Speech Sound Disorder

Sounds are building blocks of speech. Often we notice that some children and adults do not pronounce few sounds properly. This makes it harder for others to understand them. They might add sounds, change it, replace it with a different sound or leave it out. Errors in speech sounds are developmental in nature. Hence it is normal for young children to make these errors. For example, they might simplify few words by saying “bu” for “blue”, replace few sounds like saying “wabbit” for “rabbit” where “w” is replaced by “r”, or delete few sounds by saying “wawa” for “water” etc. Few of the sounds like m, p, t are acquired earlier whereas few sounds like dh, v, s and z are learnt later. Most children will be able to say all the sounds by 8 years of age.

A child might have Speech Sound Disorder if he/she does not say sounds by the expected age. Adults may also have speech sound disorder that started when they were children or might have developed after stroke, brain injury or other neurodegenerative conditions. A speech language pathologist (SLP) will be able to help you with speech errors.

You should also know that not all speech errors are a problem. India is a multilingual nation and each language has its own set of sounds. All the sounds available in English might not be available in your regional language and vice versa. So sometimes if a child or an adult might sound different, it might be because of dialect or accent difference. A SLP will help you decide if you have a speech problem or you speak with an accent/dialect.

Please click on the following link for age of Customary Consonant Production

https://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/ASHA/Practice_Portal/Clinical_Topics/Late_Language_Emergence/Consonant-Acquisition-Chart.pdf

For help with speech errors, please contact Comunicare Therapy Centre, Ph No: 9036573541, 9663372428