The most powerful way to communicate with the people around us is language and speaking. Although language and speaking are perceived as common concepts, they are actually two different concepts. If a person has difficulty expressing his/her own thoughts and understanding others, this is related to a language disorder. If a person cannot understand and decipher his own language, he has a "language interpretation and perception disorder". If a person does not know or cannot apply the rules of the language system and cannot express his thoughts for this reason, that person has a "language expression disorder". Perception and expression disorders generally occur together. Speech disorder: It is a condition in which sounds, letters and syllables cannot be pronounced properly and fluently and speech is not fluent. Speech disorder is caused by the inability to move or control the organs that make speech possible correctly. speech disorders; Incorrect or incomplete production of speech sounds (articulation disorder), problem in the fluency of speech (stuttering, tachycardia), voice disorder (hoarseness or loss of voice), motor speech disorder (apraxia), weakness or excessive tension of the muscles related to speech (dysarthria).
What are Language and Speech Disorders?
Language and speech disorders occur congenitally or later. While both of them occur together in a person, they can also occur for different reasons. For example, a speech disorder may be observed in someone who does not have a language disorder.
- Delayed Language and Speech Disorder: This situation occurs if the speech of the growing child is slower or much slower than expected in terms of speech development. Although the development of each child varies in this regard, there is an expected average process in which the development of language and speech skills occurs. This is the expected process; According to developmental periods, the child forms his first words between 12-18 months and speaks at the sentence level from the 24th month. Acquisition of all vowel sounds by the age of 2 from a normally developing child; At the age of 4, he is expected to speak like an adult. In this process, the child not starting to speak when he/she should and falling behind compared to his/her peers may cause delayed language and speech disorder. n happens. It occurs due to environmental conditions such as premature birth, motor developmental delay, hearing loss, genetic disorders, cleft palate, family history of delayed language, mental retardation, autism, lack of environmental stimuli and wrong attitudes of the family.
- Stuttering. -Tachypemia Disorder: It is a disorder that prevents the person from speaking fluently during speech. Stuttering occurs when words are repeated or prolonged while speaking. Tachyposis also occurs when the rhythm of speech becomes disturbingly irregular and speech occurs faster than normal. This situation also negatively affects social communication.
- Voice Disorders: It is a voice disorder in which the intensity and quality of an individual's voice are different compared to individuals of similar age, gender, cultural background and geographical location. It occurs for different reasons. Consuming cigarettes and alcohol, speaking loudly, shouting, various diseases, medical conditions related to voice (such as larynx surgery, thyroid surgery) and neurological disorders are among the causes. Unless there is a physical disorder, a doctor should be consulted in case of voice disorders that occur for more than ten days.
- Motor Speech Disorders: They are divided into two: dysarthria and apraxia. It develops due to damage to the central nervous system or peripheral nervous system or both systems. Dysarthria occurs when speech is negatively affected due to problems such as abnormality in muscle control in the speech mechanism, coordination disorder, physical weakness in the speech mechanism and involuntary lack of control. It is a state of weakness and weakness in parts of speech that require strength and skill. It occurs due to different muscle and nerve diseases. In apraxia, motor speech skills are intact, but skilled speaking performance cannot be performed. It is seen in two forms: acquired apraxia of speech and childhood apraxia of speech.
- Articulation Disorder: It is a condition in which the syllables and sounds coming out of the mouth while speaking cannot be understood by the other person as a result of not being produced in accordance with the language (incomplete or incorrect production). In this case, the other person does not understand what is said, so it is more about how it is said than what is said. It needs to be examined.
- Aphasia (Acquired Language Disorders): It occurs neurogenically. Acquired language disorders occur when a person who does not have a speech or language disorder experiences brain damage as a result of an illness. Damage to the language and speech centers in the brain may cause difficulty in understanding speech and difficulty speaking. In addition, loss of decision-making skills, repeating what is said, and decreased problem-solving ability are also observed.
- Swallowing Disorders: It usually manifests itself due to a neurological reason and occurs when food escapes into the windpipe due to a wrong movement while passing through the oral cavity while eating. occurs.
Causes of Speech Disorder
- Developmental language delay
- Premature birth and growth retardation
- Familial language delay
- Changes in the muscle and bone structures that enable speech
- Hearing losses, hearing perception disorders
- Problems occurring in the brain or nerves
- Tongue tie, cleft palate and dental problems
- Neurological disorders such as Parkinson's, ALS
- Diseases that cause brain damage and mental retardation (autism, down syndrome diseases such as)
- Lack of psychosocial stimulation
- Various diseases (diseases such as reflux, polyps, nodules, vocal cord disorders and laryngeal cancer)
Symptoms of Speech Disorder
- Inability to understand speech easily
- Difficulty in speaking
- Inability to adjust the rhythm of the speaking voice properly, speaking too loudly or low talking and speaking faster than it should
- Having a narrow vocabulary and difficulty in making sentences
- Speaking by swallowing sounds and syllables
- Lack of fluent speech
- Words are slurred and cannot be understood.
- The person tries to communicate with signs because he cannot express himself by speaking
Treatment of Speech Disorder
Treatment of speech disorder is possible. Language and speech problems are considered within a broad framework to make the diagnosis. Type of speech disorder and which angle? In order to understand whether the person is awake or not, it is checked what sounds the person can make or not. On the other hand, tests are also applied to determine the fluency and quality of speech. In the treatment of speech disorder, it is aimed to improve the person's voice quality and eliminate the speech disorder by pronouncing the words intelligibly. In the treatment, which aims to understand the words, pronounce the words exactly, sentence structure and use the language correctly, language exercises, lip exercises, cheek and chin exercises are performed to improve comprehension and analysis. If there are problems such as tongue tie or palate anomalies, it may be necessary to correct them with surgical intervention. Additionally, if hearing loss is detected, treatments such as hearing aids or bionic ears may be considered.
At the same time, the attitudes of the family circle of people experiencing this problem also contribute to the positive treatment process. Being patient and understanding during this process will enable patients to feel better and respond positively to the treatment. If there is a health problem that causes speech impairment, then this disease is treated. When deemed necessary, a therapist, hearing test or neurological examination may also be requested. For the treatment of speech disorders that occur in adults, it may be recommended that they seek help from educational institutions such as speed reading courses and diction courses. In speech disorders that occur in childhood, the attitude of the family positively affects the treatment. The family must be the right model for the child. In case of speech disorder, constant stimulation will affect the child emotionally, so support should be sought from an expert on this subject. Preventing and correcting the progression of language and speech disorders must be done with the help of a specialist.
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