Speech disorders - children

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Articulation deficiency; Voice disorders; Vocal disorders; Disfluency; Communication disorder - speech disorder

Disfluency (stuttering is the most common type of disfluency):

• Repetition of sounds, words, or parts of words or phrases after age 4 (I want...I want my doll. I...I see you.)
• Putting in (interjecting) extra sounds or words (We went to the...uh...store.)
• Making words longer (I am Boooobbby Jones.)
• Pausing during a sentence or words, often with the lips together
• Tension in the voice or sounds
• Frustration with attempts to communicate
• Head jerking while talking
• Eye blinking while talking
• Embarrassment with speech

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Articulation disorder:

• Sounds may be distorted (changed)
• Sounds (most often consonants) will be substituted, left off, added, or changed
• Errors may make it hard for people to understand the person (only family members may be able to understand a child)

See also: Phonological disorders

Voice disorders:

• Hoarseness or raspiness to the voice
• Voice may break in or out
• Pitch of the voice may change suddenly
• Voice may be too loud or too soft
• May run out of air during a sentence
• Speech may sound odd because too much air is escaping through the hose (hypernasality) or too little air is coming out through the nose (hyponasality)

The following tests can help diagnose speech disorders:

• Denver Articulation Screening Examination
• Early Language Milestone Scale
• Denver II
• Peabody Picture Test Revised

A hearing test may also be done.

Review Date: 09/28/2010
Reviewed By: Sumana Jothi, MD, Clinical Instructor, UCSF Otolaryngology, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).