Csd 210 articulation disorders - fall 2010

Articulation Development, Differences and Disorders

COMSDIS 210: Survey of Communication Disorders

Articulation disorder

• A speech sound disorder resulting from difficulty with the physical production of one or more phonemes.

Comparing and contrasting articulation and phonology

• Both are examples of “speech sound disorders”.

• Phonology: the sound system of a language and the rules that govern the sound combinations. (ASHA, 1993)

• Phonological disorders result from lack of awareness and/or use of the linguistic rules governing the use and combination of speech sounds.

ASHA Definition of Articulation Disorder

• “An articulation disorder is the atypical production of speech sounds characterized by substitutions, omissions, additions or distortions that may interfere with phonology.” (ASHA, 1993)

Facts and figuresIncidence and prevalence

• Articulation disorders most commonly occurring communication disorder.

• May affect children and adults; can be result of congenital or acquired etiologies.– 10-15% of preschoolers– 6% of school-age children

• Almost 91% of speech-language pathologists in schools indicated that they served individuals with phonological/articulation disorders (ASHA, 2006)

Types of articulation errors

• Substitutions

• Omissions

• Distortions

• Additions

Substitutions

• One phoneme (the target phoneme) is replaced with another.

• Common substitutions.

Omissions

• A phoneme which has an obligatory context is omitted/deleted.

• Examples

Distortions

• Use of a non-standard allophonic variation of a phoneme in replacement of the target phoneme.

• Diacritic symbols

Additions

• A phoneme is added to a word for which no obligatory context exists.

• Examples

Articulation development

• What is normative data?

• How is it gathered?

• How is it used?

Articulation normative data

• Vowels mastered before consonants.

• Vowels mastered by age 3 years.

• Normative data on mastery of consonants.

• Mastery of consonants may vary by word-position.

• Individual AND cultural differences exist.

A note about articulation differences

• Distinction between articulation disorder and articulation difference

Causes of articulation disorders (Etiologies)

• Structural impairments of the articulatory system

• Anatomical deviations (congenital or acquired)– Craniofacial anomalies

• Dental/orthodontic issues

• Functional impairments of the articulatory system

• Neuromuscular impairments– Weakness, paralysis, spasticity

• Oral motor impairments– Oral motor discoordination

• Myofunctional disorders– “Tongue thrust” (“reverse swallow”)

• Hearing impairment (transient and chronic)

• Perceptual/discrimination impairments

• Mental retardation/cognitive disabilities

• Unknown etiologies– Functional disorders– Residual errors

Disorder-specific components of the articulation evaluation

• Assessment of articulation skills at the word level.

• Assessment of articulation skills in connected speech.– Sentence level– Reading level– Conversational speech level

• Assessment of effects of co-articulation/ facilitating contexts– Contextual testing

• Assessment of stimulability– Stimulability: the degree to which a client can

modify their phoneme production given cues provided by the examiner

• Assessment of ability to auditorily discriminate between accurate and inaccurate productions of the phoneme.– Auditory discrimination

Treatment of articulation disorders

• A variety of treatment approaches available.

• “Traditional Approach to Articulation Therapy” (Van Riper, 1939) continues to be widely used for clients exhibiting residual errors.

• Goal of TAAT: increase production accuracy of the target phoneme in various word positions across the “linguistic hierarchy”.

Linguistic hierarchy

• Isolation• (nonsense) Syllable level• Word level• Phrase level• Sentence level• Reading level• Conversational speech level

Ways to help a child with an articulation disorder

• Be a good speech model.

• Be a knowledgeable referral source.– Understand developmental & cultural norms– Make referral to SLP for evaluation & diagnosis

• Never tease/ridicule.– Focus on the message, not the manner.

• Reinforce accurate productions.

• Leave intervention to the SLP.

• Realize that treatment is a process.– Takes time and skill.– Many factors relate to speed at which goals are

accomplished.