All children learn language and speech at a different pace. Some children have no problems with sounding out various words and sentences, whilst others have some difficulties.

Childhood speech disorders are more common than you might think. If your child has a speech disorder, there are ways you can help them to improve and even overcome it.

A child should be able to speak a couple of words by age 2. From that point forward, it should be easier for them to learn more words and to pronounce them correctly.

If your child continues to have speech problems by the age of 5, then something might be wrong. Your first step is to get an evaluation from a speech pathologist who will assess the type, severity, and possible cause of your child’s disorder.

Below are six common childhood speech disorders you should have on your radar.

Lisping

Lisping is a speech disorder that can happen to anyone. A lisp is when someone has trouble pronouncing the letters “s” and “z.”

For example, when they sound out the “s” letter, it will sound more like the “th” in the word “thick.” And when they sound out the “z” letter, it will sound more like the “th” in the word “this.”

A lisp occurs because the person cannot control their tongue properly as they speak. Their tongue will usually touch the front of their teeth as they try to sound out the “s” or “z” letters. That is why it comes out as a “th” sound.

Children begin speaking around the same time as their first teeth develop, so it is not unusual for speech development issues to be linked to their teeth. Your Mascot family dentist can provide insight into how your child’s dental condition could be impacting their speech.

Stuttering

Stuttering is a widespread speech disorder that affects millions of people, especially children. A stutter is when someone uncontrollably repeats the same sounds as they talk.

It is usually the first consonants of the words that are repeated involuntarily. Most children will outgrow their stuttering problem, but there is no telling how long it will take.

However, you can speed up the process by having your child work with a speech pathologist. Unlike other speed disorders, stuttering is curable.

Delayed Language Development

Delayed speech development, also known as alalia, is when a child does not try to communicate in the first years of their life orally.

Some children develop late when it comes to speech, while others could have brain damage or some developmental disorder, such as autism.

For most children, it takes a little bit longer for their speech organs to link to their brains properly. Their vocal cords, tongue, and mouth are all the main elements of speech. They need a bit of extra training and exercise to overcome delayed speech.

Apraxia

Apraxia is a type of speech disorder where the neural link between a person’s speech muscles and their brain is dysfunctional.

In other words, even though the brain knows what it wants to say, it fails to transmit the proper message to the speech muscles because of obscurity in the neural link between the brain and speech muscles.

Some children are born with apraxia, but it is not detectable right away. You have to wait for the child to get older so that you can hear them speak. If they pronounce words inconsistently or distort the sounds of words, they may have apraxia.

Dysarthria

Dysarthria is what happens when you suffer from speech muscle damage or nerve damage. You will end up with slurred speech, limited tongue movement, slow speech, abnormal rhythm, and limited lip movement.

Adults suffer from this more than children, but it can happen to children too. If a young child develops a condition like cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy, then it could cause them to have dysarthria.

Muteness

There are multiple types of muteness speech disorders, but the primary one is selective muteness. It is a disorder where the person has the physical ability to speak, but they cannot make themselves talk.

Muteness has a significant psychological component to it. A child who suffers from muteness would need the help of a speech pathologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, paediatrician, or a combination of them.

Speech disorders are common and should not be a matter of concern. If your child is showing signs of a speech impairment enlist the help of a speech therapist and get the tools you need to help your child improve and overcome their disorder.

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