Speech and language
difficulty and  disorder 
facts

What is a speech and language problem?
A speech and/or language problem exists when a communication "break down" occurs between the speaker and the listener. Some reasons for this "break down" may include:
  1. Stuttering/dysfluency
  2. Unusual voice quality, pitch, or loudness.
  3. Articulation delay or disorder (difficulty producing sounds,difficulty moving the mouth muscles, difficulty sequencing syllables in words, omission of beginning or ending sounds, etc).
  4. Language delay or disorder (difficulty learning or understanding ideas, following directions, expressing thoughts in the correct sequence, limited vocabulary, poor grammar, etc).
  5. Accents and dialectal differences for second language learners. 
What are the warning signs for children?
You may want to questions your child's speech and language if:
  • at age 2 your child uses less than 50 words and does not use 2 word phrases.
  • at age 3 your child is not consistently using /p/, /n/, /h/, /m/, /w/.
  • at age 4 your child is not consistently using /b/, /k/, /g/, /f/.
Kindergarten
 It is not uncommon for children entering kindergarten to be using at least one of these sounds incorrectly: /l/, /r/, /s/, /th/. If you are worried, check to see if your child can make the sound correctly by itself. If s/he can make the sound, but isn't using it in words, then model and stress the sounds for your child.

Still worried? See a Speech-Language Pathologist for an evaluation.
By 7 years of age children should be using ALL sounds correctly.
In addition, ask yourself the following questions:
  1. How intelligible is my child's speech to an unfamiliar listener?
  2. Can my child produce the age appropriate sounds but cannot use them in words?
  3. Does my child always have the tip of the tongue protruding from his/her mouth while speaking?
  4. Does my child have difficulty pronouncing words with more than 2 syllables?
  5. Is the quality of speech affected by hoarseness, pitch irregularities, harshness or breathiness?
  6. Is the rhythm of the speech affected by repetitions, breaks and pauses?

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask speech-language pathologist!