10 Simple Steps for Smooth Speech Image source: Screenrant.com
“Smooth Speech” is also referred to as Fluency, but what exactly does that mean? It’s a term used in Speech Pathology that means smoothness or flow in which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are joined together. While there are many types of fluency — including language fluency, reading fluency, or fluency in reference to speaking a foreign language — speech fluency refers to the ability to speak smoothly and easily.
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Imagine if you went to the dentist office and they told you that you had a cavity in your front tooth. They scheduled the appointment to repair it, you go in and have the Novocain injected, and the dentist begins to drill. Then he stops and scratches his head. No matter how far he drills, he can’t find the cavity he thought was there – he can’t find anything to repair because the cavity is not even in that tooth – it was a dental misdiagnosis. We don’t hear of this situation happening because cavities are usually concrete problems that can easily be seen on x-rays, if not just by the human eye. Speech disorders, however, can be complicated to diagnose, especially when there are other health, behavior, and environmental factors to consider. Continue reading
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As a parent, it’s all too easy to catch yourself comparing your child to other children. “My daughter is much more mature than her friends… If only my son were more interested in sports…” And if your kidling is younger, you’ll likely compare him to charts. You’ll compare his height to growth charts and his cognitive abilities to a development chart. A development chart can be useful for tracking your child’s speech and language development.
However, it’s important to avoid overreacting if your child appears to be lagging a bit behind for his peer group. Every child is unique. Being a little behind the targets on the development chart does not automatically mean that your child has a speech disorder or delay. However, it’s always best to schedule an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) to be on the safe side. If your child does need a little extra help, he’ll benefit the most from speech therapy earlier rather than later. There are many speech therapy techniques that can help your child, such as Speech Buddies for articulation practice.
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Parents of young children are often surrounded by charts. Growth charts that measure height, developmental milestone charts, child speech development charts, and charts full of advice on feeding your family healthy foods. Sometimes it’s a little overwhelming. What if your child isn’t reaching his milestones? Does this automatically mean there is a problem?
Not at all. Avoid hitting the panic button. Remind yourself that every child progresses at his own rate. However, it never hurts to have him evaluated by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) just in case he might have a speech disorder or delay. It’s a good idea to periodically evaluate your child’s progress with the help of a development chart. You can also ask your child’s teacher for observations about his speech and language development, as well as his progress in other critical areas, such as social development.
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What Is It?
A language sequencing problem is a language-based learning disability, sometimes called a language-learning disability. That means that it is a type of learning disability characterized by problems with language. A child with a language-based learning disability like a language sequencing problem may display issues with spoken and/or written language.
