Speech and Language Disability

Definition: A speech disorder reflects problems in sending or delivering messages. A language disorder is a problem in receiving, understanding, and formulating messages.

Individual With Disabilities Education Act Definition: Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

Cause: Most causes of speech or language disorder are unknown. Those with no apparent cause are termed functional disorders. Those that originate in the nervous system, muscular system, or formation of the nose, mouth, and other body parts necessary for speech are known as organic disorders. These organic disorders often result from prenatal injuries, tumors, heredity, trauma, seizures, infectious disease, muscle disease, and vascular impairments.

Characteristics: Speech disorders include articulation (substitutions, omission, additions, and distortions); voice (vocal nodules, nasal speech, high pitch); and stuttering. Language disorders affect the sequences of sounds in a word, morphology (e.g. making plurals, past-tense); combining words into sentences; word use (semantics); and using language to communicate (pragmatics).

Prevalence: Between 5-10% of children have some type of speech or language impairment.

Parent Note: Family participation in a child's speech and language therapy greatly aids the child's progress. This participation includes identification of speech or language difficulties, practice, and identification of desired communication skills.

Teaching Strategies

The classroom teacher should know what mastery the school's speech-language pathologist is working on, so that he or she can remind the student to use new speech and language skills.

Other Classroom Strategies: Encourage the child to ask questions. Don't be judgmental of the child's language. Allow time for the child to respond. Provide opportunities for the child to use language and have the expressed language help the child accomplish a goal.

Behavior Strategies: Understand that speech or language disorders can interfere with the nature and quality of social relationships, limit ability to communicate needs or ideas, add to a child's frustration, and affect self-image.

*information from Beach Center on Families and Disabilities

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