What is articulation? Speech Sound Disorder? Lisp? Speech Impediment? These are great questions. Over the next few weeks/months, we are going to be unpacking what exactly is “Articulation”, figuring out how/why therapy is effective, and determining why correcting these important.
So what is articulation? The dictionary defines articulation as “the formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech, or the articulation of vowels and consonants”. To put it another way, an articulation disorder is difficulty producing the appropriate vowels and consonants in English. This can be contrasted with language, which is defined as “the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way”. In other words, language can be expressive (how you express or communicate with those around you), or receptive (how you comprehend language). Thus these two parts, speech and language, make up the title “Speech and Language Pathologist” or SLP.
Many individuals, both kids and adults, have difficulty with articulation. The disorder has many different names (both technical and slang) including: articulation disorder, phonological disorder, lisp, tongue tied, mumble, speech sound disorder, etc.
Honestly, providing therapy for articulation is one of my LOVES. There are few things more exciting and challenging for me, than sitting down with a kiddo who is having difficulties producing one (or many many) speech sounds and trying to solve the puzzle. It’s like opening a huge box from IKEA and trying to put all the pieces together, even when it feels like there is NO WAY all the pieces are there.
In the next few blog posts, I’ll dive into what makes articulation so interesting, how we (SLP’s of course) usually “tackle” the issues, and how we can better help our children to be successful in it. Hang onto your hats kids, this could be a wild ride!
-Kasey-