Last week I posted about the difference between speech and language. I wanted to go ahead and go into a little more detail about what language is. What is Language? While speech involves the physical motor ability to talk, language is a symbolic, rule governed system used to convey a message. In English, the symbols […]
What is the Difference Between Speech and Language?
This is by far the most common question I get asked. In fact, my mother asked me this very question just a couple weeks ago! I am actually very surprised at how many people who work in the field of education cannot define the difference between the two. So I’d love to take a moment […]
The Importance of Pointing
I feel like Everett, with the exception of walking, has hit every developmental milestone earlier than his older sister. He sat up, crawled and spoke his first word earlier than she did. Yeah yeah yeah, I know you aren’t supposed to compare your children but I’m sorry: I am human and I will compare them […]
Speech and Language Development: Birth to 12 months
Not too long ago I did a post on babbling after I was asked by some friends to explain what babbling is exactly. I wanted to go ahead and share some additional information on “typical” speech and language development from birth to 12 months. Here is a chart I put together uses several different sources […]
Speech Sounds: Not Exactly the ABC’s
Well hello hello hello! Recently, I was helping a friend of mine out with her son’s speech. Her son is E’s age (almost three) and she was asking me if some of the speech patterns he uses are normal or not. As we were emailing back and forth, she wrote something about her son not […]
Speech: What is a lisp?
You’ve heard it before: “He has a lisp.” But what exactly is a lisp? Did you know there is more than one type? What is a lisp? A lisp refers to an articulation disorder where a child is having difficulty producing the /s/ and /z/ phonemes, and sometimes has difficulties with the sh, ch and […]
Speech: Motor Speech Disorders: Dysarthria
Part five of my Speech Development and Disorders Series What is dysarthria? Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting in weakness, paralysis or incoordination in the muscles needed for producing speech (jaw, lips, tongue, palate, and respiratory system). What causes dysarthria? Dysarthria is a neuromuscular impairment caused by some degree of damage central nervous system […]
What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech?
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder that significantly impacts a child’s ability to communicate. Today I am going to share with you the ins-and-outs of this somewhat controversial speech disorder. What are motor speech disorders? Motor speech disorders are a group of speech disorders characterized by difficulty with the motor aspect […]
Speech Development: Phonological Processes and Phonological Delay
A child’s speech development is not just about his/her articulation skills (as I discussed in my last post). When SLPs are assessing a child’s speech we are also looking at the sound patterns that the child is (or is not) producing correctly. These patterns are called phonological processes and today I am going to tell […]
Articulation Development: What’s normal? {& What Isn’t}
Welcome! As an SLP I am asked all the time about articulation development. Should my 4 year old be saying his /r/ yet? Is it normal for my 3 year old to say “lellow?” Today I am going to talk all about your child’s articulation development and go over what is normal and what isn’t. […]