Speech disorder (including Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia)
What is speech disorder?
What might it look like if my child has speech disorder?
What causes speech disorder?
Often, there may be no clear cause for the speech difficulties. However, some common causes are:
Top tips for supporting children with speech disorder:
- Speech disorders affect a child’s ability to form and create speech sounds
- Common speech disorders are dysfluency (also known as stammering), articulation disorders, and phonological disorders
What might it look like if my child has speech disorder?
- Speech disorders can make it very difficult for those around the child to understand what they are saying. This is especially true if the listener is someone that is unfamiliar to the child.
What causes speech disorder?
Often, there may be no clear cause for the speech difficulties. However, some common causes are:
- Hearing loss
- Cleft lip or palate
- Developmental disorders (e.g. Downs Syndrome, Autism)
- Neurological disorders
- Cerebral Palsy
Top tips for supporting children with speech disorder:
- Try not to correct your child or tell them they’ve got it wrong. Instead, Repeat what your child says how an adult would say it (e.g. child: “look it's a pider”, adult: “oh yes, a spider”). Don’t put pressure on your child to repeat it the correct way.
- React to what your child has said, rather than how they have said it
- Be honest: If you haven’t understood what your child has said, don’t pretend. Repeat back to the child the parts that you did hear so that they do not have to repeat their whole sentence again
- Encourage your child to support their speech with visual support and gesture