Articulation

Articulation is the process by which sounds are formed when your tongue, jaw, teeth, lips, and palate alter the air stream coming from the vocal folds. Sounds are learned in an orderly sequence. Some sounds, such as "p," "m," and "b," are learned as early as 1 year of age. Other sounds, like "s," "r,' and "l," often are not completely mastered until the early school years. Children should make all the sounds of English by 8 years of age but many children learn these sounds much earlier.

Someone has an articulation problem when he or she produces sounds, syllables or words incorrectly so that listeners do not understand what is being said. An articulation problem sometimes sounds like baby talk because many very young children do mispronounce sounds, syllables, and words. But words that sound cute when mispronounced by young children interfere with the communication of older children or adults.

Types of sound errors

Most errors fall into one of three categories: omissions, substitutions, or distortions. An example of an omission is "at" for "hat" or "oo" for "shoe." An example of a substitution is the use of "w" for "r" which makes "rabbit" sound like "wabbit," or the substitution of "th" for "s" so that "sun" is pronounced "thun." When the sound is said inaccurately, but sounds something like the intended sound, it is called a distortion.

What causes an articulation problem?

Articulation problems may result from a hearing impairment. Children learn their speech sounds by listening to the speech around them. This learning begins very early in life. If children have frequent ear problems during this important listening period they may fail to learn some speech sounds.

Articulation problems may also be related to a weakness to the oral muscles. If this is the cause, the Speech & Language Therapist has to train the oral muscles with special exercises before articulation therapy can begin.

Will a child outgrow a functional articulation problem?

A child's overall speech pattern will usually become more understandable as he or she matures, but some children and adults will need direct training to eliminate all articulation errors. The exact speech pattern of the individual patient will determine the answer to this question.

In Speech and Language Therapy, patients are taught to perceive differences between similar sounds and to produce the new sound first in isolation, then in syllables, words, at phrase and finally at sentence level. The last step is for them to carry over the sound and make it automatic in their spontaneous speech.

How can I help a child pronounce words correctly?

• Don't interrupt or constantly correct the child. Don't let anyone tease or mock (including friends or relatives).