Understanding Language and Speech Disorders

UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE & SPEECH DISORDERS WHAT IS LANGUAGE? Made up of socially shared rules including: WHAT IS COMPASSION? WHAT WORDS MEAN HOW TO MAKE NEW WORDS HOW TO CONSTRUCT SENTENCES HOW TO USE CERTAIN WORD COMBINATIONS TO EXPRESS MEANING THE CAT ATE THE RAT WHEN A PERSON HAS TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING OTHERS - OR - EXPRESSING HIMSELF, HE HAS A LANGUAGE DISORDER WHAT IS SPEECH? Verbal communication is made up of: FLUENCY Natural flow of speech ARTICULATION VOICE The production and Pitch, volume, and combination of sounds to duration of sounds convey meaning WHEN A PERSON CANNOT PRODUCE SPEECH EFFECTIVELY, HE HAS A SPEECH DISORDER THE NUMBERS ON LANGUAGE AND SPEECH DISORDERS 6-8 MILLION AMERICANS have some kind of language impairment 5% of children have noticeable speech disorders by 1st grade 8-9% 2-19% of young children have speech sound disorders of preschool children have language difficulty Sheesh! 7% of children present language maturation 12 months behind what's normal for their age, which is known as Specific Language Impairment (SLI) HOW LANGUAGE AND SPEECH THERAPY CAN HELP Helps individuals with articulation disorders (such as pronouncing "W" in place of "R") pronounce words correctly "WED" IS MY FAVORITE COLOR V “RED" IS MY FAVORITE COLOR Helps children improve language comprehension and verbal skills Helps individuals with severe disorders use augmentative and alternative communication systems Sally sold seashells at the seashore Helps individuals who stutter or hesitate improve their fluency INFOGRAPHIC PROVIDED BY: PediaPlex PediaPlex www.autismtestingdallas.com Sources: http://www.asha.org/careers/professions/sld.htm http://www.asha.org/research/reports/children.htm http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/language_speech.htm http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/speechsounddisorders.htm