Although it has been somewhat difficult for experts to quantify just how many children have speech sound disorders it is estimated that between 2.3% and 24.6% of school-aged children have a speech delay or speech sound disorder.
Speech sound disorders is a wholistic term used to refer to any difficulty or combination of difficulties with perception, motor production, or phonological representation of speech sounds and speech segments—including phonotactic rules governing permissible speech sound sequences in a language.
Speech sound disorders can be organic or functional in nature. Organic speech sound disorders result from an underlying motor/neurological, structural, or sensory/perceptual cause. Functional speech sound disorders are idiopathic—they have no known cause. Functional speech sound disorders are the result of influences on the motor and linguistic aspects of speech production. Historically, these functional errors were referred to as articulation (motor) and phonological (linguistic) disorders.
As mentioned there are a variety of potential causes for speech sounds disorders. It is important to note that children and adults who come from non-English speaking backgrounds (as well as those from different dialect backgrounds) will sometimes sound like they have speech production errors, it is very likely that the perceived differences in speech production are due to interference from their first language. Speech and language differences do not always mean speech and language disorders.
As a parent there are few signs to watch for in your child to see if they may have a speech sound disorder. Some of the signs and symptoms of a functional speech sound disorder include the following:
These signs and symptoms may occur as isolated errors of articulation or as a more systematic pattern of speech errors resulting from misuse of phonological rules of the language.
There are a few risk factors that have been identified that increase the likelihood of a speech sound disorder. These risk factors can include:
It is very common for children to not be able to produce certain speech sounds based on their chronological age, and it is also very common for children to grow through periods of mis-productions as they learn the rules of the language. It is always a good rule of thumb to raise any concerns you have about your child's development with their pediatrician. You may also consult with your local speech language pathologist to make sure your child is on track for success.