Stuttering can affect the rhythm, timing, and fluency of speech, and often leads to difficulty expressing thoughts smoothly.
It may be accompanied by physical tension or struggle while speaking. While stuttering can be more common in children as they develop language skills, it may persist into adulthood for some individuals. The exact cause is not fully understood but may involve genetic, neurological, and environmental factors. Stuttering can vary in severity, and it may be influenced by stress, anxiety, or certain situations. Stuttering can be characterised by the following:
Repetitions: Repeating sounds, syllables, or words (e.g., “I-I-I want to go”).
Prolongations: Holding onto a sound for too long (e.g., “sssssun”).
Blocks: A pause or silence in the speech, often where the person is unable to produce a sound at all.
Articulation Disorder
This refers to problems with the physical production of speech sounds. Children with this disorder may have difficulty saying certain sounds correctly. There are four types of articulation errors, including replacing one sound with another (e.g. “wed” for “red”), deleting a sound in a word (e.g. “geen” for “green”, saying a sound in an unfamiliar way (e.g. lisp), or adding an extra sound into a word (e.g. “doguh” for “dog”)
Phonological Disorder
This involves difficulty understanding and using the sound system of a language. Children with phonological disorders may use patterns of sound errors (e.g., fronting, where sounds produced in the back of the mouth are replaced with sounds produced in the front, like saying "tar" for "car")
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
CAS is a motor speech disorder that affects the planning and coordination of the movements needed for speech production. The brain struggles to send the correct messages to the muscles involved in speech production, causing inconsistent speech sound errors, difficulty with speech rhythm, and challenges with sequencing sounds
Dysarthria
This is a motor speech disorder caused by muscle weakness or lack of coordination, which can impact the production of speech sounds. It is often due to neurological conditions (like cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome or a stroke) and can affect speech clarity, volume, pitch, and rate.
SSDs may occur alone or in combination and can vary in severity. Treatment is typically tailored to the specific diagnosis, the child’s age and their needs.