When a person is unable to produce speech sounds correctly or fluently, or has problems with his or her voice, then he or she has a speech disorder. Difficulties pronouncing sounds, or articulation disorders, and stuttering are examples of speech disorders
The functions, skills, and abilities of voice, speech, and language are related.
Voice
Voice (vocalization) is the sound produced by humans and other vertebrates using the lungs and the vocal folds in the larynx, or voice box.
Your voice is as unique as your fingerprint. It helps define your personality, mood, and health.
Hoarseness
It is a general term that describes abnormal voice changes. When hoarse, the voice may sound breathy, raspy, strained, or there may be changes in volume (loudness) or pitch (how high or low the voice is). More in singer, teacher, children etcs.
Puberphonia
Unusual high pitch (Male has Female type of voice) that persists beyond puberty other symptoms?hoarseness, breathiness; pitch breaks, inadequate resonance, shallow breathing, muscle tension, lack of variability.
Speech
Humans express thoughts, feelings, and ideas orally to one another through a series of complex movements that alter and mold the basic tone created by voice into specific, decodable sounds.
Developmental speech and language disorder
common in kids. This is a disability, Dyslexia etcs. That is caused by the brain working differently. These kids may have trouble producing speech sounds, using spoken language to communicate, or understanding what other people say. Speech and language problems are often the earliest sign of a learning disability.
Hearing loss is often overlooked, and easily identified. If your child is speech/language delayed, their hearing should be tested.
Mental retardation is a common cause of speech and language delay.
Prematurely can lead to many kinds of developmental delays, including speech/language problems.
Neurological problems
cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and traumatic brain injury can affect the muscles needed for speaking.
Autism
affects communication. Speech/language/communication problems are often an early sign of autism.
Structural problems
like cleft lip or cleft palate can interfere with normal speech. More on speech development and cleft palate.
Stuttering
(sometimes called stammering) in stuttering, the normal flow of speech is broken up by repeating or lengthening the sounds, syllables, or words. A person may also have trouble getting a word started. Most kids outgrow stuttering.
Misarticulation
Mispronunciation or pronunciation error, technically known as misarticulation, is a common speech problem. A Speech Language Pathologist can treat articulation problem & conducting the necessary evaluations before starting therapy.
Language
Language is the expression of human communication through which knowledge, belief, and behavior can be experienced, explained, and shared.
Aphasia is a language disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. For most people, these are parts of the left side (hemisphere) of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor.
TREATMENT
We have computerized international standard speech and voice diagnostic & therapeutic tools, Equipped with Dr Speech softwares (USA). Patients with kind of speech, voice and language disorders have excellent facilities for correction. It is handled by experienced Speech-language pathologists.
Auditory-Verbal therapy
Auditory-Verbal therapy is a specialized type of therapy designed to teach a child to use the hearing provided by a hearing aid or a cochlear implant for understanding speech and learning to talk. The child is taught to develop hearing as an active sense so that listening becomes automatic and the child seeks out sounds in life. Hearing and active listening become an integral part of communication, recreation, socialization, education and work.
Auditory-Verbal therapy
How can I tell if my child's speech and language development is on track?
Here are the milestones to look for in normal speech development:
If your child is not meeting these milestones, the first step is to get their hearing checked by an Audiologist, Even if they seem to hear just fine, kids are experts at picking up visual cues to get by. It's important to catch hearing loss early.....
| Age | Language Level |
|---|---|
| Birth | Cries |
| 2-3 months | Cries differently in different circumstances; coos in response to you |
| 3-4 months | Babbles randomly |
| 5-6 months | Babbles rhythmically |
| 6-11 months | Babbles in imitation of real speech, with expression |
| 12 months | Says 1-2 words; recognizes name; imitates familiar sounds; understands simple instructions |
| 18 months | Uses 5-20 words, including names |
| Between 1 and 2 years | Says 2-word sentences; vocabulary is growing; waves goodbye; makes “sounds” of familiar animals; uses words (like “more”) to make wants known; understands “no” |
| Between 2 and 3 years | Identifies body parts; calls self “me” instead of name; combines nouns and verbs; has a 450 word vocabulary; uses short sentences; matches 3-4 colors, knows big and little; likes to hear same story repeated; forms some plurals |
| Between 3 and 4 years | Can tell a story; sentence length of 4-5 words; vocabulary of about 1000 words; knows last name, name of street, several nursery rhymes |
| Between 4 and 5 years | Sentence length of 4-5 words; uses past tense; vocabulary of about 1500 words; identifies colors, shapes; asks many questions like “why?” and “who?” |
| Between 5 and 6 years | Sentence length of 5-6 words; vocabulary of about 2000 words; can tell you what objects are made of; knows spatial relations (like “on top” and “far”); knows address; understands same and different; identifies a penny, nickel and dime; counts ten things; knows right and left hand; uses all types of sentences |
