Speech disorders are fairly easy to recognize by a layperson. The speech may be difficult to understand, articulation may be unclear, it may sound ‘stuttered’ or fluency may by disrupted. 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 speech therapists.

Speech disorders refer to several conditions in which a person has difficulty communicating by mouth. Speech is one of the primary ways we communicate with those around us. It is an effective way to monitor normal growth and development as well as to identify potential problems.

Disfluencies are rhythm disorders that are usually characterized by the repetition of a sound, word or phrase. Stuttering is perhaps the most serious disffluency. Articulation deficiencies involve sounds made incorrectly or inappropriately. Voice disorders involve abnormalities in the quality, pitch and loudness of the sound.

There are many potential causes of speech impairment. The most common cause is mental retardation. Other causes may include.

• Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD)

• Autism

• Cerebral palsy

• Cleft Palate

• Disorders of the palate

• Hearing impairment

• Learning disability

• Schizophrenia

• Vocal cord injury

However, in many cases is unknown. Child abuse may also be a cause in some cases.

Delayed speech development is one of the common symptoms observed in developmentally delayed children. It occurs in five to 10 percent of all children. Boys are three to four times as likely to have speech disorders as girls.

Symptoms …

Disfluency.

• Repetition of sounds, words or phrase after age 4

• Frustration with attempts to communicate

• Heard jerking while talking

• Eye blinking while talking

• Embarrassment with speech.

Articulation Deficiency.

• Unintelligible speech by age 3

• Leaves out consonants at the beginning of words by age 3.

• Leaves out consonants at the end of words by age 4

• Persistent problems with articulation after age 7

• Leaves out sound where they should occur

• Distorts sounds.

• Substitutes an incorrect sound for a correct one.

Voice Disorders.

• Pitch deviations.

• Deviation in the loudness and quality of the voice

• Stuttering it quite common

• Cluttering, a speech disorders that has similarities to stuttering

• Dysprosody is the rarest neurological speech disorder. It is characterized by alterations in intensity, in the timing of utterance segments, and in rhythm, cadence, and intonation of words.

• Difficulty in producing specific speech sounds may be considered a speech sound disorder, and subdivided into Articulation Disorders (also called Phonetic Disorder) and Phonemic Disorder.

Treatments

Many of these types of disorders can be treated by speech therapy, but others require medical attention by a doctor in phoniatrics. Other treatments include correction of organic conditions and psychotherapy.

Social Effects Of Speech Disorders.

Suffering from a speech disorder can have negative social effects, especially among young children. Those with a speech disorders can be targets of bullying that can result in disorders can cause some sufferers to be shy and have poor public speaking skills. Some of the famous people with speech impediments are..

• Humphrey Bogart, actor - Lisp

• Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister - Lisp, Cluttering and Stutter.

• Claudius, Roman Emperor – stutter

• Elton John, Singer / Songwriter - Lisp

• Marilyn Monroe, Actress - Stutter

• Barbara Walters, Television Personality - Rhotacism and Lisp

• Bruce Willis, Actor and Director - Stutter

• Tiger Woods, Golfer - Stutter

• Nicholas Brendon, Actor - Stutter