Speech disorders

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Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

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Speech disorders

Definition:

Speech disorders include several speech-related problems that result in impaired or ineffective oral communication. Also see speech impairment.

Alternative Names:

Articulation deficiency; Voice disorders; Dysfluency

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Speech is one of the primary ways we communicate with our environment. It is also an effective way to monitor normal growth and development as well as to identify potential problems.

Dysfluencies are rhythm disorders that are usually characterized by the repetition of a sound, word, or phrase. Stuttering is, perhaps, the most serious dysfluency.

Articulation deficiencies involve sounds made incorrectly or inappropriately.

Voice disorders involve abnormalities in the quality, pitch, and loudness of the sound.

There are many potential causes of speech impairment:

the most common is mental retardation
hearing impairment
ADD
learning disabilities
autism
schizophrenia
cerebral palsy
cleft palate
vocal cord injury
disorders of the palate
cri-du-chat syndrome
Gilles de la Tourette syndrome

Delayed speech development is one of the common symptoms of developmentally delayed children. It occurs in 5-10% of all children. Boys are three to four times as likely to experience speech disorders as girls.

Review Date: 4/11/2005
Reviewed By: Kevin Fung, MD, FRCS(C), Department of Otolaryngology, Division of Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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