Pediatrics

Did you know that in the United States about 10% of children experience some form of speech or language difficulty during their development (Paul & Norbury 2012)? Challenges in these areas impact not only functional communication between them and their families, but can result in lifelong difficulties that can hinder a child's academic and future success. Learn more about different facets of a child's communication that can be impacted.

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What is speech and language?

Early Language Development

As we learn more about human development we know children begin to develop language skills before birth itself! The first years are exciting with many advancements in the ability to communicate.Typically developing children begin to rapidly acquire the sounds and language system they are exposed to. Around 12 months of age a child is beginning to speak their first words and rapidly develop their language abilities as they continue to grow and develop (Turnbull & Justice 2012). Language development has many different areas, communication scientists and experts broadly label the ability to speak as "expressive language", and to understand as "receptive language" (Paul & Norbury 2012)

Language

Language is a system of conventional spoken or written symbols used by people in a shared culture to communicate with one another. (Turnbull & Justice 2012). Language is complex, and is all around us! Small units called morphemes build up language to create meaning and order in our world. Language is shared among a community of speakers and cultures. Language is rule based and conventional. It is dynamic and changing all the time. We use language everyday to understand each other and the world around us. It is equally important to understand the importance of hearing for successful communication exchanges. Messages must be received by the listener and processed through a complex network that captures and processes spoken language. Individuals with hearing impairment are able to communicate in other ways that are still considered language systems. An example of this is American Sign Language (ASL)

Speech (Articulation and Phonology)

What is speech, and how is that different from language? We often use these words interchangeably. Speech is the voluntary neuromuscular behavior that allows humans to express language and is essential for spoken communication (Turnbull & Justice 2012). Speech involves four major subsystems that work together to create sounds. These systems include respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation. The human body is amazing in its ability to coordinate these different systems together to produce almost effortless speech. We use our vocal cords to generate sound produce the vibrations needed for speech. Take a moment and think about the movements of your tongue, lips, and mouth in general when saying a complex word such as “antidisestablishmentarianism”. Now that’s a mouthful! Speech and language depend on each other. Without language our speech has no meaning, and without speech expressing ourselves becomes very difficult.