Articulation is the smooth formation of sounds, syllables and words as a result of the speech organs working in harmony. Articulation disorder is the situation where sounds, syllables and words are produced incompletely or incorrectly; they are changed or they are pronounced by rounding them.
Symptoms of Articulation Disorders
Articulation disorders. The main symptoms are as follows:
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Adding: The child adds extra sounds to the words he says. For example, it says carrot instead of palm.
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Substitution : The child substitutes another sound for the sound he cannot say. For example, he says shoe instead of car.
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Distortion: Although the sound of the word is not exactly correct, the child says the word that is close to the real one. For example, he says piscuit instead of biscuit.
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Skip (Drop): The child swallows or skips the sound he uses in the word that he cannot say. For example, he says taak instead of tarak.
Causes of Articulation Disorders
Articulation (pronunciation) disorders are due to a wide variety of reasons. These may be:
Due to physical anomalies: Tongue tie, mouth and facial anomalies, dental and jaw structure disorders, and speech sounds not being produced properly due to cleft lip and palate.
Due to neurological disorder: Speech as a result of difficulties in controlling the speech muscles due to reasons such as stroke, cerebrovascular disorders, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis and similar diseases. It may be due to reasons such as not producing sounds correctly.
Due to mental disorder: It may be due to mild, moderate or severe mental retardation.
Due to hearing impairment: Prenatal (various infections, premature birth, medications used, blood incompatibility, gestational diabetes), during birth (birth damage, lack of oxygen), postpartum (middle ear infection, damage to the eardrum, drug use, diseases such as meningitis, measles, chicken pox, flu, mumps) and due to various genetic reasons (such as Down syndrome, Usher syndrome). ) may occur due to various reasons.
Incorrect Learning - Reinforcement: It may occur due to the child not being corrected, ignored or tolerated for various reasons when using words incorrectly. Other "baby talk" behavior may be found to be cute and is continued.
Situations that are not due to any physical or neurological disorder: The child's oral organs (tongue) He/she may not be able to produce speech sounds properly due to reasons such as lack of use of the child's body (e.g., palatal muscles).
When can a child with articulation disorder be helped?
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Children generally learn sounds in a certain order. Lip sounds (b, p, m) are learned first, and sounds such as z, r are learned at a later age. Proper speaking begins in children between the ages of 2 and 2.5. By the age of 7-8, all sounds are produced correctly. After this age, the probability of spontaneous recovery of the child's speech disorder decreases considerably. This can only be corrected with the help of a specialist speech-language pathologist. Articulation therapy is applied to adolescents and adults as well as children. However, therapies performed at a young age are much more effective.
Treatment of Articulation Disorders
First of all, some By performing tests, it is determined which sounds are the problem. A program is created according to the results.
Articulation treatment basically consists of 4 stages. These are:
First of all, the correct version of the sound that the child says incorrectly is listened to and shown. The ability to understand and perceive the difference between them is trained.
The child is shown how to produce the correct form of sound through various exercises (in front of a mirror, sound-syllable-word studies, etc.). .
The learned smooth sound is strengthened and stabilized within therapy.
The use of voice outside of therapy and in daily life is provided.
How Can You Help a Person with Articulation Disorder?
After therapy, it is important for families to regularly do the work given to the child together. The more repetitions are done after therapy, the easier and more effective the process will be. The sounds that the child says incorrectly should be corrected. However, this should be provided with another sentence example instead of a direct correction. For example, the child says, “This is ayaba.” "No, this is not a shoe, it is a car." instead of “Isn't it such a nice car?” It can be said. The child's speech should not be interrupted or completed. Negative effects on the child should be prevented and self-confidence should not be damaged.
7. How Long Does Articulation Therapy Last?
The duration of Articulation Therapy varies from person to person. This increases or decreases depending on the person's attention, performance, study, genetic factors, and personal factors such as intelligence level. Depending on the number of therapy sessions, it may vary from a few weeks to a few months.
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