Speech Therapy
Causes
- hearing impairments.
- cognitive (intellectual, thinking) or other developmental delays.
- weak oral muscles.
- chronic hoarseness.
- cleft lip or cleft palate.
- autism.
- motor planning problems.
- articulation problems.
Symptoms
- repeating or prolonging sounds.
- distorting sounds.
- adding sounds or syllables to words.
- rearranging syllables.
- having difficulty pronouncing words correctly.
- struggling to say the correct word or sound.
- speaking with a hoarse or raspy voice.
Precautions
Investigations
Treatment
Speech therapy can help people who have difficulty speaking to communicate better and to break down the barriers that result from speech impediments. The goals of speech therapy include improving pronunciation, strengthening the muscles used in speech, and learning to speak correctly
Complication
Left untreated, a speech impediment can make it difficult for children to learn to read and write. Children with speech impediments might also have trouble socializing. There are some speech impediments like tongue tie or cleft palate that may be treated with surgery.