Articulation Disorder Vs. Phonological Disorder

So I know my child has a "speech problem" but what is all this talk about Articulation Disorder and Phonological Disorder?

Articulation refers to the movement of the speech mechanisms (tongue, lips, larynx, teeth, hard palate, velum , jaw, nose, and mouth) to produce speech. When some or all of these mechanisms are weak, damaged or not working properly, then a speech disorder may be classified as an Articulation Disorder. This disorder type refers to a motoric problem within the speech production system where sounds may be substituted, left off, added or changed. Young children often make speech sound errors (e.g. wabbit instead of rabbit) but it is usually part of the typical speech development process. It is only considered a disorder if the errors continue past the expected age. 

In contrast, Phonology refers to the rules of the sound system of a language and a Phonological Disorder involves patterns of sound errors. For example, the rules of the English language dictate that the final consonant in words is important to the meaning of the word but sometimes young children delete the final sound in words (e.g. boo instead of boot). When children make these errors it is often very challenging to understand them. The good news is that all children exhibit these phonological error patters (to some degree) as they are learning to speak. When these rule based sound error patterns continue past the range of typical development, a Phonological Disorder develops. Children with a Phonological Disorder have difficulty adhering to the rules of speech, but they don’t necessarily have articulation disorders. Their speech mechanisms may be moving properly, but just not abiding by the rules of the sound system of English. 

Is the label critical?

What should I expect regarding therapy and progress? 

An accurate diagnosis of a child's speech sound disorder is critical for intervention planning, therapy implementation and efficient progress on goal areas. Remediation for kids with a Phonological Disorder usually involves targeting all processes in error through targeted cycles rather than correcting individual sounds in a child's' speech. Using the cycles approach for phonology, the therapist is usually able to improve intelligibility at a faster rate than solely focusing on one error until mastery. If you suspect that your child may have a phonological disorder or you are concerned about speech intelligibility, please contact us for a speech language evaluation.