Articulation Disorder
in Baton Rouge, LA
Communication is a valuable and enjoyable part of daily life. Whether you need to order food at a restaurant, give a presentation at work, or call your best friend to chat, being able to communicate clearly is important for many different reasons. So if your child is struggling with their speech clarity and pronunciation, you may be familiar with the frustrations and challenges this can cause. From struggles with being understood by others to difficulty making friends, these issues can impact a child’s communication skills and overall development. Keep reading to learn more about articulation challenges, what causes them, and how our experts at Dynamic Therapy Specialists can help your child share their ideas with confidence.
What Is Articulation?
Articulation refers to the ability to produce speech sounds accurately and effectively. It involves coordinating the movements of the tongue, lips, jaw, and palate to produce clear and understandable speech. Articulation skills are crucial for effective communication and language development.
What Causes Articulation Challenges?
Sometimes, articulation challenges are simply caused by difficulties with strength and coordination of the oral muscles necessary for clear speech. But often, trouble with articulation is actually a symptom itself. If your child is struggling with articulation, it can be a sign of many different conditions, including:
- Developmental delays
- Lip or tongue tie
- Cleft lip or palate
- Hearing impairments
- Auditory processing disorder
- Childhood apraxia of speech
- Genetic conditions like Down syndrome
Signs of Articulation Challenges
The signs of articulation challenges can include anything that affects the clarity and ease of your child’s speech, including:
- Difficulty pronouncing certain sounds or words
- Speech that is unclear or difficult to understand
- Simplification of speech sounds (e.g., saying “wabbit” instead of “rabbit”)
- Adding unnecessary sounds to words (e.g., saying “puh-lease” instead of “please”)
- Leaving out certain sounds from words (e.g., saying “tuck” instead of “truck”)
- Frustration or embarrassment related to speech difficulties
- Avoiding reading out loud or speaking to others
How We Address Articulation Challenges
At Dynamic Therapy Specialists, we take a holistic approach to pediatric therapy. Rather than simply teaching children how to compensate for the skills they struggle with, we take a bottom-up approach by focusing on remediation first. We don’t simply teach your child how to properly make speech sounds, we find out why they are struggling in the first place. By evaluating the foundational areas of your child’s development, we can identify and address the root causes of their articulation challenges.
Think of it this way: you have to learn to walk before you can learn to run. It’s not that you can’t learn how to run, but if you never learned how to walk first, you’ll be missing the basics that you need to support learning how to run. By prioritizing skill remediation over compensation, we empower children to build a strong foundation for future growth and development.
Schedule an Evaluation Today
If your child is struggling with articulation challenges, our team at Dynamic Therapy Specialists will go above and beyond to help. Call us at (225) 767-5032 to schedule an evaluation, and let’s work together to improve your child’s quality of life.