ARTICULATION DISORDERS

Articulation disorders involve difficulties in producing speech sounds accurately, are by far the most common type of speech problem found in children. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association estimated that 80% of the school-age population with communication disorders had articulation disorders. As we have noted, articulation disorders are the type of speech impairment most prevalent among school-age children. The correct articulation, or utterance, of speech sounds requires us to activate a complicated system of muscles, nerves, and organs, Haycock, who compiled a classic manual on teaching speech, describes how the speech organs are manipulated into a variety of shapes and patterns, how the breath and voice must be “molded to form words”. For example, here is Haycock’s description of how the [v] sound is correctly produced. The lower lip must be drawn upwards and slightly inwards, so that the upper front teeth rest lightly on the lip. Breath must be freely emitted between the teeth and over the lower lip, and voice must be added to the breath.

Should any part of this process function imperfectly, a child will have difficulty articulating the [v]. Clearly, in such a complicated process there are many different types of possible errors. Children may omit certain sounds, as in saying “cool” for school. They may drop consonants from the ends of words as in “pos” for post. Most of us leave out sounds at times, but an extensive omission problem can make speech impossible to understand. Children may substitute one sound for another, as in saying “train” for crane or “doze” for those. Children with this problem are often certain they have said the correct word and may resist correction. Substitution of sounds can cause considerable confusion for the listener.

Children may distort certain speech sounds, while attempting to produce them accurately. The [s] sound, for example, is relatively difficult to produce; children may produce the word sleep as “schlep”, ”zleep”, or “thleep”. Some speakers have a lisp; others a whistling [s]. Distortions can cause misunderstanding, though parents and teachers often become accustomed to a child’s use of them. Children may also add extra sounds, making comprehension difficult. They may say “buhrown” for brown or “hamber” for hammer.

Like all communication disorders, articulation problems vary in the degree of severity. Many children have mild or moderate articulation disorders. It is usually possible to understand their speech, but they may mispronounce certain sounds or use immature speech, like that of younger children. These problems often disappear as a child matures. If a mild or moderate articulation problem does not seem to be improving over an extended period or if it appears to have a negative effect on the child’s interaction with others, referral to a communication disorders specialist may be indicated.

A severe articulation disorder is present when a child pronounces many sounds so poorly that his speech is unintelligible most of the time. In that case even the child’s parents, teachers, and peers cannot easily understand him. As Liebergott and colleagues point out, the child with a severe articulation disorder may “chatter away and sound as though he or she is taking gibberish”. He may say, “Yeh me yuh a wido” instead of “Let me look out of the window”, or perhaps “Do foop is dood” for “That soup is good”. The fact that articulation disorders are prevalent does not mean that teachers, parents, and specialists should regard them as simple or unimportant. On the contrary, as Emerick and Haynes observe, “An articulation disorder severe enough to interfere significantly with intelligibility is… as debilitating a communication problem as many other disorders…articulation disorders are not simple at all, and they are not necessarily easy to diagnose effectively”.

Speech-language pathologists, according to Bernthal and Bankson, feel more comfortable and competent when dealing with articulation disorders than with other types of speech and language impairments. This response is probably attributable, they note, to the fact that articulation disorders can be broken down into identifiable segments more readily than can disorders of voice, fluency, or language. Also, a child can logically progress from articulating simple sounds in isolation to syllables, words, phrases, sentences, and sustained conversation. A large percentage of functional articulation disorders are either successfully treated or simply fade away as the child matures.

Four models of treatment are widely used in the treatment of articulation disorders. In the discrimination model emphasis is placed on developing the child’s ability to listen carefully and detect the differences between similar sounds (such as the t in take and the c in cake). The child learns to match his speech to that of a standard model, using auditory, visual, and tactual feedback. The phonologic model seeks to identify a child’s pattern of sound production and to teach her to produce gradually more acceptable sounds. A child who tends to omit final consonants, for example, might be taught to recognize the difference between word pairs like two and tooth and then to produce them more accurately. The sensory-motor model emphasizes the repetitive production of sounds in various contexts, with special attention given to the motor skills involved in articulation; frequent exercises are employed to produce sounds with differing stress patterns. The operant conditioning model seeks to define antecedent events, present specific stimuli, and shape articulatory responses by providing reinforcing consequences. An instructional objective might be stated as “Wayne will say the k in the final position of 10 words after being shown 10 pictures by the therapist. The k sound must be produced correctly in 9 of the 10 words”.

There is a generally consistent relationship between children’s ability to recognize sounds and their ability to articulate them correctly. Whatever treatment model(s) are used, the specialist may have the child carefully watch how sounds are produced and then use a mirror to monitor his own speech production. Children are expected to accurately produce problematic sounds in syllables, words, sentences and stories. They may tape-record their own speech and listen carefully for errors. It is sometimes helpful for children to learn to recognize the difference between the way they produce a sound and the way other people produce it. As in all communication training, it is important for the teacher, parent, or specialist to provide a good language model, to reward the child’s positive performance, and to encourage the child to talk.

 

III. 1. Answer the questions:

1) What is the most common type of speech problems found in children?

2) What can substitution of sounds cause?

3) Do many children have mild or moderate articulation disorders?

4) Who can’t easily understand the child?

5) What is there between children’s ability to recognize sounds and to articulate them correctly?

6) There are five models of treatment, aren’t there?

2. Make the plan of the text. Here are the titles in the wrong order. Make the order correct:

1) four models of treatment

2) pathologists

3) consistent relationship

4) lisp

5) a good language model

6) utterance

7) Haycock

3. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1) Articulation disorders are the type of speech impairment most prevalent among school-age children

2) Children don’t omit certain sounds, as in saying “cool” for school

3) Distortions cause misunderstanding

4) The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association estimated 20% of the school-age population with communication disorders had articulation disorders

5) Articulation disorders can be broken down into identifiable segments

6) Some speakers can have a lisp

4. Find the synonymous words in the text:

- to draw;

- value;

- sample;

- to be of the same age;

- supplement;

- to realize;

- cure.