Speech and language disabilities
Speech and language disabilities affect how people speak or understand spoken words. These problems can be small like pronunciation differences, or big, like not being able to speak at all. They can make it hard to use systems and situations that need talking.
Organic Speech sound disorders
Organic speech sound disorders have a physical cause. These causes include differences in body structure, brain problems or issues with the senses that change how speech sounds are made.
Example
A person with dysarthria from cerebral palsy may have speech that is hard to understand. Voice recognition software made for normal speech often cannot understand what they say correctly.
Key point
“Organic” shows there is a clear physical cause. This makes these disorders different from functional speech sound disorders, where no physical cause can be found.
Functional speech sound disorders
Functional speech sound disorders affect how people make sounds when they talk, even though there is no clear physical reason. Sounds may be changed, left out or mixed up, and these problems might get better or stay the same over time.
Example
A child who often replaces “r” with “w” (saying “wabbit” instead of “rabbit”) has a functional articulation disorder. Their speech organs work fine, but they have learned to say sounds in a different way than usual.
No speech (Mutism)
Mutism means not speaking. It can be selective, which means a person talks in some situations but not in others, or it can be total, meaning the person does not speak at all. Mutism can happen because of mental health, brain problems or other reasons.
Example
A child with selective mutism talks easily at home but does not speak at school. Tools like a tablet that uses pictures and symbols can help them take part.
Key point
Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder, not a choice or stubbornness. People with selective mutism can usually speak well in other situations and should not be thought to have problems with thinking or language.
Aphasia
Aphasia is a language problem people get after a stroke or brain injury. It can make it hard to speak, understand, read or write.
Example
A person with Broca’s aphasia knows what they want to say but cannot speak fluently. They might use single words or short phrases, and they can still understand others well.
Key point
Aphasia makes it hard for a person to use language, but it does not change how smart they are. A person with severe aphasia can think clearly but cannot speak or write their thoughts.