Speech disorders are fairly easy to recognize by the layperson. Listeners can hear something "different" about the speech of the person they are listening to. The speech may be difficult to understand; articulation may be unclear. Speech may sound "stuttered;" fluency may be disrupted. There may be a harsh quality to the speech; the vocal mechanism may be altered. Although most listeners tolerate speech disorders, individuals with speech problems typically do not like the fact that attention is drawn to their speech and may wish to obtain help from the speech therapists at the Center for Speech, Language, and Occupational Therapy, Inc..

WHAT IS A LANGUAGE DISORDER?

Language disorders are less easily recognized by the layperson than are speech disorders. The speech of the individual with a language disorder may not "sound" different. The individual, in fact, may be able to communicate with the listener, but communicative effectiveness may be reduced when the speaker is a poor listener or when the speaker has difficulty saying exactly what he means. Communication involves bi-directional language skills. Receptive language encompasses all the skills needed for listening, including adequate hearing sensitivity, the ability to process sounds, especially rapid speech, the ability to derive meaning from the words which are carried by the sentence, and the ability to remember what has been heard. Expressive language encompasses all the skills needed for speaking, including formulating the speech sounds, words, syntax, and grammar needed to match the concept which is to be conveyed.

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS

The ability to learn to speak is neurologically based and requires adequate hearing, auditory perception, intelligence, auditory memory, motor planning and integrity of the oral mechanism. When there is a disruption in any of these areas, speech and/or language may be effected. An individual who is not able to hear the full speech frequency range, will not be able to produce the speech sounds which he cannot hear. An individual with auditory perceptual problems may not be able to hear the differences between speech sounds or may have difficulty sequencing the sounds he hears. Individuals with severe limitations in intelligence do not have the prerequisites for language learning, namely the ability to understand that language represents experience and can be used to manipulate the environment. If an individual has problems in the area of auditory memory, he may not be able to re-create speech or language structures. Someone who has motor planning problems may not be able to tell the articulators--the lips, tongue, jaw, and palate–how to produce speech. Finally, an individual who has an oral mechanism which is compromised by weakness or poor structural integrity, may not be able to produce speech which is understandable to his listeners.

There is a continuum of performance as regards language disorders, with some speakers not being able to say anything at all, and others being able to express themselves fairly well, but having mild difficulty in choosing words or creating grammatical sentences. Severe receptive language disorders such as the inability to process the speech sounds which comprise rapid speech, stand in contrast on the continuum to the individual, for example, with a mild hearing loss. A language evaluation by the speech pathologists at the Center for Speech, Language, and Occupational Therapy, Inc. will determine the nature and severity of the problem.

Brendan O’Connor Webster, M.A., CCC
Speech and Language Pathologist
Executive Director

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