Speech disorder

Speech disorders or speech impairments are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering, cluttering or lisps. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is considered mute. Speech skills are vital to social relationships and learning, and delays or disorders that relate to developing these skills can impact individuals function. For many children and adolescents, this can present as issues with academics. Speech disorders affect roughly 11.5% of the US population, and 5% of the primary school population. Speech is a complex process that requires precise timing, nerve and muscle control, and as a result is susceptible to impairments. A person who has a stroke, an accident or birth defect may have speech and language problems. Classifying speech into normal and disordered is more problematic than it first seems. By strict classification, only 5% to 10% of the population has a completely normal manner of speaking (with respect to all parameters) and healthy voice; all others have one disorder or another. There are three different levels of classification when determining the magnitude and type of a speech disorder and the proper treatment or therapy: Sounds the patient can produce Phonemic – can be produced easily; used meaningfully and constructively Phonetic – produced only upon request; not used consistently, meaningfully, or constructively; not used in connected speech Stimulate sounds Easily stimulated Stimulate after demonstration and probing (i.e. with a tongue depressor) Cannot produce the sound Cannot be produced voluntarily No production ever observed Apraxia of speech may result from stroke or progressive illness, and involves inconsistent production of speech sounds and rearranging of sounds in a word ("potato" may become "topato" and next "totapo"). Production of words becomes more difficult with effort, but common phrases may sometimes be spoken spontaneously without effort.