Speech Impediment: Types

    Many people struggle with pronouncing words at a young age or as adults due to speech impediments. This means that their mouth, jaw, tongue, and vocal tracts aren't able to produce words we can understand. There are different types of speech impediments that children have, some of them are stuttering, articulation errors, tongue tie, and dysarthria. 

Different Types

    Stuttering is one of the main types of speech impediment. This happens when you are speaking and your muscles start twitching uncontrollably. Some of the symptoms that you will notice will be repeating sounds or syllables. You can hear when they start stuttering typically at the beginning of a word. Some kids will start holding out certain syllables because they can't pronounce them correctly. People will begin repeating the single-word syllables as they try to prove a point. Some causes of stuttering are family history, genetics, or how your brain is structured. 

    A tongue tie means the frenum is too tight or sometimes too short. The tongue tie doesn't allow the tongue to have much mobility such as touching the roof of the mouth or moving from the floor or the mouth. By not being able to touch the roof of your mouth some letters may be difficult to pronounce, for example: t, d, n, l, s, and z. Some signs that parents notice are: the tip of the tongue may look heart-shaped, the tongue isn't able to move to the corners of the mouth, the baby has a low weight gain, and makes a clicking sound when sucking. 

    Dysarthria is when there are changes in your brain and nerves and it affects the way you speak. These changes can be caused at birth, after an illness, tumor, stroke, spinal cord injury, etc. Some signs of dysarthria are slurred or mumbled speech, fast or slow pace of speaking, and having problems with moving your jaw, lips, or tongue. 

There are many types of speech impediments but these are just a few of the common seen. Some of these impediments can be cured and others can be reduced by seeing a doctor or a speech pathologist.

 “Speech Impediment: Definition, Causes, Types & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21937-speech-impediment. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024. 

“Stuttering: What It Is, Causes, Treatment & Types.” Cleveland Clinic, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14162-stuttering. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

“Tongue-Tie.” Better Health Channel, Department of Health & Human Services, 21 Mar. 2003, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/tongue-tie.

“Dysarthria.” American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/dysarthria/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.