as blocks.