Apraxia is a motor speech disorder where a child has difficulty planning and coordinating the movements needed for speech. In childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), the brain struggles to send the correct signals to the muscles used in speaking. This can result in inconsistent speech errors, difficulty pronouncing longer words, and trouble imitating sounds or words.

Signs of Apraxia:

• Difficulty pronouncing sounds consistently
• Challenges stringing sounds together to form words
• Struggling to imitate speech even though they understand the task
• Errors increase with longer, more complex words or phrases

How Speech Therapy Helps: For children with apraxia, speech therapy focuses on repetitive practice of speech movements and improving motor planning. Our SLPs will use techniques like visual, tactile, and auditory cues to help children form sounds and words more consistently. In some cases, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices may be used to support the child’s communication.

An articulation disorder occurs when a child has trouble making certain speech sounds correctly. Children with articulation disorders may substitute, omit, add, or distort sounds, making their speech difficult to understand.

Signs of an Articulation Disorder:

• Substituting one sound for another (e.g., saying “wabbit” for “rabbit”)
• Omitting sounds (e.g., saying “pay” for “play”)
• Distorting sounds (e.g., a lisp when trying to pronounce “s”)
• Speech is difficult to understand, especially for unfamiliar listeners

How Speech Therapy Helps: Our speech therapists work with children to improve their ability to produce sounds correctly. Therapy often involves sound repetition, sound modeling, and gradually building up from individual sounds to words and sentences. Articulation therapy is tailored to the specific sounds the child struggles with and aims to make their speech more clear and understandable.

Signs of a Phonological Disorder:

• Consistent sound errors that follow a pattern (e.g., replacing all “k” sounds with “t” sounds, such as saying “tat” for “cat”)
• Difficulty with understanding and applying the rules for using sounds in words
• More complex speech challenges, especially as the child gets older

How Speech Therapy Helps: Therapy for phonological disorders focuses on teaching sound contrasts (e.g., the difference between “k” and “t”) and helping children understand how different sounds can change the meaning of words. Our speech-language pathologists will work with the child to reduce these patterns of errors and improve overall speech clarity.

Stuttering, or a fluency disorder, affects the flow of speech. Children who stutter may repeat sounds, syllables, or words, or they may prolong sounds. Stuttering can also involve silent blocks, where a child is unable to produce any sound. Stuttering tends to fluctuate, with some periods being more severe than others.

Signs of Stuttering:

• Repeating sounds, syllables, or words (e.g., “b-b-b-ball”)
• Prolonging sounds (e.g., “sssssssnake”)
• Pausing or blocking while trying to speak
• Visible frustration or tension when speaking

How Speech Therapy Helps: Speech therapy for stuttering often involves teaching children techniques to control the flow of speech, such as slow, relaxed speech, breath control, and smooth transitions between words. Therapy also focuses on building the child’s confidence in communicating and reducing anxiety around speaking.

While not a speech disorder in the strictest sense, language disorders affect a child’s ability to understand (receptive language) or express (expressive language) themselves. Children with receptive language disorders may have difficulty understanding spoken or written language, while those with expressive language disorders struggle to communicate their thoughts clearly.

Signs of Receptive and Expressive Language Disorders:

• Difficulty following directions or understanding questions
• Limited vocabulary or difficulty forming sentences
• Trouble retelling stories or events
• Difficulty answering questions or staying on topic in conversations

How Speech Therapy Helps: Speech therapy focuses on helping children improve their understanding of language and their ability to express themselves. For receptive language disorders, therapy may include following directions, identifying objects, or understanding stories. For expressive language disorders, our therapists work on building vocabulary, forming sentences, and improving conversational skills.

A voice disorder occurs when there are issues with the pitch, volume, or quality of a child’s voice. This can include hoarseness, breathiness, or a voice that is too high-pitched or too loud. Vocal nodules (small growths on the vocal cords) can also cause voice disorders.

Signs of a Voice Disorder:

• Hoarseness or breathiness that persists
• Voice that is too loud or too soft for the child’s age
• Straining or pain when speaking
• Loss of voice or frequent voice breaks

How Speech Therapy Helps: MPT’s speech therapists help children with voice disorders by teaching them vocal hygiene techniques, such as avoiding shouting or speaking at a comfortable volume. Therapy also focuses on improving the quality of the voice and addressing any underlying medical issues contributing to the disorder.

Persistent speech errors, difficulty with forming sentences, or struggles with speech fluency.