A child with an articulation (speech sound) disorder has difficulty producing individual sounds. For example, a child may substitute, omit, or distort sounds. Some characteristics of an articulation disorder at different ages include the following:
- 8–9 months: Does not babble in a repetitive manner
- 18 months: Uses primarily vowels or only a few consonants
- 3 years: Leaves out consonants or has unclear speech
- 4 years: Has distorted speech that is often hard to understand
- 6 years: Cannot produce some speech sounds
Speech therapists are able to specifically target the difficult sounds. We provide auditory bombardment, auditory feedback, tactile cues, training of correct mouth and tongue positioning, muscles strengthening to produce specific sounds, and carryover activities to increase correct sound productions.
