“Articulation” skills include how we make speech sounds. We use the tongue, teeth, and mouth to form speech sounds, which then create words. Articulation errors can happen on one sound, or multiple sounds. Articulation errors can include sound substitutions, like “wing” instead of “ring,” distortions, like a frontal lisp, or omission errors like “sip” instead of “slip.”

Phonological processing errors are a “system” or “pattern” of errors. These errors are used by children to simplify their speech as they develop language.

For example, a child might be deleting all final consonants from words. They may say “cah” instead of “cat.” Or, maybe they are stopping the airflow on all “airy” sounds, and “s” or “f” is pronounced as a “t” sound.

“Language” includes word meaning skills, vocabulary knowledge, grammar, word endings, etc… There is spoken language which includes listening and speaking, and written language, which includes reading and writing. Receptive language is what we hear, read, and understand. Expressive language is what we speak, write, and are able to use.

… or the fancier term, “Pragmatic Language,” involves understanding and using social aspects of language. This could include conversational skills, point of view, reading facial expressions, using social skills in groups or 1:1, etc…

Pragmatic language deficits can impact a child’s ability to form lasting friendships and interact appropriately with their peers and teachers.

“Fluency” therapy, in the world of speech, is designed to treat stuttering. Stuttering typically can be in the form of repetitions, prolongations, and blocks. Many times, there are other characteristics of stuttering, like tension or blinking.

Young kids often go through a period of developmental stuttering (both of my kids have had this!). I can help your family distinguish between what has the potential to be a lasting fluency disorder and developmental stuttering.

“Phonological Awareness” is a key skill involved in literacy skills. It is a student’s ability to identify parts of words, and then manipulate them. This could include rhyming, blending and segmenting.

“Phonemic awareness” is a student’s ability to identify the sounds in words and manipulate them. Both of these skills are ::crucial:: for reading success.

The basic unit of a word is a sound. An SLP’s knowledge of sounds can be a key component in reading and writing success.