Speech & Language Development

We use our lips, teeth, tongue, palate, and voice to make speech sounds so that people can understand what we say.

​Some children have difficulty making speech sounds, putting sounds together, hearing/perceiving speech, or thinking about speech. Some children have difficulty with one or two sounds. Other children have difficulty with many consonants and vowels and are hard for others to understand.​

Speech pathologists help children with speech difficulties.

For most children, there is no known cause for their speech difficulties. For some children, known reasons include: hearing loss, cleft palate, or a family member has had speech difficulties.

Some terms used to describe different types of speech difficulties in children include:

• speech sound disorders

• phonological disorders

• articulation disorders

• childhood apraxia of speech

• dysarthria.