Speech Sound Disorders



Articulation Disorder: Producing speech sounds incorrectly.


Signs/symptoms of an Articulation Disorder include:

  • Deleting a sound in a word (e.g., ca for cat)
  • Substituting one sound for another (e.g., wun instead of run)
  • Adding an extra sound to a word (e.g. balue for blue)
  • Distorting the sound (e.g., lisp on the “s” sound)
  • Close friends/family as well as strangers have a hard time understanding what your child is saying.

Click to View Articulation Developmental Chart


Phonological Processes: Error patterns in speech. Some of the patterns are normal at a young age. However, most patterns are eliminated at a certain age.


Phonological Processes include:

  • Final consonant deletion: consonant or syllable is deleted at the end of the word. (e.g., “lea” for “leaf”)
  • Backing: producing a back sound, such as /k/ or /g/ instead of front sounds, /t/ and /d/. (e.g., “kom” for “Tom”)
  • Stopping: producing a stop sound, such as /t/ or /d/ instead of fricative sounds, /f/ and /s/. (e.g., “tock” for “sock”)
  • Gliding: producing the glide sounds, /w/ or /y/ instead of liquid consonants, /r/ and /l/. (e.g., “wight” for “light”)
  • Fronting: Producing a front sound, /t/ or /d/ instead of a back sound, /k/ and /g/. (e.g., “tat” for “cat”)

  Click to View Ages Phonological Process Should Disappear