Groups with Special Needs
Speech or Language Impairments
Definition / Prevalence
Speech and language impairment is defined as a communication disorder that adversely affects the child's ability to talk, understand, read, and write. This disability category can be divided into two groups: speech impairments and language impairments.
Speech and language impairments are considered a high-incidence disability. Approximately 20% of children receiving special education services are receiving services for speech and language disorders (Source).
Speech Impairments
Articulation Disorders
Errors in the production of speech sounds that may be related to anatomical or physiological limitations in the skeletal, muscular, or neuromuscular support for speech production (Omissions, Substitutions, Distortions).
Fluency Disorders
Difficulties with the rhythm and timing of speech characterized by hesitations, repetitions, or prolongations of sounds syllables, words, or phrases. Common Fluency disorders include: Stuttering and Cluttering (excessively fast and jerky speech).
Voice Disorders
Problems with the quality or use of one's voice resulting from disorders in the larynx. Characterized by abnormal production and/or absence of vocal quality, pitch, loudness, resonance, and/or duration.
Language Impairments
Phonological Disorders
The abnormal organization of the phonological system, or a significant deficit in speech production or perception. Child may be described as hard to understand or as not saying sounds correctly.
Morphological Disorders
Difficulties with morphological inflections (inflections on nouns, verbs, and adjectives that signal different kinds of meanings). Ex. Mommy coat, drived for drove, mans for men.
Semantic Disorders
Characterized by poor vocabulary development, inappropriate use of word meanings, and/or inability to comprehend word meanings.
Syntactical Deficits
Difficult in acquiring the rules that govern word order and other aspects of grammar such as subject-verb agreement. Typically, these students produce shorter and less elaborate sentence with fewer cohesive conjunctions than their peers.
Pragmatic Difficulties
Problems in understanding and using language in different social contexts. These students may lack an understanding of the rules for making eye contact, respecting personal space, requesting info, and introducing topics.
Teaching Strategies
Speech-Language Pathologist Services:
- Services to students with communication problems may be provided in individual or small group sessions, in classrooms or when teaming with teachers or in a consultative model with teachers and parents. Speech-language pathologists integrate students' communication goals with academic and social goals (Source).
- Helping children with articulation disorders to learn proper production of speech sounds
- Helping children who stutter to speak more fluently
- Assisting children with voice disorders to improve their voice quality
- Helping individuals with aphasia to relearn speech and language skills
- Assisting individuals who have difficulty swallowing as a result of illness, surgery, stroke, or injury
- Evaluating, selecting, and developing augmentative and alternative communication systems
- Enhancing communication effectiveness
General Education Teacher:
- Work with the speech-language pathologist to incorporate strategies to help the student generalize strategies mastered in speech therapy
- Incorporate strategies found here
Assistive Technology
Augmentative or alternative communication (AAC) is the use of symbols, aids, strategies, and techniques to enhance the communication process. Read more about AAC here.