• What causes speech sound disorders?

    Many speech sound disorders occur without a known cause. A child may not learn how to produce sounds correctly or may not learn the rules of speech sounds on his or her own. These children may have a problem with speech development, which does not always mean that they will simply outgrow it by themselves. Many children do develop speech sounds over time but those who do not often need the services of a Speech-Langauge Pathologist (SLP) to learn correct speech sounds.

    Some speech sound errors can result from physical problems, such as:

    • developmental disorders (e.g.,autism)
    • genetic syndromes (e.g., Down syndrome)
    • hearing loss
    • illness
    • neurological disorders (e.g., cerebral palsy)

    Children who experienced frequent ear infections when they were young are at risk for speech sound disorders if the ear infections were accompanied by hearing loss

     
    Related Links:

    http://http://www.talkingchild.com/speechchart.html

    http://http://www.talkingchild.com/toysbooksartic.aspx