Different Speech Problems In Children And Adults
It is always cute and endearing to see toddlers and young kids trying to speak clearly and fluently but they lisp, or stammer, or stutter, or substitute one word with another. But, over a period of time if the speech does not clear up it is time to pay attention. Almost 80-90% of children and adults suffer from one or other form of Speech Problems and it is hard to notice unless we know it. Let us learn more about some of these conditions in brief.
Common Speech Problems:
Language problem, articulation issues, stammering, lisping, and apraxia are some of the few language and speech disorders that can affect the normal flow of speech and can cause abrupt and odd pauses while speaking. Merely 5 to 10% of the world population has no problem speaking normally.
1. Stammering or Stuttering:
It is a speech disorder that results in repeating the sounds, syllables, letters, or words longer than normal. It also abruptly breaks the flow of speech and is called as dis-fluency.
Cluttering is a disorder of speech and communication. A person with this disorder generally speaks at a very fast rate and it is laden with grammatical errors, or is of an erratic rhythm, or words that are irrelevant. It becomes very difficult for the listener to understand what is being communicated and often asks the speaker to repeat. It is also called as Tachyphemia.
Lisping is also called as Sigmatism and the person who lisps has a problem with pronouncing sibilants – the hissing sounds. They pronounce ‘z’ instead of ‘s’ and so on.
4. Apraxia Of Speech:
Apraxia of speech or verbal apraxia is a disorder where a person finds it hard to express himself or herself using right set of words. Their speech is disorganized, inconsistent, and they have a problem with compound and lengthy words.
It is a neurological speech disorder which is very rare and affects the rhythm of language, the flow of words, and the pitch. It also adversely affects the frequency of speech, duration, and alters the intensity of the syllables.
Dysarthria is the paralysis or weakness of the muscles involved in speech and is caused by damage to the brain. It results in mumbling, barely audible and unclear speech.
Other than these speech problems, many people suffer from other conditions like voice disorder where the larynx function is impaired.