Speech and Language Disorders

Articulation Disorder: 

• Articulation disorders include all non-maturational speech deviations based primarily on incorrect production of speech sounds.  Articulation disorders include omissions, substitutions, additions, or distortions of phonemes within words.  Articulation patterns that can be attributed to cultural or ethnic background are not disabilities.

Fluency Disorder:

• A fluency disorder is an interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by atypical rate, rhythm, and repetitions in sounds, syllables, words, and phrases.  This may be accompanied by excessive tension, struggle behavior, and secondary mannerisms.

Voice Disorder:

• A voice disorder is characterized by the production absence of vocal quality, pitch, loudness, resonance, duration which is inappropriate for an individual's age or gender, or both.

Language Disorder:

• A language disorder is a reduced ability, whether developmental or acquired, to comprehend or express ideas through spoken, written, or gestural language.  The language disorder may be characterized by limited vocabulary, an inability to function through the use of words (pragmatics) and their meanings (semantics), faulty grammatical patterns (syntax and morphology), or the faulty reproduction of speech sounds (phonology).  A language disorder may have a direct or indirect affect on a student's cognitive, social, emotional, or educational development or performance and deviates from accepted norms.  The term language disorder does not include students whose communication problems result solely from a native language other than English or from their dialectal differences.

If you have any concerns regarding your child's speech and language development, please contact the Special Services Office at 582-3446.