How Pediatric Speech Therapy Helps Children Develop Their Articulation and Phonology Skills
If your child’s speech is difficult to understand, or they use the wrong sounds sometimes, then read on.
What are articulation and phonology?
Fancy words! Articulation and phonology refer to the systems children use to form consistently clear speech. Articulation is what children are doing when they put their lips together to make the ‘M’ sound, or when they elevate the back of their tongue to make the ‘K’ sound. An example of an articulation error would be a ‘lisped’ S. The reason for a child’s articulation errors could be from a variety of causes that your speech therapist will explore
Phonology is less concrete than articulation. It refers to a system in the brain that organizes sound concepts. This system then gives children a map for how to use sounds in speech and while reading and writing. Difficulties with phonology are often linked to later challenges with literacy learning. When a child calls Lollipops, Wowipops, or says things like Titen for Chicken, they are making phonological errors.
Articulation and phonology are complex systems that can influence each other and they develop in phases during the toddler years. Until about three years of age, errors in articulation and phonology are expected, but if errors persist beyond that time it would be wise to book a call with a Speech-Language Therapist.
What will a speech therapist do to help children with articulation and phonology?
All therapy programs at Brooklyn Speech Therapy begin with a 30 minute consultation call where we listen to the concerns you have about your child’s speech, and we gather relevant information about their medical and developmental history and communication patterns. From there we begin to work with you and your child in a Diagnostic Therapy Session.
The first step in treating articulation and phonology challenges is proper diagnosis. We need to understand which of these two camps your child’s speech sound errors fall into, or if it is a mix of both. From there we need to determine the underlying cause, and what types of support your child responds to best. We do this all through play-it’s fun! This process typically can take anywhere from one-three sessions, but our detective hats are always on throughout our therapy programs.
Once we have a good sense of why, we get to word remediating the error patterns. We teach children about their mouth, how it moves to make sounds, and orient them to important parts of the mouth for speech (there is one called the *magic spot*). For difficulties with articulation, therapy is a bit more physical, with practice moving the tongue, lips, or jaw in new ways. For difficulties with phonology, therapy is a bit more conceptual and involves learning about groups of sounds and how they are different from one another. In either case we also teach you, their caregiver about their specific challenges, and how to support them outside of sessions.
How do we make this fun? Take a look at this blog: Anatomy of a Speech Therapy Session.
The very subtle, but very exciting element of this therapy is the boost it provides to a child’s pre-literacy and literacy skills. Learning about sounds as they relate to their speech gives children a nice boost for when it comes time to learn about sounds and their letter pairings.
Want to discuss your child’s articulation and phonology development with an expert? Click here to book a 30 minute complimentary call.
