Causes

Speech and language disorders frequently co-occur and the cause of most of them is unknown but diverse causes are suspected. They may be acquired (i.e. result from illness, injury or environmental factors) or congenital (i.e. present at birth).

Risk factors include -:

• Hearing loss caused by recurrent ear infections
• Poor sensory or language environment,
• Low socioeconomic status
• Family history of speech and language difficulties
• Prematurity

Speech disorders

Dysarthria:

This is difficulty in using the muscles of articulation (throat, mouth, tongue and larynx muscles) due to weakness, stiffness or imprecise movements.

Dyspraxia:

This is difficulty correctly pronouncing sounds, syllables and words due to the partial or complete loss (apraxia) of the ability to position the muscles of the face, tongue, lips and jaw for the production of speech sounds and for sequencing those sounds into syllables or words. The disorder lies at the area of the brain that tells the muscles how to move and what to do to make a particular sound or series of sounds. In children it may be due to brain injury or cerebral palsy

Cleft Lip/Palate:

A cleft lip is a birth defect in which the soft tissues of the lips failed to grow together during pregnancy and leaves a space or gap (cleft) between the skin of the upper lip that extends vertically up to the nose. Boys are affected more than girls, and it occurs alone or with a cleft palate.

A cleft palate is a birth defect in which the soft tissues of the palate (roof of the mouth) did not grow together during pregnancy leaving an opening between the roof of the mouth and the nasal cavity. More girls than boys have cleft palates only (without cleft lips as well).

Cleft palates in particular lead to speech problems as the top of the mouth is not available for the tongue to hit in order to make specific words and sounds. Also, because children with cleft palates can not close off their nasal cavities during speech their voices often sound highly nasal. Excess pressure on the vocal cords may affect them and children often become fatigued while talking.

Stuttering: (stammering, dysfluency)

This is a speech disorder that affects the fluency (normal flow) of speech is disrupted by frequent repetitions or prolongations of speech sounds, syllables or words or by an individual's inability to start a word. It may be accompanied by rapid eye blinks, tremors of the lips or jaw or other concomitant behaviours of the face or body. Certain situations may make it worse e.g. talking in front of a group while other situations like singing may improve it.

The exact cause is unknown, the most common form is thought to be developmental, but it may also arise as a result of an acquired disorder such as a brain injury. Psychogenic stuttering occasionally occurs in individuals who have some types of mental illness or individuals who have experienced severe mental stress or anguish.

Language Disorders

Specific Language Impairment (SLI):

This is failure of normal language development without an obvious cause; therefore diagnoses such as hearing loss, physical disability, emotional disturbance and brain injury are all ruled out. It is an umbrella term which covers a wide range of abilities, from those that have mild problems to those with severe and persistent difficulties with both understanding and talking.

The cause of SLI is unknown and is thought to be related to problems with the development of the speech and language areas of the brain. It is more common in boys and affects about 7% of 5 year olds. Other names for SLI include language delay, developmental dysphasia, or developmental language disorder

Children with SLI may be intelligent and healthy in all regards except in the difficulty they have with language. These children may -:

• Have difficulty saying what they want to, even though they have ideas
• Talk in sentences but can be difficult to understand; their sentences are typically shorter and less elaborate than their peers and they may omit words from sentences
• it can be difficult to follow what they are saying
• Find it difficult to understand words and follow long instructions
• Have difficulty remembering the words they want to say
• Find it hard to join in and follow what is going on in the playground
• Difficulty reading and spelling

Developmental language delay:

A delay in a child's development of language; however when they begin to use language, it usually develops normally. Whilst early delay may resolve itself, it may turn out to be a long-term delay or disorder.

List of Speech & Language Impairments